Illinois Basketball: More Late-Game Disasters vs. Michigan State

Illinois Basketball took a hard loss against Michigan State in East Lansing on Saturday afternoon, 88-80.

And for the second straight game in a row, Illinois Basketball quite literally reenacted the “Kevin spilling the chili” meme from The Office. The Illini led by 8 points with just under 8 minutes to go, and they preceded to not make a shot for the rest of the way. Yes, you read (and remembered) that correctly.

This collapse is giving Illini fans flashbacks to last Sunday. Illinois nearly coughed up a 10-point lead after not scoring for the final 4 minutes against Nebraska. Fortunately, they were at home, so they rebounded in overtime and came out with a win. Not so in East Lansing where Michigan State capitalized on every Illinois Basketball mistake down the stretch.

So, what on earth happened?

There are several culprits for this infamous collapse, starting with head coach Brad Underwood. Illinois figured out some things offensively, especially to start the second half. Yet, Underwood refused to run what was working when it got late or pivot to something different after Michigan State forced a bad turnover. His rotations were also remarkably strange. Despite being taken advantage of by Michigan State on every possession and missing the front end of an important 1-and-1, Luke Goode found himself playing meaningful minutes until he fouled himself out after the damage had already been done.

Ty Rodgers hardly played in the second half, and Illinois Basketball certainly could have used his ability to guard …anyone… on defense. Head-scratching moves from Underwood, whose in-game coaching continues to leave fans wanting a little more.

The “Big Picture” concerns…

As mentioned already, this is now back-to-back epic collapses for Illinois Basketball. They are one of the oldest teams in the country, and it’s been their veterans making bad mistakes late. Terrence Shannon is settling for too many threes, Justin Harmon once again had another costly turnover, and Marcus Domask also chipped in with a turnover of his own (his always seem to lead to momentum-changing plays for the opponent this season). These are old guys who aren’t making great decisions in late-game situations right now. Hopefully, this is something they can figure out and overcome down the stretch.

Now that this has happened two times, it’s getting easy to picture Illinois losing this way when the NCAA Tournament rolls around in 5 weeks. Combine the late-game struggles with a defense that looked more like the Generals than the Globetrotters today, and you’ve got a path to getting bounced before the second weekend. Michigan State scored 56 points against Minnesota in their last game and almost had as many as that in the first half against Illinois today. The dribble-drive defense is nonexistent and Michigan State was finding their best looks off of made baskets for the Illini.

The path to making some serious noise is still there too.

Hawkins, Shannon, and Domask represent a three-headed monster not many other teams have. We’ll see how this team responds and if the late-game yips fall to the wayside.