And at 14-11 overall, including a 6-7 mark in the Big Ten with five games to play, the odds most definitely are against the Spartans.

So Izzo understands the rest of the country probably is giving up on MSU.

Izzo doesn’t care about the rest of the country, though, because giving up isn’t exactly his style.
“We ain’t dead yet,” Izzo said following MSU’s 71-61 loss to No. 2 Ohio State Tuesday night. “We’re going to finish strong. We’re going to make a run at it somehow, someway.”

Izzo had just finished watching his players fight to the very end against what he believes to be the best team in the country. Nearly every time the Buckeyes went on a run and seemed poised to pull away, the Spartans responded. When senior guard Durrell Summers picked up his second foul 63 seconds into the game, senior guard Mike Kebler and junior guard Austin Thornton stepped up and played above and beyond what you would expect from most former walk-ons.

And when OSU pushed its lead to eight points toward the end of Tuesday’s game, MSU fought back to a two-point deficit.

In the end, Izzo’s squad simply didn’t have enough left in the tank to beat the Buckeyes in their own building.

But much like their head coach, the Spartans refuse to die.

“(Tuesday), we came out, we fought and we played hard,” senior guard Kalin Lucas said. “That’s what we’re going to keep doing. We’re going to watch film of this game, we’re going to look at things we could have done better, we’re going to look at the mistakes we made and get ready.”

Lucas and MSU are getting ready for the next fight, which comes at 9 p.m. Saturday against Illinois — another Big Ten team trying to battle its way into the tournament.

Along with being an opportunity to pick up a win to bolster their tournament résumé, the Spartans have a chance to earn a little respect back when the Fighting Illini roll into town. ESPN’s College GameDay will be in East Lansing all day, and the game will be televised nationally on ESPN that night.

That means fans throughout the nation — the same fans who are giving up on MSU — will have a chance to see if the Spartans really are willing to fight to the bitter end.

“Huge stage for us,” junior forward Draymond Green said. “We’ve played on huge stages before, and we know what it takes to play on a huge stage and we have to come out with intensity.”

MSU players have had the chance to play on plenty of big stages throughout the last decade.

Unfortunately for the Spartans, they’ve had a tendency to struggle when the bright lights have turned on recently, specifically this season.

MSU has stumbled in most of its big games this year, including a loss to No. 13 Connecticut in Maui, Hawaii, a loss at home to No. 3 Texas, defeats on the road at No. 5 Duke and No. 10 Wisconsin and most recently against OSU.

Although the Fighting Illini aren’t playing great basketball — having dropped six of their last nine games — Saturday still gives the Spartans a chance to pull out what Green calls a “must-win game” when the whole country is watching.

The question is: Will MSU finally come through?

Will the Spartans step onto the big stage and win a game they need in the worst way?

Lucas wouldn’t make any guarantees when it came to what the outcome will be Saturday.

However, the senior guard, who is trying to make sure his final season with the Green and White doesn’t end without even getting a chance at another run in March, promised to do everything in his power to keep MSU alive.

“We’re going to be ready to play vs. Illinois,” Lucas said. “I’m just going to keep playing my heart out, keep doing whatever it takes to start winning and we will turn this thing around.
“Trust me.”

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