Michigan State has share of Big Ten title after blowing out Illinois, but wants more

EAST LANSING — Miles Bridges returned to Michigan State to hang banners inside Breslin Center.

He helped unfurl and raise one on Tuesday night. And with it came a big, heavy trophy.

The top-ranked Spartans earned at least a share of the Big Ten regular-season championship with an 81-61 victory over Illinois, capturing their first league title since 2012.

“That’s why I came back, to make memories,” said Bridges, who finished with 19 points, five rebounds and three assists as well as four of MSU’s 11 3-pointers. “That banner will be up there forever. That championship will be there forever.”

Though coach Tom Izzo now owns eight Big Ten regular-season titles thanks to MSU’s 11th straight victory this season, he has only won two league championships outright, in 1999 and 2009.

The Spartans (27-3, 15-2  Big Ten) can give him his third when they wrap up the regular season Sunday at Wisconsin (1 p.m., CBS) to wrap up the regular season.

“I went over that a little bit. There haven’t been that many teams even that I’ve had here that won it outright,” Izzo said. “Not enough of them anyway.”

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Ohio State (23-7, 14-3) beat Rutgers on Tuesday night to remain a game behind the Spartans. The Buckeyes close their regular season on Friday at Indiana.

Purdue (24-5, 13-3), which beat Penn State on Sunday, plays Thursday at Illinois and finishes the regular season at home against Minnesota on Sunday.

With its win on Jan. 7, Ohio State still holds a tie-breaker over the Spartans for the No. 1 seed for the upcoming Big Ten tournament in New York if they share the league title. Both teams also beat Purdue in their lone meeting, meaning MSU owns the head-to-head tie-breaker if the Spartans and Boilermakers are tied.

“We know we have a share of it promised,” said freshman Jaren Jackson Jr., who had eight points, four rebounds and five blocks while coming off the bench for the first time in his freshman season. “But we don’t want to share it with anybody.”

Michigan State used a 12-1 run over the first 5 minutes of the second half to pull away from a three-point halftime game against the Illini (13-16, 3-13).

The Spartans’ reserves outscored Illinois’ backups, 42-12, thanks to Jackson, Nick Ward (eight points, seven rebounds) and Cassius Winston (12 points, five assists) coming off the bench so Tum Tum Nairn, Gavin Schilling and Ben Carter getting the start on senior night. Kenny Goins added nine points with them.

Joshua Langford added 16 points and five assists for the Spartans, who turned the ball over seven times in the first half and just once in the second. Schilling had six rebounds as MSU had a dominating 40-28 edge on the glass.

Leron Black scored 20 points and Trent Frazier 14 for the Illini.

Langford had six points in the first 4:42 of the second half, including a 3-pointer that closed MSU’s 12-2 run to open the half. The Spartans kept pouring it on from there, building the lead to 20 with an alley-oop dunk and 3-pointer by Goins and a breakaway dunk in transition by Xavier Tillman.

“They don’t have many weaknesses,” Illinois coach Brad Underwood said. “I think they’re really capable of winning the whole thing.”

(Watch: Michigan State seniors Gavin Schilling, Ben Carter and Tum Tum Nairn kiss the Michigan State logo at halfcourt late in the Spartans' win over Illinois) 

Now, it’s on to Madison, Wis., where MSU has lost three straight and has not won since Jan. 22, 2013.

The Spartans took their first meeting this season, 76-61, on Jan. 26 in East Lansing. The Badgers (13-16, 6-10) play at Northwestern on Thursday and are coming off an overtime 73-63 home comeback against Minnesota on Monday.

None of the current Spartans have ever won at Kohl Center, though the bulk of this group did not play there a year ago.

Which means navigating a lot of uncharted territory to seize the rare outright title they so fervently want to win.

“I look at it like we have other things to accomplish,” Izzo said. “Banners are what we like to do here, but it’s one of those years that when I’m not satisfied with that one.”

Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari. 

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