On a scramble for an offensive rebound off a Kohler missed 3-pointer, Scott drew a foul and hit two free throws to take a 68-67 lead with 1:49 to play.

Out of a timeout with 1:30 to play, Illinois put the ball in the hands of Wagler, who’d been cold most of the night but has proven to be its shotmaker. He dribbled inside, walled up by Cooper, and missed his 11th shot of the game. As Cooper walked to another timeout huddle, teammates swatted his chest and pumped him up for the stop. 

The Spartans would need more, though, to complete the victory. After a Fears miss, Mirkovic took the ball at the top of the key and dribbled his way for a go-ahead layup with 32 seconds to go.

With 8.6 seconds on the clock, Teng drained a second-chance 3-pointer off a feed from Kohler to put MSU up 71-69.

At the other end, Wagler sprinted up to shoot a 3-pointer and missed, but a scramble for the loose ball led to a foul for Illinois forward Jake Davis. With a lonely second on the clock, Davis hit both shots, split by a timeout. A 3-pointer by Carson Cooper didn’t fall and overtime ensued.

Tough defense made scoring hard to come by as the game began, and Michigan State turned the ball over on its first three possessions. But good defense at the other end, including a block by Jordan Scott and a steal by Coen Carr, kept it scoreless until Carr’s swipe led to a Jeremy Fears Jr. Eurostep at the other end. Illinois took a 7-6 lead in the first five minutes.

Two of the best rebounding teams in the Big Ten, and all of Division I, Michigan State and Illinois started the game with a physicality to match their reputation — and fit the theme of a game in which early arriving students received branded luchador masks. Players paid a toll for every inch of space in the paint. A couple minutes in, Michigan State wing Jordan Scott jogged to the locker room with a towel on his face, bleeding above his eyebrow. He returned to the court with a big bandage above his right eye.

At 13:33, Illinois sixth man Ivisic blocked Coen Carr hard on a dunk attempt and Carr’s head banged off the hardwood. Play stopped after an Illinois bucket as Carr writhed in pain, but he returned to the game at 10:18 after getting attention from the trainer. His first half included a reverse two-hand jam off a lob by Fears with 50.6 seconds to play.

Michigan State found another statement dunk shortly after Carr got hurt. After a bucket by fellow DMV freshman Scott, Ward jostled for a defensive rebound and took it the other way for a two-handed slam over Ivisic, then flexed his arms down in celebration heading back down the court. His bucket tied the score at 12 with 12:43 on the clock. A 3-pointer from Jaxon Kohler turned a 7-0 run into a 15-12 lead.

Illinois rallied from its largest deficit of the half quickly, though, outpacing Michigan State 13-4, including a 7-0 run, over a four minute, nine second stretch to lead 25-19 with 8:06 to play. But after Carson Cooper drew Ivisic’s second foul in the paint, shooting guard Teng hit a 3-pointer on the other side of a timeout, then flushed a middy off a Fears feed at 6:09.