Michigan State basketball pulls out huge 80-78 win over Illinois to stay atop B1G

Posted by Admin January 19, 2025 Basketball

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EAST LANSING – Michigan State basketball passed its first major test of the season.

That makes 11 straight wins, a perfect start to Big Ten play, and a significant showing of strength and resolve to come back in the second half.

The 12th-ranked Spartans got nine critical second-half points from Frankie Fidler, and Tre Holloman hit two free throws with 5.4 seconds to play to ice their 80-78 victory over No. 20 Illinois on Sunday afternoon at Breslin Center.

Holloman had 17 points, and both Fidler and Coen Carr scored 11 as MSU (16-2, 7-0 Big Ten) extended its longest streak since winning 13 straight in the 2018-19 season.

The Spartans got a ton of all-around contributions, though, with nine points and six assists from Jeremy Fears Jr., eight points and six rebounds from Jaxon Kohler and eight points from Jaden Akins.

Will Riley scored 16 of his 19 points in the first for Illinois (13-5, 5-3), but he went 1-for-5 for three points in the second half. Kylan Boswell had 13 pints and nine rebounds, but he committed a critical turnover with 5.9 seconds to play when his no-look pass to Tomislav Ivišić zipped out of bounds before Holloman’s free throws.

The Spartans rendered Illinois star Kasparas Jakučionis a nonfactor, holding the freshman to three points on 1-for-3 shooting in just nine minutes. The 6-foot-6 Lithuanian fouled out with 6:39 to play.

Stopping the star

Entering Sunday, Izzo’s big mission was to get his defense to stop Jakučionis. The Spartans found one way to do that – by parking the freshman phenom on the Illini bench.

MSU got Jakucionis into early foul trouble, with Jeremy Fears Jr. drawing the Illinois star’s second just 2:54 into the game and forcing coach Brad Underwood to quickly sit his star, who entered averaging a team-leading 16.7 points with 5.4 rebounds and 5.4 assists.

It actually worked to the Illini’s benefit. Riley came off the bench red shot, scoring in almost every possible way in his first 7-minute, 40-second stint replacing Jakučionis. The 6-foot-8 forward from Kitchner, Ontario, scored 16 of 18 points in one stretch as Illinois built its lead to as many as 10 points with 13:05 left in the half.

Just as the Spartans looked like they might be in some trouble, Izzo went to his most athletic lineup and got strong minutes and effort from Xavier Booker, Jaxon Kohler and Tre Holloman. That group in particular, along with Jaden Akins and Jeremy Fears Jr., clamped down defensively and closed the half on a 17-5 burst over the final 7:19, a stretch started with a Booker 3-pointer and an acrobatic three-point play by Akins. Kohler’s tip-in with 4 seconds left sent the two teams into the locker room tied 36-36.

Holloman led the way with 11 first-half points, and the Spartans held Riley scoreless over the final 10:08 of the half after his outburst. But MSU struggled on the boards against Illinois, the nation’s best in rebounding margin and on the defensive glass. The Illini’s 11 offensive rebounds did not prove problematic, though, as the Spartans limited them to just six second-chance points. MSU also got outrebounded 25-17 overall and outscored 24-16 in the paint.

A close finish

A back-and-forth first few minutes of the second half led to the same circumstance as the opening period for Illinois.

Jakučionis again took himself out of the game with foul trouble, picking up his third less than 2:30 in and then a fourth on a loose ball rebound with 16:34 to play. Only this time, Riley did not rescue the offense lost.

That allowed MSU to slowly creep out to a lead, starting with a 3-pointer from Fidler with 11:05 remaining that sparked an 18-9 run. The big moments came after Fears fouled Tre White on a 3-point attempt, and the Illinois guard made just 1 of 3 at the line. Akins collected the rebound on the miss of the third attempt, got it to Fears to start the break, and the redshirt freshman lobbing it to Carr for an alley-oop that escalated the Breslin Center energy and noise level. Then Fears slithered through traffic and drew contact on a midair layup and finished off the three-point play at the line, where MSU had some issues all day.

The other big offensive moment came when Fidler used his body control to elevate for a jumper and got Jakučionis to foul out with 6:39 to play. The Illini guard had started to take over in his final 58-second stint after returning with a three-point play and assist before picking up his fifth.

Back-to-back layups by Carr and Holloman made it 72-65 and prompted Underwood to call timeout with 5:16 to play, and the Illini coach picked up a critical technical foul with 3:18 to go that gave MSU two points on Fidler free throws.

The Illini closed within a point on a Morez Johnson Jr. layup and free throw in the final two minutes, but Akins hit a tough leaning layup with 1:13 left. Illinois had one final chance, and Boswell missed a free throw intentionally, but his follow shot with a second to play was ruled illegal as it went over the backboard.

Fears threw the ball in to Cooper 3/4 the length of the court to run out the clock.

Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.

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EAST LANSING — Tre Holloman scored 17 points and Jaden Akins made a tough lefty layup to give Michigan State basketball its 11th straight win Sunday to stay unbeaten in the Big Ten, holding off No. 20 Illinois in a wild ending, 80-78, at Breslin Center.

MSU has not lost since Nov. 26, a defeat to Memphis in Maui.

The Spartans (16-2, 7-0 Big Ten) led by seven with 3:53 to play, but the tension rose when the Illini (13-5, 5-3) cut it to 76-75. That’s when Akins drove left and made a tough hanging layup with 1:14 left.

The Illini scored a layup and forced an Akins miss, but MSU forced a turnover with 5.9 seconds left on the ensuing possession. Holloman sunk both free throws to go ahead 80-77, then MSU fouled before the Illini could attempt a tying 3 with 5.4 seconds left.

Illinois made the first free throw, missed the second on purpose, yet got the offensive rebound but was called for an over-the-backboard violation on the put-back attempt with a player falling out of bounds.

MSU next plays Saturday at Rutgers (10-8, 3-4).

This breaking news story will be updated shortly.