Couch: 3 quick takes on Michigan State basketball's 79-65 win at Illinois

Couch: 3 quick takes on Michigan State basketball’s 79-65 win at Illinois

Posted by author February 16, 2025 Basketball

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1. MSU answered a lot of questions in one of the bigger road wins in a long time

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Whatever becomes of this Michigan State basketball season, in the Big Ten or beyond, Saturday night’s 79-65 win at Illinois will be the game that made big things seem possible again.

There were a lot of legitimate questions about this MSU team after Tuesday night’s home loss to Indiana, a third loss in four games.

MSU’s basketball team answered many of them definitively Saturday night at Illinois: The Spartans are not a group that’s going to be steamrolled, or one that’s going to give in to a predictable buzzsaw. Or a team whose demise we should predict prematurely.

If the second half against Oregon last weekend was a top-five night all-time at Breslin Center, this was a top-five road performance all-time in the Tom Izzo era.

A game the Spartans trailed 31-15 — with everything going wrong at one of the more unforgiving venues in college basketball — finished with MSU holding the Illini scoreless for the final 8:29, while putting away a statement win. MSU scored the last 15 points and dominated the glass down the stretch.

Izzo won’t have to wait any longer to break Bob Knight’s Big Ten wins record — it’s his now, his 354th conference win coming in Izzo-like fashion. MSU is back in the Big Ten race. It’s not just the 11-3 record — it’s who the Spartans showed they could beat and where.

The last time these teams met, Jan. 19 at Breslin Center, it felt like MSU was hanging on against the better team at times. This time, after the start, it felt like MSU was coming.

This might have been a put-up-or-shut-up night — more in how MSU responded and played than if it won or lost. The Spartans put up. The Illini, at least, are going to have to pipe down.

2. This game will be remembered for Jaxon Kohler

Jaxon Kohler has had some good moments this season — five double-doubles, for example, as he’s become the program’s best rebounder since Xavier Tillman. But there’s also still plenty of frustration for him offensively — his shot just won’t fall consistently, inside or out.

Saturday night at Illinois, in a game MSU absolutely needed more from Kohler, we saw what he could be for MSU’s team and program over the next 14 months. We saw the shot — which usually looks good when it leaves his hand — start to find the net, time after time. We saw his tenacity on the glass again in the biggest moments, including two offensive rebounds on one possession, which ended with a Kohler put-back while being fouled for an old-fashioned 3-point play.

He was pretty dang good on the standard 3s, too. Kohler hit 4 of 5 3-point tries — his first pulling the Spartans to within striking distance for the first time, 35-28, his last a danger from the corner late in the shot clock to put the Spartans ahead 77-65. He hit 9 of 13 shots overall, including two buckets on post moves, the sort of shots that were his bread and butter coming out of high school, to finish with a career-high 23 points, to go with 10 rebounds. Make that six double-doubles, this was by far the most significant.

It’s hard to quantify just what it’ll mean for Kohler and for MSU if he becomes a reliable offensive weapon and if that outside shot begins to stretch defenses — teams are giving it to him right now. We saw it late in Kenny Goins’ career. Same for A.J. Granger many years earlier. Those guys opened up MSU’s offense and hit some huge shots on great teams. Those teams were great, in part, because they had that element offensively.

Kohler has to build on this. But he showed up in huge way in the most difficult setting against one of the more talented opponents MSU will see, in a game the team and program badly needed.

3. A lot of performances worth noting — collective toughness among them

From Jaxon Kohler and Carson Cooper (whose plus-minus was a whopping plus-26), to Tre Holloman and Coen Carr (who teamed up with Kohler to carry MSU late in the first half), and Jaden Akins down the stretch (after a rough first 30 minutes) — there was a lot of gumption from the Spartans on Saturday night. Jase Richardson had some important buckets. Xavier Booker made a dent during a first-half stretch, including a 3 when it was sorely needed.

Saturday night was proof of mental fortitude. This MSU team has some shortcomings — but toughness isn’t one of them. MSU won because it was the tougher team — on the glass in the second half, in getting the shots it wanted offensively and preventing them defensively.

With Purdue, Michigan, Maryland and Wisconsin up next, that might be the most important attribute this team can have. Suddenly, what’s ahead doesn’t feel like a death march.

Contact Graham Couch at gcouch@lsj.com. Follow him on X @Graham_Couch and BlueSky @Graham_Couch.