With 11:01 left to play Tuesday, Fighting Illini forward Mike Davis scored on a dunk to boost the Illinois lead to 59-50, and at the time, it looked as if it was the beginning of the end for MSU.
Refusing to go away, though, the Spartans did what they seem to do when they’re at their best: pound the ball inside.

After senior guard Kalin Lucas hit a 3-pointer thanks to a missed assignment, junior forward Delvon Roe finished made a layup to bring MSU to within four. Shortly after, Roe grabbed an offensive rebound, finished another layup and, suddenly, the Spartans were back in the game, down just 59-57, with less than nine minutes remaining.

If you’re someone who turned the TV off right at that moment, you probably assumed MSU continued to do exactly what it did to get back into the game. The Spartans went back into the paint time and time again and battled with Illinois to the final horn, right?

Not quite.

MSU, which has fallen to the bottom three of the Big Ten in field-goal and 3-point shooting, drifted away from the hoop. And much like they have all season, the Spartans fell in love with the jumpshot.

The next five MSU possessions after cutting the Fighting Illini’s lead to two looked a little something like this: missed 3-pointer, turnover, missed jumpshot, missed 3-pointer, missed jumpshot.

Not exactly a recipe for success for a team shooting less than 34 percent from the long line in Big Ten games.

By the time senior guard Durrell Summers finally hit a 3-pointer with 4:50 remaining, Illinois had built its lead back up to eight points, and the Spartans would get no closer than five the rest of the way.

In his post-game press conference, MSU head coach Tom Izzo didn’t have many complaints despite the loss — except for maybe just one.

“We just have to get it in there more,” Izzo said of getting the ball inside. “I would say that’s definitely, maybe the only thing we didn’t do a good enough job of is to get it in there.”

On a night when the Fighting Illini shot a blistering 53.2 percent from the field and 47.1 percent from deep, the Spartans made only 37.5 percent of their shots, including 7-for-26 (26.9 percent) from the 3-point line.

Following Roe’s putback with nine minutes to play, MSU went 2-for-16 and missed its last 10 shots.

So when will the Spartans learn outside shots aren’t going to win them games? As Izzo pointed out after the game, it might not be MSU’s choice to keep hoisting jumpshot after jumpshot.

“It’s easier said than done,” Izzo said. “When you’re not shooting the ball very well, people collapse and collapse and collapse on you.”

It’s true the Spartans could make a more concerted effort to get the ball inside and score easy buckets, but unfortunately for them, that might not happen until they make teams guard them from outside.

Many of MSU’s missed shots were wide open, while almost every layup was contested by two or more orange jerseys.

If the Spartans continue to miss shots at the rate they currently are, don’t expect that to change.
At the beginning of the year, MSU shot the ball well and shooting actually saved the Spartans when they couldn’t do other things better.

Now, MSU is doing everything else right, and shooting has become its worst enemy. Unfortunately, it also might be the only thing that will give the Spartans a chance to compete the rest of the season.

Jeremy Warnemuende is a State News sports reporter. He can be reached at warnemu3@msu.edu.