Champaign, Ill. - The Spartans were out of their league Tuesday night, suffering a 70-40 Big Ten shellacking at the hands of Illinois at Assembly Hall.
The Spartans' 40-point effort was the lowest ever under head coach Tom Izzo, and the worst loss since the coach's rookie year, when the team lost by 36 to Iowa in 1996.
Turnovers plagued MSU early and often, and the Spartans (14-10 overall, 6-6 Big Ten) could never get into a groove. MSU was careless with the ball, committing nine turnovers in the first 10 minutes. By the end of the night, the Spartans piled up a total of 18 turnovers.
"We really had no answers for them," Izzo said. "A turnover led to another bad turnover and that led to a barrage of layups and it just snowballed. They outplayed us in every aspect and deserved to win.
"This is the worst loss I can remember in five years."
Aside from the first three-plus minutes when they took a quick 8-2 lead, the Spartans showed no sign of life on the court. Illinois (17-5, 7-4) went on an 18-0 run during the next eight minutes to take a commanding 20-8 lead.
Surprisingly, before the game, Illini head coach Bill Self said he was concerned with how his team would react against the Spartans.
"This was the worst feeling coming into a game this year," Self said, noting his team was without its third-leading scorer, Luther Head.
"We played as hard as any team I've coached and as well defensively as I've had any team play."
The Spartans shot an abysmal 17-for-53 from the field - 32.1 percent. But Illinois could barely miss, finishing the game 26-for-48 from the field (52.4 percent).
The loss dropped MSU to 1-6 on the road in the Big Ten.
At one point, the Spartans looked like they wouldn't reach 40 points. MSU was stuck with 28 points for 9:38 before sophomore guard Chris Hill broke the streak with a triple. During that time, Illinois turned a 48-28 lead into a 69-28 advantage, its largest of the night.
"I think Michigan State is a great rhythm team," Self said. "They execute as good as anybody and we thought changing defenses may create situations where they weren't as comfortable."
Illinois did its damage without forward Brian Cook, the Big Ten's leading scorer (20.9 points per game). He managed just four points. But true freshman guard Dee Brown picked up the slack with a game-high 24 points. He also added five steals and five assists.
Hill was the only Spartan to finish in double figures with 12 points. Freshman center Paul Davis and freshman forward Erazem Lorbek finished with seven points apiece.
"In a game like this on the road, it's who can play the toughest the longest and who can hit shots and Illinois did that," senior forward Aloysius Anagonye said. "We started out well, but unfortunately, our shots weren't falling and they hit some shots. We just can't have those kind of games this late in the season."
MSU is tied for sixth place in the Big Ten, 2 1/2 games out of the conference lead with only four conference games left.
Chris Mackinder can be reached at mackind8@msu.edu.
