MSU gets third chance this season to knock off Illinois
With an unmemorable Big Ten regular season behind them, Michigan State started fresh with a win over Purdue in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament. Friday’s second-round matchup will be against Illinois, who beat the Spartans in both regular season contests.
“I can’t say I was extremely ecstatic about our play,” coach Tom Izzo said. “Playing on the first day is different. It’s not the big crowd. We found a way to win, but we’re going to have to play a lot better if we’re going to to beat Illinois.”
Full story - Herb Gould (Chicago Sun-Times)
Thursday’s victory over Purdue saw the return of physical forward Matt Trannon, who received a broken jaw on February 18th against Michigan. A good performance from Trannon may go a long way to helping MSU overcome Illinois, which has dominated the series the last few years. Michigan State’s last victory over the Illini was February 2, 2003- since then Tom Izzo has been a miserable 0-5.
This is the third meeting between the two teams in Big Ten Tournament history, as MSU defeated Illinois in both the 1999 and 2000 championship games. In tournament history, the No. 6 seed is 3-4 against the No. 3 seed.
The Spartans will have a full complement of healthy players ready to go, including Goran Suton, who had a career-best 12 points against Purdue. At this stage in the season, teams need everyone to step up if they are going to survive, and any production from the MSU bench will be welcome.
Tonight’s game is scheduled to tip-off at 9:10 PM in Indianapolis. If the Minnesota/Iowa matchup lasts longer than expected, that tip-off time will be delayed.
Radio: Spartan Sports Network - Will Tieman (Play by Play), Gus Ganakas (Color). Flagship - WMMQ 94.9 FM/WJIM 1240 AM
TV: ESPN Plus - Wayne Larrivee (Play by Play), Greg Kelser (Color)