For 30-minutes on Friday night, Michigan State looked like the better team. More than that, they were winning against Illinois playing a style completely different than their standard this year. For those thirty minutes it looked like incredible coaching and a team that was capable of winning in some unexpected and flexible ways.
The problem: the game lasted 40-minutes. Over the final 10-minutes of playing time, Michigan State fell prey to the rowdy crowd in Champaign, Illinois, and its own shortcoming losing 75-66.
The loss hurts. Any road win in the Big Ten is extremely valuable.