Illinois Downs Michigan State; Belmont Beats SIUE

But after being quiet for most of the day, Trent Frazier's experience emerged as the senior buried a deep three, icing the game with 23 seconds to play. With one more defensive possession to go, the Illini locked in and forced a miss near the end of the shot clock, securing the 79-74 victory. Saturday's win puts Illinois back atop the conference as it is tied for first with Purdue at 12-4.

While Frazier came up big in the second half with 12 points, Kofi Cockburn and Jacob Grandison led Illinois' offensive attack against the Spartans. Grandison made six three-pointers — tallying a season-high 24 points — while dishing out five assists and grabbing five boards. But it was Cockburn who led all scorers with 27 points on 67% shooting.

Cockburn neared another double-double with nine rebounds, five of which were offensive boards. The Illini big man helped fend off the Spartans' comeback efforts as 19 of his points came in the second half. 

The Spartans shot better from the field than the Illini, but Illinois' paint presence made the difference. The Illini scored 32 points down low and their 14 offensive rebounds led to 19 points. 

Jacob Grandison dominated the first half, accounting for almost half of Illinois' points. While Alfonso Plummer started the game off with a jumper, Grandison hit a three-pointer shortly after. Gabe Brown made a jumper, then Da'Monte Williams stole the ball and scored the fast break layup.

A three-minute Illini scoring drought ensued while A.J. Hoggard split free throws and Brown hit a three. Omar Payne split a pair of free throws then Coleman Hawkins drained a step back jumper to get Illinois back on track. Then after a layup from Hoggard, the Illini defense locked in and held the Spartans scoreless for nearly six minutes.
Cockburn took over during that stretch, making a layup, a pair of free throws and a dunk. Grandison hit his second trey of the game as the Illini went up 19-8. Hoggard and Tyson Walker each made jumpers as Illinois went scoreless for four minutes. Cockburn ended the drought with a layup then stole the ball on the other end, leading to another deep ball from Grandison.

Hoggard and Plummer traded free throws then Michigan State hit a three-pointer and a fast break layup to get within eight points. Grandison nailed another three from the corner before Julius Marble Mae a jumper. In the final minutes of the half Plummer scored a layup then Grandison hit his fifth three of the half, accounting for all of Illinois' three-point makes so far. Marble got the last make of the half, but the Illini went to the break up 34-22.

Grandison and Cockburn started the second half off with layups as Max Christie hit a jumper. Plummer hit a step back jumper to give Illinois its biggest lead of the day — 16 points — but the Spartans countered with a 7-0 run. Hoggard hit a couple shots before Marcus Bingham made a three. While Grandison made a pair of free throws, the Illini went four minutes without a field goal as the Spartans got within nine points.

Cockburn came up big with an and-1 on a layup, then a tip in off a miss from Hawkins. Walker came back with six straight points before Grandison grabbed an offensive rebound and made a layup. Cockburn hit a short jumper, the Grandison buried another three from the corner.

Michigan State responded to Grandison's sixth trey with a three of its own, but Cockburn came up with a three-point play to go up 57-44. Frazier scored his first points of the game with a pair of free throws then Christie hit a jumper for the Spartans. Payne secured an offensive board and found Hawkins who dished it to Frazier for a three.

The Spartans kept working as Hoggard made an and-1 layup then Joey Hauser scored from three to make it a 10-point game. The teams traded shots before Michigan State's comeback effort resulted in a 10-0 run, fueled by Marble and Walker. Cockburn ended a two-minute scoring drought with a layup, but Walker came back with a three to make it a two-point game.

Cockburn kept trading baskets with Hoggard and Walker in the final minutes before Curbelo split a pair of free throws to go up 74-71. A steal from Curbelo on the other end led to a layup by Frazier. Walker kept the Spartans in it as he made an and-1 layup and the Illini led by only two with under a minute to go.

But Frazier's clutch three-pointer sealed the win for Illinois. The Illini are back at home on Thursday for a 8 p.m. matchup against No. 18 Ohio State. 

POSTGAME NOTES

• With the win, Illinois improves to 12-4 in Big Ten play, moving into a tie for first with Purdue.

• Illinois has now won at least 12 Big Ten games in three straight years for just the third time in school history, joining the 1951-53 and 1987-89 stretches.

• Illinois swept the home-and-home series sweep against Michigan State, the Illini's first victories over the Spartans in both Champaign and East Lansing in the same season since 2005-06.

• Illinois beat Michigan State in East Lansing for the first time since 2015.

• The win over No. 19 Michigan State improved the Illini to 3-3 versus ranked opponents this season. 

• Illinois finished a five-game stretch that included four road games with a 3-2 record, including a 2-2 mark in road games. 

• Illinois has now won 10 of its last 14 games against top 25 teams. 

• Illinois has now won nine of its last 12 Big Ten road games, and 14 of its last 18. 

• Illinois has totaled 19 road wins in Big Ten play over the last three years, four more than the next closest team (Wisconsin, 15). Illinois is 19-10 during this stretch (.655), one of only three teams above .500 in B1G road games. 

• Illinois is the Big Ten's winningest team over the last three seasons, with a 44-15 (.746) record vs. league foes. 

• Illinois is 26-5 (.839) in its last 31 games versus Big Ten opponents. 

• Leading the way for Illinois was National Player of the Year candidate Kofi Cockburn, who had a game-high 27 points on 10-15 FG & 7-9 FT and nine rebounds. 

• Cockburn is the first player to go for 27+/9+ at Breslin Center since 2010, when Eastern Michigan's Brandon Bowdry had 32 points and 15 rebounds. 

• Cockburn the only player in the country averaging at least 21 points and 10 rebounds this season.

• Jacob Grandison set his career scoring high as an Illini with 24 points (previous high, 21 points at Iowa 12/6/21).

• Grandison set a career high with six 3-pointers.

• Grandison's six treys were one away from the most ever by an Illini against Michigan State. Dee Brown hit seven against the Spartans 1/5/2006 in Champaign. 

• Grandison also tied the record for threes by a Big Ten opponent at the Breslin Center. 

• Trent Frazier's dagger 3-pointer with 23 seconds left to put the Illini up by five gave him 12 second-half points.

Belmont 73, SIUE 62

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – SIUE men's basketball fought hard on one of the toughest home courts in the Ohio Valley Conference Saturday before falling 73-62 to Belmont.

"This team continues to battle through a lot," SIUE Head Coach Brian Barone said. "Through the fatigue, the travel, the mental and the physical grind, they have never backed down from a challenge or packed it in in any way and in circumstances that are arguably as difficult as any team has had in the country."

After SIUE struck first, Belmont ran off the next seven points to go up 7-2 and stretched its lead to double digits at 18-8. The Bruins had their largest lead of the game at 29-15 after a layup with 8:02 to play before halftime.

The Cougars chipped away and got the lead down to six with less than a minute to play in the half. Belmont used a steal and a layup to push the lead back to eight, but Courtney Carter buried a half-court heave at the buzzer to bring SIUE within five at 37-32 at the break.

"Courtney's shot going into halftime was a big shot, obviously," Barone said.

Shamar Wright started the second half with a three-point play to pull SIUE within two at 37-35. Belmont pulled away and the Cougars answered again. A DeeJuan Pruitt dunk after a steal by Desmond Polk made it 45-43.

Belmont pushed its lead to double digits (57-46) after a three-point play by Ben Shepard at 9:38 when SIUE made its strongest push. The Cougars reeled off a 13-3 run, capped off by a Polk three-pointer to pull the score to 60-59 with 5:40 to play and that is as close as the Cougars would come.

Ultimately untimely turnovers and foul trouble cost SIUE the chance at the upset.

The Cougars tied a season-high with 24 turnovers. Belmont came away with 20 steals and turned SIUE's giveaways into 28 points.

"As a team we're young," Barone said. "We weren't perfect, but these guys show up every single game."

SIUE connected on 39 percent of its shots overall and knocked down a season-best 11 three-pointers in 23 attempts (48 percent).

"We were willing passers and our spacing was good tonight," Barone said. "When we hit the gap and kicked it, we had step-in shots. There weren't a lot of shots on the move."
Shaun Doss, Jr. led four Cougars in double figures with 16 points. Pruitt scored 13 points. Shamar Wright added 11 points and Polk scored a season-high 10 points. All four players had two three-pointers.

The Bruins entered the game as the OVC's best shooting team, but SIUE's zone proved problematic. Belmont shot the ball at just 44 percent and drained only six of 26 three-point attempts (23 percent).

"Zones are all about communicating," Barone said. "The way you do it is through repetition. They have bought into communicating with one another on the bus, behind the scenes and in those opportunities where we capitalize on being together."

Sheppard led Belmont with 20 points. Nick Muszynski and Will Richard each scored 18 points.

SIUE enters the final week of the regular season tied for ninth in the OVC standings, but with three games to play and still the chance to earn a berth in the OVC tournament.

"It is so fun to have the opportunity to play for something," Barone said. "We put ourselves in position through the injuries and the schedule to have the last week at home to play for something."

The Cougars are one game behind UT Martin for the final tournament spot. SIUE is tied with Eastern Illinois and will play host to the Panthers Monday night at First Community Arena. Tipoff is 7 p.m.