The past is in the past, or so the saying goes. But the Spartans say last year's game against Illinois in Champaign isn't erased from their memories.
It's a game that MSU would like to forget, but for the sake of revenge, the team has scrapped through a year's load of memories to bring the 70-40 shellacking to the forefront of its brain.
At one point, the Spartans trailed 69-28 with less than three minutes to play in the game before ending the contest on a 12-1 run.
"Oh, we remember," senior center Jason Andreas said. "They got us pretty good last year and we know what they can do.
"I remember standing on the court at one point and I couldn't believe we were down by that much. We really didn't have a response for them, but this year we're going in there with that in the back of our heads, so hopefully we can take care of business."
But as junior guard Chris Hill said, that was last year and the Spartans (12-8 overall, 7-2 Big Ten) only plan on using last year's game as motivation.
The 2003-04 Illinois squad is vastly similar to last season's team. The biggest loss for the Fighting Illini (15-5, 6-3) is Brian Cook, who now plays for the Los Angeles Lakers.
But the Cook-less Illini, who are sporting a new head coach, Bruce Weber, aren't having any problems relying on two sophomores: Guards Dee Brown and Deron Williams are the keys to Illinois' offense.
Williams and Brown are 13th and 17th in the conference in scoring with 12.9 and 12.4 points per game, respectively. Williams also leads the Big Ten in assists per game with 6.1 and Brown is No. 3 with 4.6 per contest.
Those two most likely will attack MSU's weakness: Penetration defense. Both Williams and Brown have the ability to slash to the basket and score, but they both can drive and draw double teams, which sets teammates up for open shots. Illinois usually takes advantage of those opportunities, as the Illini are third in the conference in field-goal percentage, with 46 percent.
"They're really good and I have great respect for their team and the way they've played, but it's not going to be any worse than Kentucky," MSU head coach Tom Izzo said. "It's not going to be any worse than Duke. So maybe for the first time, I can really say we have faced these kind of teams and we should learn from our mistakes.
"This is where you are supposed to learn from your nonconference schedule. Are we going to be better for it? I think this is where you get a chance to find those things out."
MSU has won seven of eight games and four in a row. More impressive, the Spartans have won three of four games on the road.
Illinois is on a three-game win streak, and Weber said his team needs to keep it going in order to stay among the Big Ten's elite.
"We feel we have ourselves back in the race now," Weber said. "We have to see if we can beat quality teams at home - we have Michigan State this week and Wisconsin coming in a week from now, so it's a big stretch for us if we're going to stay in the top of the pack."
Luckeyes
Ohio State was given the nickname after controversially winning the 2003 National Championship on the football field. Izzo said the luck carried over onto the hardwood, but it wasn't for Ohio State's Buckeyes, it was for the Spartans.
All coaches across the nation wore tennis shoes with their suits on Saturday, recognizing National Coaches vs. Cancer Awareness Day.
And because of MSU's near-record shooting percentage against the Buckeyes, Izzo jokingly said the tennis shoes he sported will not leave his feet.
"I told (former UCLA head coach and current ESPN analyst Steve) Lavin I'm wearing those shoes and I'm going to buy some of that 10W-30 he puts in his hair," Izzo said. "Those two things must have brought us luck.
"Jimmy (O'Brien) had called me during the week to make sure we look a little goofy together. It was Revenge of the Nerds III, and I think for the cause, it was awesome."
98 ? 99 ?
Izzo will be going for his 100th Big Ten victory against Illinois tonight. In just his ninth year of coaching, Izzo would be just the third coach in conference history to win 100 games in his first nine seasons, joining Bobby Knight and Gene Keady.
"I never even thought of 100 wins in the Big Ten until someone brought it up yesterday and brought it up with the guys that did it in the same amount of time," Izzo said. "Knight and Keady - I'd like to be sandwiched in there between those guys."
