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6 hours ago
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It's back to the drawing board for Illinois basketball and Brad Underwood. The team finished the week with a 1-1 split, which culminated in an 80-78 loss to Michigan State Sunday in East Lansing.
While competitively momentum-swinging, the game was a heartbreaker for Underwood and his young star guard Kasparas Jakučionis. Jakučionis, arguably the glue that holds the offensive attack together, was non-existent with three points and fouled out late in regulation as the Illini attempted to complete a frantic comeback.
Underwood, whose bench was assessed a technical foul in the game's final stages, had little to describe for what transpired. However, following the loss, he quickly defended Jakučionis's performance while blaming the officiating crew for what could have been.
"MSU did nothing defensively to stop Kasparas Jakucionis," Underwood said after the game. "When he did play, every bucket was easy. He was dicing them up."
Underwood added that the fourth foul call on Jakucionis, which came at the 16:34 mark of regulation, with Illinois ahead 43-41, shouldn't have been called.
"He got shoved in the back and pushed into a guy," Underwood said. "That one was just gross."
Regardless of whether Underwood's thoughts were justified, Illinois finished 5-of-24 from 3-point range and committed 10 turnovers. Meanwhile, Michigan State, led by guard Tre Holloman's 17 points, won the game at the free-throw line at 78 percent.
The game marked the first of two meetings between the Fighting Illini and Spartans (16-2, 7-0 Big Ten). The rematch will take place on Saturday, Feb. 15, in Champaign.
Illinois (13-5, 5-3 Big Ten) returns home for two games: Thursday night against Maryland (14-5, 4-4 Big Ten) and Sunday afternoon against Northwestern (11-7, 2-5 Big Ten), with a chance to start a new winning streak. Before the Spartans loss, it had won all but three games (Northwestern, Tennessee, USC) since early December.
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