State Beat Illinois 81-72
Helps UM in their bid for a regular-season crown
Helps solidify Izzo's case for B1G Coach of the Year /s
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/game?gameId=401286699
February 23rd, 2021 at 11:05 PM ^
Groan. I tune into State games to watch them get annihilated. This was no fun at all to watch. And Sissoko’s hatchet job on Dosunmo now has me extra-worried about what crap they will pull when we have to play them twice in a row.
February 23rd, 2021 at 11:09 PM ^
Yeah that was ROUGH.
February 24th, 2021 at 7:11 AM ^
He was lucky not to get a flagrant earlier when he conked (cockburn?) on top of the head. Sissoko is dirty AF.
February 24th, 2021 at 8:32 AM ^
The league really needs to review that hit. A F2 is not enough, he needs to sit a game or two to figure out you can't play that type of ball. There are hard fouls and then there are assaults. That was brutal and intentional. No wonder the kid missed the two free throws, I am surprised he stayed in the game.
February 24th, 2021 at 10:02 AM ^
Bill Lambeer would disagree. Lol
February 24th, 2021 at 10:13 AM ^
That was some late 80s early 90s NBA Mailman to Zeke's head type stuff. Minus the multiple stitches.
February 24th, 2021 at 11:53 AM ^
Ouch. Painful memory
February 24th, 2021 at 10:32 AM ^
Illinois didn't need a hit to the head to miss FTs
They shot 19 / 34 from the line.
Their coach probably slammed his own head harder all night.
Epic choke leaving 15 pts.
State is not good.
February 24th, 2021 at 2:26 PM ^
There is more to the story on that. I just saw on twitter a clip of what happened just before that play. Cockburn slapped Sissoko on the back of the neck when Sissoko was guarding him. Not a tap either. He used full force. Then the two had a 5 second stare down jawing while play continued. In my opinion the refs let this one get out of hand. Sissoko's foul on Ayo was just reckless. If Ayo had the ball in his hands still I don't think it would have looked as bad. But he did not and Sissoko lost control. That was an emotional game.
February 24th, 2021 at 8:17 AM ^
Over on RCMB some are convinced Izzo cracked the code and they will win the B1G tournament. I suspect there will be lots of crying in spartyville.
February 24th, 2021 at 10:22 AM ^
Loyer's injury has been addition by subtraction. Their offense suddenly has life without him.
February 24th, 2021 at 10:09 AM ^
I agree. And with how bad Dosunmo missed the FTs, I wonder if he should have gone through concussion protocol. A hit from above to the head?
Staee looks like a very dirty team. I don't like playing them back-to-back before the tournaments.
February 24th, 2021 at 11:16 AM ^
The thing is, Juwan has this team so tight, that ANY dirty play will inspire our team to crush the other... believe it.... each time cheap shots have happened our team got stronger. Though the risk is them taking out Smith out of the game. Juwan will prep the refs to this crap.
February 23rd, 2021 at 11:05 PM ^
What exactly does it mean for our regular season title hopes?
February 23rd, 2021 at 11:07 PM ^
Just Win Baby Win!
February 23rd, 2021 at 11:14 PM ^
I think we can lose 2 of the last 5 and still win the conference, assuming Illinois wins out. If we beat Illinois we can lose 3 if they win every other game.
February 23rd, 2021 at 11:16 PM ^
The magic number is three. Three UM wins, three ILL losses, or a combination of both will secure the B1G regular season title.
February 24th, 2021 at 2:28 AM ^
3 Illinois losses will not secure it. OSU and Iowa both have 5 losses too.
February 24th, 2021 at 8:58 AM ^
It will if we have fewer losses...
February 24th, 2021 at 10:25 AM ^
Three Illinois losses alone wouldn't do it. We still have to win some games. If we lose out we'd be 11-6 and almost certainly not league champs.
February 24th, 2021 at 10:37 AM ^
Ok, I'm gonna bet my house, car, wife, dog, cat and 2 kids that UM won't lose out.
February 24th, 2021 at 11:57 AM ^
Our giggly podcasters pointing out how awful State is are setting themselves up for another potentially bad, bad look.
February 24th, 2021 at 12:42 PM ^
Totally, If you’re State, the situation sets up as well as you could hope for, given the circumstances. By playing the final two games against U-M, State is getting the maximum amount of time to sort out its rotation and rebuild confidence/chemistry.
February 23rd, 2021 at 11:08 PM ^
Lol. Perspective!
February 23rd, 2021 at 11:09 PM ^
That pretty well puts us right at the cusp. If we go 2-2 down the stretch it’ll give us an .813 winning percentage. If Illinois wins out (4 more games) they’ll have a .800 winning percentage. If OSU wins out they are sitting at .750.
So a magic # of 2.
February 23rd, 2021 at 11:10 PM ^
As long as the 2 wins are against staee, I am fine with that!
February 23rd, 2021 at 11:20 PM ^
And beat Illinois too. I don't want us to "back into" the title.
Let's beat IU and Iowa too while we're at it.
All the wins!
February 24th, 2021 at 8:10 AM ^
We have 5 games left. Have to 3-2 or we can go 2-3 as long as one of those wins is Illinois
February 23rd, 2021 at 11:18 PM ^
We’re playing five more games not four.
Edit: actually it’s six I think
February 23rd, 2021 at 11:39 PM ^
I think it's 5: Iowa, Indiana, Illinois, MSU, MSU
February 24th, 2021 at 8:53 AM ^
Why did we get two MSU matchups and no PSU matchups?
February 24th, 2021 at 9:19 AM ^
We already peat PSU by 4 earlier this year. That's our closest in-conference win.
February 24th, 2021 at 10:11 AM ^
We played PSU in December.
The first MSU game was made up because they are our protected rival.
February 23rd, 2021 at 11:39 PM ^
I'm happy about the Big 10 regular season championship. But yeah, win all the games. I want a one seed in the NCAA tournament, because I don't want anything to do with being in the same bracket as Baylor or Gonzaga. If Baylor had lost tonight, we could have leapfrogged them into the number 2 spot in the tourney, increasing our chances of being in the final game.
February 24th, 2021 at 1:03 AM ^
It would take a major collapse, a 1-4 finish or worse, for Michigan not to get a 1 seed at this point.
And if I were Baylor or Gonzaga, I wouldn't want anything to do with Michigan either.
February 24th, 2021 at 5:24 AM ^
If we go 1-4, we definitely won’t be a 1 seed.
February 23rd, 2021 at 11:41 PM ^
What I think is funny is.....when I saw the final score......the "recap" article says that win helps Sparty's tournament hopes. What the hell are they smoking? ?
ESPN really does not like the fact that Sparty is going to miss the tournament, this year. Lol
February 23rd, 2021 at 11:51 PM ^
Michigan State could probably still get into the NCAA tournament, but they'd have to go 4-1 in their last 5 games, which include 2 against Michigan and 1 against Ohio State, plus Maryland and Indiana. They've been playing much better lately so this is possible, if unlikely.
February 24th, 2021 at 1:14 AM ^
Nah, they could probably make it by finishing 3-2. That would make them 9-11 in the conference, probably good enough with the strength of the big ten and the fact they were 6-0 in the non-conf.
And I think they'll do it, given that Michigan will have the conference title wrapped up going into the last game at MSU. I could see Michigan resting some guys.
February 24th, 2021 at 9:35 AM ^
Nah, no way we rest players against Sharty. Might see more bench players if we get up by 30.
Not taking away from that win last night, but that was more on Illinois shooting horribly than anything MSU did. If Illinois plays like that against UM, we will beat them by 30.
MSU is playing a little better, but they still have to play OSU, @MD, IU and UMx2. I don't see more than 1 win out of that.
Also, I had to laugh when the announcer at the end of the game had to defend Illinois saying that they are still a Final 4 team and NC contender. Shooting 55% FTs and 40% from the field won't win too many NCs. Any team that can play defense and that has a decent big to handle Cockburn has a good chance to beat Illinois.
February 24th, 2021 at 10:02 AM ^
No way in hell Michigan is resting some guys. Not in that game. For one, I don't think Howard wants to do anything to jeopardize tournament seeding if they lose. And two, if you rest guys you risk losing that edge. I do not want to see Michigan lose some kind of heartbreaker to MSU that gets Sparty into the tournament and messes with Michigan's mojo from that point on. We've seen that happen to MSU in recent years. They had all that talent in 2018, were projected by so many to win it all, then Michigan sweeps them and they get bounced in the first week of the tournament by a lowly Syracuse team.
You can expect Michigan to go full throttle in that game.
February 24th, 2021 at 12:58 AM ^
If they win the games ahead of them, which includes three top 5 games, that would give their tourney profile a great boost. I don't see them beating OSU though, especially since OSU will be well rested and Sparty is playing two games in 48 hours. Plus, Maryland is playing for their tournament lives.
It's not unreasonable to think that they have to sweep us to go into the BTT above .500.
February 24th, 2021 at 3:26 AM ^
Sparty is going to be motivated against us. Watch out.
February 24th, 2021 at 4:20 AM ^
Every year with those guys. I will take a win the first sharty game then a rest starters loss the second game that is more competitive than it should be.
February 24th, 2021 at 11:21 AM ^
The certainly do seem to be on the upswing.
I also see a lot of comments in here now reminiscent of comments leading up to 31 October 2020. Look how that turned out.
February 24th, 2021 at 10:32 PM ^
One key difference, UM is a very good team in this case. In football that was just two bad teams playing each other this year.
February 24th, 2021 at 6:54 AM ^
MSU is getting in. They go 3-2 they are definitely in. Heck they might get in at 2-3 with one big ten tournament win also.
February 24th, 2021 at 7:15 AM ^
Watched the game. Dosunmu only goes to his right. Cockburn never passes when doubled. Illinois is beatable.
February 24th, 2021 at 8:08 AM ^
MSU’s defensive game plan seemed on point and Illinois just couldn't get going.
I like that the same game plan of triple teaming Dickinson won’t work because our perimeter guys will make it rain as he passes our of it.
February 24th, 2021 at 8:13 AM ^
all good points, plus Illinois missing 15 free throws in a nine point loss is paramount