Tom Izzo managed to beat his old friend Brad Underwood on Sunday as Michigan State basketball held on to beat Illinois at home. It was a tough, grind-it-out win over Illinois as the Spartans struggled to hit shots, but they did outperform Illinois at the free throw line and that was ultimately the difference.

It was a ninth straight win and fifth in a row to open Big Ten play as No. 14 Michigan State basketball beat Northwestern but showed some flaws late.

Tom Izzo sees No. 12 Michigan State basketball getting tougher after beating No. 20 Illinois on Sunday, but also knows so will the Spartans' schedule.

To be fair to Michigan State coach Tom Izzo, there aren't as many Alan Andersons and Shannon Browns across college basketball as there once were. So when Izzo butchered the names of Kasparas Jakucionis,

One of the age old tenets in college basketball is not to count out Tom Izzo and the Michigan State Spartans. As long as Izzo is at the helm, Michigan State will be a dangerous and competitive team. On Sunday,