At halftime, MSU leads Illinois, 26-22.
Senior forward Branden Dawson started the game off strong, muscling his way to the rim and finishing the lay-in despite a foul. He knocked down the free throw as well. Moments later, a block from Dawson on the defensive end led to a fast-break score from junior forward Denzel Valentine and an early 5-0 lead.
Illinois answered the Spartans with 12 straight points, the first five coming from redshirt senior guard Rayvonte Rice, who did not play in the first meeting.
Illinois’ length was a problem for MSU, as senior forward Nnanna Egwu blocked his second shot of the game to force a shot-clock violation at the 15:46 mark.
After letting Illinois take control, the Spartans clawed right back into it. They looked to get the ball on the block to Dawson, and after a nice feed from Valentine, Dawson dunked right over the top of an Illini defender, and on the following MSU possession, junior guard Bryn Forbes knocked down MSU’s first three of the game to tie the score at 16.
Dawson continued his strong first half, knocking down a contested turnaround jumper to give MSU an 18-16 lead. On the ensuing defensive possession, Dawson swatted away an Illinois shot like a volleyball, good for his third block of the half.
Senior guard Travis Trice scored his first points of the half on two free throws, and over the last four minutes, he scored six big points.
Foul trouble was in issue for MSU’s bigs, as sophomore forward Gavin Schilling and junior forward Matt Costello each picked up a second personal foul before the end of the half.
Izzo called a timeout with 25 seconds left to get one final shot off, and it led to a pull-up jumper from Trice to give MSU a 26-24 lead going into the half.
Dawson finished the half with nine points and four rebounds. Rice led Illinois with seven points and four rebounds.
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