Although all of the physical aspects will be the same, MSU junior forward Draymond Green said the Spartans — fresh off two overtime victories against Wisconsin and Northwestern — will need to take a certain mindset into Assembly Hall if they want to walk out with a victory.

“It’s a mental toughness you have to take on the road,” Green said. “And I think we have some mental tough guys, especially to pull out two wins like this, you have to have some sort of mental toughness to you.”

MSU (12-5 overall, 4-1 Big Ten) found itself down at least three points in the final minute of each of the last two games, but was able to rebound and fight to two consecutive overtime wins at home for the first time in school history.

The wins were especially important because they came before back-to-back trips to Illinois (13-5, 3-2) on Tuesday and No. 14 Purdue (15-3, 4-1) on Saturday, and followed a disappointing loss at Penn State almost two weeks ago.

“We lost one on the road that we probably should have won; everybody expected us to win,” Green said. “Now, we have to go steal one on the road that everybody’s going to expect us to lose.”

Green said the Spartans have the confidence in themselves to go and win in one of the toughest environments in the country, but he and the rest of the team, including head coach Tom Izzo, know it won’t be easy.

Despite coming off a road loss of their own to No. 18 Wisconsin on Saturday, the
Fighting Illini continue to be one of the top statistical teams in the Big Ten.

Heading into the week, Illinois is third in the conference in field-goal percentage (47.9 percent) and first in 3-point field goal percentage (42.5 percent).

The Fighting Illini also have proven to be one of the better defensive teams in the conference, holding opponents to 40 percent from the field (fifth) and 29.6 percent from behind the 3-point line (first).

“That should make you double undefeated,” Izzo said Monday at his weekly press conference.
“They are good on both sides of the ball.”

Illinois’ hot shooting, especially from deep, mostly can be attributed to guard Demetri McCamey, who is shooting a staggering 64.7 percent (11-for-17) from the 3-point line in five conference games.

Green described McCamey’s shooting numbers as “insane,” and senior guard Kalin Lucas said slowing down the hot-shooting senior will be key to beating the Fighting Illini.

“We have to make sure we have six eyes on (McCamey),” Lucas said. “We have to play defense.”

Lucas, who didn’t play because of an ankle injury in a 78-73 loss the last time these two teams met a year ago, said the Spartans will try to turn their defense into offense Tuesday night, because unlike Illinois, MSU has been struggling to put the ball in the hole during conference play.

After shooting the ball well to start the season, the Spartans are 10th in the Big Ten in field-goal percentage in conference games (42.2 percent) and ninth in 3-point shooting (33.3 percent).

The most notable player to struggle has been senior guard Durrell Summers, who is 11-for-34 (32.4 percent) from the long line in conference contests.

Summers only took six shots Saturday against Northwestern, and Izzo said he “wasn’t very enthused.”

Izzo said Summers’ problems have nothing to do with his work ethic, but he thinks Summers simply is letting his shooting woes affect the rest of his game.

“Sometimes he’s his own worst enemy,” Izzo said of Summers.

“By your senior year, you have to figure maybe you go get a couple of points by getting an offensive rebound and things like that.”

Izzo said he, the staff and the players also need to do a better job of getting Summers more shots, although he also said some of that falls on Summers as well.

Regardless of whose responsibility it is to get Summers going, though, Izzo said MSU won’t get very far with one of its best players failing to produce.

“There’s no question we need Durrell to play like he’s capable of playing,” Izzo said.

Other than shooting, Izzo said he is happy with the way the Spartans are playing heading into the matchup with Illinois, especially when it comes to turnovers, rebounds and defense — three areas where they have improved since conference play began.

Unlike the last two games, though, Izzo and Lucas both said MSU will have to play at its best for the full game to steal a road win from the Fighting Illini.

“We just have to make sure we come in, and we play strong for the whole 40 minutes,” Lucas said.
“The first five minutes are going to be key in that game. It’s going to be a great game, it’s going to be a showdown.”