Illinois is coming into this game with a 17-5 record this season and they have been playing very well in their recent games. They have won their last 3 straight as well as 5 of their last 6 games. They are coming off of a win at home against Nebraska in their last game but they only won that game by 3 points in OT as they struggled against a good team in the conference. Illinois has also struggled more on the road recently as they have lost 3 of their last 5 games on the road with wins coming against Michigan and Ohio State who are both near the bottom of the Big 10 right now. They are going up against a Michigan State team that is 14-9 this season and has not been great in the conference this year at 6-6 but they need to start pushing for wins toward the end of the season now if they want to be considered as a serious tournament contender. They have been starting to heat up recently as well as they have won 2 of their last 3 as well as 6 of their last 8 games with their 2 losses in that span coming on the road. They are coming off of 1 of those losses in their last game as well as they lost by 3 points to Minnesota on the road and they are going to be hungry to bounce back here since they have been much better at home recently. They have won their last 8 straight games at home and they have been dominant in those games with all of those wins coming by 10+ points. They also lost to Illinois by 3 points on the road earlier this season so they will be coming for Illinois at home here and need a ranked win to gain some confidence. Michigan State will cover the spread in this game.