At the end of the day, Illinois beat a top ten Michigan State team at home, ended a three game losing streak, and moved back above .500 in the Big Ten. All of that is great. But frankly, aside from the result, there was very little good about the win tonight.

Fact is Illinois played terribly for very long stretches. Brandon Paul missed two crucial free throws in the final minute that could have iced the game, DJ Richardson made his first three, but missed every one there after, Meyers Leonard had some great blocks, but ended up with just 4 points and 6 boards. MSU had EIGHTEEN offensive rebounds. Joe Bertrand had no points at all, and the offense with Sam Maniscalco at point was unable to produce much of anything.

And yet, Michigan State played way worse. Their star player Draymond Green barely played with consecutive problems of having the flu, getting a technical/foul trouble, and messing his knee up in the final five minutes. Derrick Nix was 1-7, with all of those misses coming from about point blank range.The Spartans had more turnovers, (15) than they had made baskets (14).

The bright spot seems to be the defense, and I will hand the Illini that, Michigan State didn't shoot so poorly without the defense having some effect.

Fact is, Illinois was very close to losing this game, and the way they played most of the game, it is a surprise that they did. But to be fair, they played well enough to beat Penn State, and played more than well enough to beat Minnesots, but they still lost those anyway. Things broke the Illini's way in the final moments of this game, with Nix missing a free throw and Kieth Appling missing his last shot, and they were certainly do for some good breaks.

It is a game where the team didn't play well and they won, and personally I will take those over a hard fought loss, because a win is still a win, as Akon reminds us.

All of that said, this win, no matter how it was achieved, is huge. Another top 10 win, and a complete crisis averted. It is a win that helps dramatically in the quest to keep off of the bubble, and keeps Illinois alive at least for a decent seed in the Big Ten Tournament, and one game closer to 20 wins.

There is a lot that needs to be cleaned up before Sunday's game against Northwestern, but I am much happier that it is done after a win than a loss.

Now let us never speak of this again.

There really isn't much to say about this one. Given that the first Illinois Minnesota game went to overtime in Champaign, I really shouldn't be surprised that this one went into extra minutes too. But it should not have. These teams have been playing each other very close, and you can't afford to make dumb mistakes and expect to win. Down the stretch, both Illinois and the Gophers made dumb mistakes, which swung the pendulum back and forth wildly. Illinois goes on a 17-2 run, takes the lead, then turns the ball over a bunch of times. Minnesota gives Illinois a four point possession, Illinois does not cover the three pointer in transition. Both teams had idiotic out of bounds mistakes, and both teams had terrible decisions on fouls in the last minute. Unfortunately, Illinois' foul was way way more costly.

Up three and 20 seconds to go, Illinois could have done one of the following things to win the game. A: foul way far away from the basket, before Minnesota even thought about shooting. B: clear the lane and let them get the easy layup. Or C: foul the shooter, but make damn sure you foul him hard enough so he can't make the shot. Illinois opted for option D: lightly foul the shooter in the act, but not enough to change his shot, and keep your feet moving so the refs HAVE to call it. (They didn't have to, yes, and Doug Gotlieb thinks they were hosed, but Meyers was moving way too much not to attract attention.)

All of the sudden, Illinois lost the lead, with no time to get a good shot off, and lost the most talented big man on the floor. They lost in overtime.

The game was defined by inexperienced mistakes, the mistakes we thought we wouldn't see because Illinois had been in so many close games already this season. That is not the case though. And for all the bright spots of the game, Tracy playing very well on offense, Brandon Paul once again taking over in the second half, there were too many bad notes as well. The bench, that was at one point going to be a strength this season, is an absolute liability now, and it has been since Joe moved into the lineup. This compared to the Gophers, where otherwise unheralded players took Illinois to school for a stretch in the first half.

The offense only really moved in the second half when Brandon simply took the game over, and cleared the lane for himself. When that happens it is a thing of beauty, but even his heroics weren't enough. Until overtime, and in desperation mode at that, three point shooting for Illinois was a non factor, with DJ and Sam Maniscalco, two players whose main offensive weapon is the three-ball combining for 1-9. That is just about as catastrophic as it gets. Illinois basically played without what has been its major offensive threat at times this season.

Offensively, the team has devolved into Meyers and Brandon doing everything themselves, accounting for 62% off all of the points. This isn't a bad thing if you can play them for 40 minutes each and make sure they get the ball with a decent look, but the passing of this team just can't guarantee that.

Things are really bad right now. Really bad, three game losing streak bad. You can turn things around to a degree, but the road is much much harder now, starting with a visit from Michigan State Tuesday night. Brace yourselves, things could get worse. If this was the breaking point of the season, and the team lost, does that mean the whole thing is broke?

"Wipe the Slate Clean," Vision

No, this isn't going to be weird and depressing.

It won't be particularly uplifting either, so don't go thinking Johnny Sunshine has walked into the room.

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Is it me? Am I expecting too much? Do I have the wrong idea of where Illinois should be, what games are winnable, and what games are a reasonable loss to take? I don't know. I might lack perspective, I might be putting too much stock in individual games and losing sight in the big picture. I suppose I can't help that.

What I learned from the last two Illinois losses is that despite all of the nay saying that this team isn't that young, it certainly plays that way pretty often. I also learned that even though some players can come along as the season progresses, other players can hit walls, get worse, and have injuries that just make them not quite the same.

I know that this team will not threaten for a Big Ten title this year, not unless it can steal road wins in the three most difficult gyms in the Big Ten to do it. I am prepared that Illinois will be playing on Thursday in the Big Ten Tournament. The two most important things about this team, for me, is that the Fighting Illini be safely into the field of 68 or whatever, preferably in a seed that they can actually make some noise with, and that they are playing well by then.

As I told someone today, I don't care what it looks like on the way, I just care how it looks at the end. So with that said, there are some real problems that both Penn State and Wisconsin reintroduced Illini fans to this past week, problems that would be their undoing if they are not fixed by the time March rolls around.

1. The hard truth is, Tracy Abrams has surpassed Sam Maniscalco at point guard in everything except experience. I am rooting for Sam to get healthy and succeed as hard as anyone, because his three point shooting has been particularly missed of late, but right now, he just doesn't look right. His ankles are clearly slowing him down, and by extension, the offense has as well. Sam got 27 minutes against Penn State, and 13 against Wisconsin, he totaled zero points and three assists. Tracy Abrams scored 9 points, 1 assist, and four rebounds, just against Wisconsin.

Inexperienced or not Tracy needs to be getting the lion's share of minutes from here on out.

2. Defense. Brandon Paul has turned into an excellent defender, DJ has been reliable since he was a freshman, but the perimeter defense has been roughed up lately, heck so has the interior defense. A lot of that has to do with the aforementioned inexperience. Joe Bertrand and Meyers Leonard are only seeing significant playing time for the first time this year. Sam has been hampered by his ankles, and guys like Tracy Abrams and Nnanna Egwu are making plenty of freshman mistakes, mostly on the defensive end. The defense may or may not get better, but if it doesn't, the Illini are just going to have to outscore their opponents.

3.The offense, in its totality. The team cannot get the ball inside to Meyers nearly as much as it should, we know that. Three point shooting, aside from Brandon Paul's out of this world performance against Ohio State, has not been a reliable weapon. Brandon might be the Illini's most explosive and talented offensive weapon, but I think Joe Bertrand is the most reliable, and the guy I want getting the most touches in a close game. Joe Bertrand is shooting around 60% for the season, and it is because he is someone who can create his own shot, get within range for a high percentage shot, and make the right decision on when to do it. If the Illini are going to be giving up the percentages from range that they are, then they might as well make up the difference in volume of high percentage shots.

The totality of the season is what matters. And I still think that a Sweet Sixteen, in this year or next, is not too much to ask of this program, heck its not even too much to ask of this team. But putting yourself in position to get there is just as important.

Alright, suffice it to say the last game at Penn State didn't go according to plan. That's okay. Home cooking is supposed to work both ways right? So the next inexplicable touch technical call should go against Wisconsin, right? Point is, this is a game where the Illini have to prove they are in fact different than the last few years, and not to let Tim Frazier beat them twice. The home games are the ones you absolutely have to win in this league, and if this team can beat Ohio State, it can sure as hell beat the Badgers in the Assembly Hall.

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