(5) Michigan State routs IL in Big Ten home opener

Maverick Morgan had 15 points and Malcolm Hill scored 10 for IL.

Even though the Spartans, who dropped to No. 5, rebounded with a 69-61 win Saturday against Minnesota, coach Tom Izzo still wants that No. 1 position back. Freshman guard Matt McQuaid and freshman power forward Deyonta Davis added 10 points apiece. “I got the jitters out and responded in the second half”.

Forbes was comfortable from the start.

Bryn Forbes went 6 for 8 from beyond the arc and scored 20 points in the first half to help the Spartans build a 13-point halftime lead.

“As he said to me, he was a little out of sync tonight and he brought that up to me”. “It’s nothing new. He’s done it before”.

Penn State cut the Michigan State 15 point lead to just sevent late in the first half by a Bryn Forbes’ three with nine seconds left in the opening 20 minutes of play pushed it back out to 13 points.

He hit three of his next five shots, including a mid-range jumper with 7:22 to play to give the Spartans a 31-point lead, their largest of the afternoon. Sophomore Shep Garner led the team with 19 points. Two reserve players, Julian Moore (13) and Devin Foster (12) scored in double-digits. But it wasn’t his offense that was the most impressive thing. The team’s original plane got grounded in Chicago, and they had to instead use a smaller plane and take two trips. “It only took a half”. The Nittany Lions have had three home losses this season and the Spartans will be looking to make it four.

Travel troubles: Michigan State ended up driving the 450 miles from State College to East Lansing after having some issues with its charter plane home.

“This is such a tough environment, and they are a great defensive team”, said Abdur-Rahkman, who made 10 of 16 field-goal attempts.

“There was some good about keeping him out of that last game but there was some bad”, Izzo said. “He’s got both size and speed and strength”. Forbes didn’t score a single point in the second half and played just 25 minutes overall, but by the time he left his mark on the game the damage was done. Lewis is a key rotation player who has averaged around 23 minutes per game for a majority of the season. He entered the game with 1,030 career points and is 26th on the school’s all-time scoring list. That is not a good strategy if you want to contain a run-and-gun team like Michigan State.

IL will slip to 0-4 in the Big Ten if it can’t find a way to beat Purdue at 5 p.m., Sunday at the State Farm Center.