When MSU and Illinois last met Feb. 4, the Spartans were still stinging from two previous road losses.

Since then, the MSU women's basketball team has gone on a tear, knocking off two top 15 teams in Purdue and Ohio State.

Illinois has gone the other way, losing four of its last five games.

That begs the question: Which MSU team will show up? The one that shocked Purdue and Ohio State, or the one that had trouble putting away bottom-feeding Northwestern on two occasions?

"We have to focus on Illinois and have the maturity to do that," MSU head coach Joanne P. McCallie said. "They should be based on the game here."

Despite the random inconsistencies, the Spartans have gone 6-0 in February since losing two straight at the end of January.

"I'm not worried about streaks," McCallie said. "I'm worried about how this team is playing and how many people are bringing their A effort and that type of thing. We're still a work in progress."

But McCallie does believe her team is growing rather quickly, and the Ohio State game showed her that.

"Systematically, we're building on things," McCallie said. "We played multiple defenses against Ohio State and did some things that we've never done before. It was a great experience to see our kids execute some things. Bottom line is, they made plays."

This game also has some conference implications, as MSU still has a shot at the Big Ten title. The Spartans will need Ohio State to lose one of its last two games against Penn State or Michigan, and MSU will need to win out. Purdue also is in the mix with the same 12-2 conference record as the Spartans.

The Green and White also can tie the best league record in school history at 14-2 — set in the 2004-05 season — if they win out.

Illinois is sitting on the other side of the tracks, coming into the game with a 17-9 overall record and 7-7 in Big Ten play.

But after watching the Illini put up 70 points on her team last time, McCallie is not overlooking Illinois.

"They're a very, very good team," McCallie said.

"They lost to Indiana, which isn't surprising, but it is surprising because Illinois is such a good team."

The Illini are one of the Big Ten's best rebounding teams, especially on the defensive end, where they average 29.6 defensive boards per game, is three more than the next team — MSU.

In the previous meeting between the two teams, the rebounding was even at 35 each with both teams having a good shooting day.

But outside of rebounding, MSU will have to control Illinois guard Lori Bjork, who scored 19 points in the last meeting with five 3-pointers. She is the league's fourth leading scorer and leads the conference with 74 3-point field goals.