Photo: Dale Young ~ IMAGN IMAGES
EAST LANSING, Jan. 19, 2025 ~ After going down double digits early in the game, #12 Michigan State Basketball (16-2) climbed their way back to take an 80-78 win in the final seconds over #19 Illinois (13-5).
After some uncharacteristic struggles for the third ranked free throw shooting team in the country throughout the Sunday afternoon match at the Breslin Center, the Spartans pulled away with some clutch makes from the line near the end of the game to continue their 11-game win streak along with an undefeated conference record.
Junior point guard Tre Holloman led all green and white scorers with 17 points, shooting an efficient 5-9 from the field and 7-8 from the free throw stripe.
“Tre was really good, everybody did their thing in moments,” head coach Tom Izzo told WJR Correspondent Nick Lundberg after the game. “That is what strength in numbers means, everybody had a moment where they brought something to the table.”
Senior forward Frankie Fidler and sophomore forward Coen Carr followed with 11 of their own, coming through with timely baskets to keep MSU in control during the second half.
Momentum started to shift near the eight minute timeout, where an alley-oop from redshirt freshman point guard Jeremy Fears Jr. to Carr almost caused the Izzone student section to bring the house down.
SOCIAL MEDIA:
COEN CARR READY FOR LIFT OFF 🚀 @coencarr2 x @MSU_Basketball pic.twitter.com/NPom3L9FgE
— FOX College Hoops (@CBBonFOX) January 19, 2025
(CONTINUED) Fears led all passers with six assists, keeping the offense from stalling out during the back-and-forth affair.
Continuing the scoring-by-committee approach, Michigan State had six total players score over eight points.
Foul trouble hurt the Fighting Illini the entire game, as their leading scoring freshman guard Kasparas Jakucionis fouled out midway through the second half after only playing nine minutes the whole game.
Illinois also struggled to make free throws down the stretch in the second half, missing a total of eight attempts in the final 20 minutes.
MSU will hit the road this weekend for a trip to Madison Square Garden in New York City to take on Rutgers in their next game.
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