No. 5 MSU defeated Illinois 79-54 in its Big Ten home opener and first home game since defeating Florida on Dec. 12, 2015.
The Spartans were led by senior guard Byrn Forbes who managed to get back on track after a couple of poor shooting performances on the road. Forbes had 17 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the field and senior forward Matt Costello continued his fantastic play of late, falling just short of a second consecutive double-double with 9 points and 14 rebounds.
With injuries aplenty for Illinois, they knew they would have to rely heavily on their two primary players in juniors Kendrick Nunn and Malcolm Hill who average 18.5 and 17.9 points per game respectively. So when it was announced shortly before game time that Nunn would not be playing because of the birth of his child back in Illinois, and Hill picked up two fouls in the first two-and-a-half minutes of play, MSU knew they could exploit the young Illinois team.
MSU went on an 8-2 run after Hill went out over the next two minutes including back-to-back threes by junior guard Eron Harris and freshman guard Matt McQuaid to extend their lead to 16-7, prompting Illinois head coach John Groce to call a timeout and put Hill back into the game even with two fouls.
With their leader Hill back in the game, Illinois went on a 6-0 run to cut the MSU lead down to 16-13 before McQuaid made a three to extend the lead to 19-13 and spark a 23-5 MSU run to take firm control of the game at 39-18.
MSU attacked the paint early on with Illinois missing their starting center transfer senior Mike Thorne Jr., scoring their first six points in the paint and grabbing two offensive rebounds in the first minute-and-a-half of play. MSU finished the game with 50 points in the paint and outrebounded the undermanned Illinois team 46 to 27.
MSU started the second half right where they left off in the first half, attacking the paint leading to 77.8 percent shooting over the first seven minutes of the second half on 7-of-9 from the floor, stretching their lead to as large as 30 at 62-32.
The lead would stay around the 30-point mark for the entirety of the second half as MSU rotated in 15 different players throughout the game, with four players - Forbes, McQuaid, junior guard Eron Harris and freshmen forward Deyonta Davis, all scoring double figures.
junior forward Gavin Schilling continued to return to form after missing the first 11 games of the season with turf toe, tying a season high of 17 minutes, while also tying his season high of 8 points, making all four of his shots from the field.
MSU continued their unselfish play as they assisted on 26 of their 33 field goals while shooting 53.2 percent from the field.
MSU is now 3-1 without senior Denzel Valentine and could get him back as early as Sunday when they travel to take on Penn State.
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