After beating Illinois handily without Denzel Valentine at the Breslin Center on Thursday, it was clear that the No. 5 Michigan State Spartans had survived life without their star guard. Valentine was cleared to play in the game, but Tom Izzo decided to hold him back at least one more time to make sure he’s 100 percent when he hits the floor running.
Winning by 25 points showed just how far this unit had come without Valentine, proving to be a well-oiled machine and developing other scorers in Denzel’s absence.
Penn State, on the other hand, has lost three of five games, including its first two in conference play before recording a Big Ten win this week.