Sophomore guard Rocket Watts (2) moves past senior guard Trent Frazier as junior forward Marcus Bingham Jr. (30) sets a screen. Watts' 13 points helped the Spartans edge the Fighting Illini, 81-72, on Feb. 23, 2021.
—Out of all things he’s done as a Head Coach for 26 years, Tom Izzo is most well-known for his ability to make something out of nothing.
The sentiment rang true both Saturday afternoon against Indiana and Tuesday night against No. 5 Illinois, as Michigan State (12-9, 6-9 Big Ten) upset the Illini, 81-72, in a season-reviving win, taking one step closer to NCAA Tournament action in a very uncharacteristically dreadful season.
You all probably know the saying, there’s no “I” in "team” and that one man, or woman, cannot win all on their own.
That’s the beauty of having a 15-person roster in basketball because when one gets ejected from foul trouble — as Mady Sissoko, Thomas Kithier and Julius Marble II all did against the Fighting Illini — or one is out on injury, like Foster Loyer, another one can cover their tracks.
Each time MSU needed someone to step in on Tuesday, someone did.
With the margin of error being slim as it is, Joshua Langford said that conversations around attitude and connectivity are what’s being drilled down as of late, and the goal is to continue building day after day.
“The greatest teams that play the game, they are teams that are steadfast and be concrete and not be moved by outward situations,” Langford said.
Langford broke his career-high in rebounds against Illinois, collecting 16 rebounds off the glass.
"He's playing with some energy now," Izzo said. "He's playing with some hop in his legs. I've never seen him rebound and block shots like this, even when he was a freshman."
The game tonight was one of the more aggressive ones played this season, though it was expected and the Spartans had prepared.
“We didn’t want to get hit first," Langford said. "We wanted to go hit them first." The team’s largest run was 10-0 and their largest lead was 19 points.
“We had an (alumnus) down there and the first thing he said to me is that it looked like our 'street-fighting days,'” Izzo said.
There were several times during the matchup when the Spartan roster was getting in each other's faces and had to be held back by teammates or referees, or where they were rolling around on the ground in a battle for the ball, and even where they were given a flagrant foul for running over an opponent under the net.
The Spartan defense looked born again as they kept the Fighting Illini in a drought for a good amount of the game, forcing a Top-5 team in the country to shoot only at 40%. This loss is the Illini's second lowest scoring percentage on the season.
"My staff did a h--- of a job in the scouting report," Izzo said. "I thought we followed the scouting report, and that was one thing that we really preached before the game."
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