Illinois was without starting guard Kendrick Nunn, as it was announced just before the game that he was back home for the birth of his child, and their other star player junior guard Malcolm Hill was held to just 10 points on 4-of-10 shooting, well below his season average of 17.9 points per game.

"Remember, Illinois is missing a good player (Nunn), but of course so are we," MSU head coach Tom Izzo said. "We jumped on them early and that was the difference in the game."

Izzo said he thought his team moved the ball well around the perimeter in the second half, despite missing some good looks from the floor and over-dribbling at times in the first half. 

"I thought at times we played really well," Izzo said. "... We got the ball inside a little bit to (Matt) Costello and to (Gavin) Schilling and we did some good things in there. I thought Tum Tum ran our team well but we missed some open shots."

On offense, MSU asserted its dominance early on going scoring from the paint on each of their first possessions of the game setting the tone early on their way to 50 points in the paint and domination on the glass, out rebounding Illinois 46-to-27 including 10 offensive rebounds.  

Senior Guard Bryn Forbes and fellow senior Matt Costello both continued their solid play in Valentine's absence with 17 points on 7-of-13 shooting including 3-for-6 from behind the three-point arc for Forbes and nine points to go along with 14 rebounds for Costello. 

On defense, Forbes said he thought the team played very well both inside and out.  

"We guarded the perimeter pretty well tonight," Forbes said. "We guarded the inside really well, we just stuck to our assignments, and we just executed on the defensive end. we knew what we had to do and we executed."

MSU as a team blocked eight shots and held Illinois to only four fast break points despite MSU turning the ball over 12 times. MSU also held Illinois to just 29.8 percent from the field and 13.3 percent from behind the arc. 

Freshman guard Matt McQuaid, who scored for the first time in Big Ten play with 10 points and a season best tying five assists, said he thought MSU moved the ball very well which allowed MSU to get out in transition and helped to open the game up for MSU.

"We got our running game going and we were out in transition and moved the ball real well," McQuaid said. "The wings were running and it opened up a lot of stuff. Offensively we moved the ball real well and  got great ball movement and it paid off."

That great ball movement paid off to the tune of MSU tying its second highest assist total of the season, assisting on 26 of their 33 made field goals, as they also finished with 17 fast break points. 

Izzo said after the game that Valentine almost played against Illinois after participating in live-practice both Tuesday and Wednesday, but decided before the game to sit his senior captain because he wasn't his "bubbly self."

Valentine could return as early as Sunday when MSU travels to take on Penn State, but Izzo said he will not bring him back before Valentine is mentally ready even though he has been medically cleared.