Jan. 22, 1997

Illini End Spartans' Streak

MSU Falls to #25 Illinois 66-63

                 1st  2nd   TOTAL
Illinois          32   34      66
Michigan State    31   32      63

MSU HEAD COACH TOM IZZO
"I think both teams deserve credit for how hard they played. You can't win against good teams when you go 9-for-21 from the line, and you can't win when you give guys wide-open threes like we did in the first half. We've defended the three before this, but didn't get it done tonight.

"Give Illinois credit; they ran some good stuff, and we just made some mental mistakes on switches. Every time we did, they capitalized. They hit as many big shots as a team can hit. Garris hit one down the stretch with Ray in his face, and Gandy hit the big shot at the end. We had what we wanted with the shot clock running down, but he hit the shot.

"We took some question mark shots and maybe panicked a bit; our youth showed at times.. We made some plays we shouldn't have made, but that's going to happen. If it's the fault of effort, I can be upset, but if it's the experience, then we need to learn from it and go from there.

"Great players and good teams make the plays they need to. We didn't make the plays or hit our free throws. Kiwane Garris stepped it up three notches down the stretch, and everytime down the court the ball was in his hands. He made the right decisions and came up with the plays they needed."

ILLINOIS COACH LON KRUGER
"Obviously the game could have gone either way. Both teams scratched and clawed. Michigan State took away a lot of our looks (at the basket)."

"It's a good win, especially on the road, or anywhere for that matter. They (MSU) proved it'll be a tough game at home (at Illinois)."

"Michigan State is a good free throw shooting club, but tonight they let us off the hook."

"We shoot the three. We don't always make them, but we shoot a lot of them. Tonight we shot it well, though, getting the ball to Kevin (Turner) and Matt (Heldman). The key, though, was Kiwane (Garris) -- drawing and kicking it to the right person at the right time."

"I was waiting for Chris (Gandy) to play harder. Michigan State took him away by their work inside. We've got to work harder for position inside. We need him (Gandy) to go to a higher level. He shoots with a lot of confidence and he has the ability to move out on..the floor -- that's an advantage of his."

Jan 22, 1997 
NCAA BB  FINAL               1ST 2ND     TOTAL
         ILLINOIS             32  34       66
         MICHIGAN ST          31  32       63    FINAL
 HIGH SCORERS:  ILLINOIS - KIWANE GARRIS 23, CHRIS GANDY 15,
                KEVIN TURNER 10
                MICHIGAN ST - RAY WEATHERS 20, JON GARAVAGLIA
                16, MATEEN CLEAVES 9
 HIGH REBOUND:  ILLINOIS - KEVIN TURNER 6, JERRY GEE 4
                MICHIGAN ST - ANTONIO SMITH 12, JON GARAVAGLIA 8
 HIGH ASSISTS:  ILLINOIS - KIWANE GARRIS 7, KEVIN TURNER 3
                MICHIGAN ST - THOMAS KELLEY 21, MATEEN CLEAVES 6
   ATTENDANCE:  12,975
                                                                        
ILLINOIS (66)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Gee             21   1-2   0-0   0-4  1  5    2
Garris          38  7-15   5-8   0-3  7  3   23
Gandy           30  7-10   0-0   0-3  1  3   15
Turner          37   3-8   1-2   1-6  3  2   10
Heldman         33   3-6   0-0   0-3  2  1    9
Chukwudebe       7   1-2   0-0   1-2  0  2    2
Abdullah         4   0-0   0-0   0-0  1  0    0
Notree           8   0-2   0-0   0-1  0  1    0
Freeman          1   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Johnson         21   1-3   3-4   0-1  2  4    5
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 23-48  9-14  2-23 17 21   66
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.479, FT-.643. 
3-Point Goals: 11-22, .500 (Garris 4-7, Gandy 1-2, Turner 3-6, Heldman 3-6, Johnson 0-1). Team rebounds: 5.
Blocked shots: 2 (Chukwudebe 2). 
Turnovers: 14 (Garris 5, Gandy 2, Notree 2, Abdullah,
Chukwudebe, Heldman, Johnson, Turner). 
Steals: 9 (Garris 3, Chukwudebe 2, Turner 2, Heldman,
Johnson).
MICHIGAN ST (63)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Smith           32   3-4   1-2  3-12  3  2    7
Garavaglia      35  7-13   2-6   0-8  2  2   16
Peterson        15   1-2   0-0   1-1  1  4    3
Weathers        32  8-15   2-4   0-0  1  2   20
Cleaves         33   4-8   1-3   0-4  6  3    9
Kelley          23   0-3   2-4   0-0 21  1    2
Mull            14   1-4   0-0   0-0  0  3    3
Polonowski       9   1-1   0-0   2-4  1  2    2
Granger          1   0-0   1-2   0-0  0  0    1
Klein            3   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Wiley            3   0-0   0-0   0-1  0  0    0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 25-50  9-21  6-30 35 19   63
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.500, FT-.429. 
3-Point Goals: 4-12, .333 (Garavaglia 0-1, Peterson 1-1,
Weathers 2-4, Cleaves 0-2, Kelley 0-1, Mull 1-3).
Team rebounds: 4. 
Blocked shots: 4 (Wiley, Kelley, Cleaves, Peterson). 
Turnovers: 16 (Cleaves 6, Smith 4, Kelley 2, Mull, Peterson,
Polonowski, Weathers). 
Steals: 7 (Smith 2, Cleaves, Kelley, Peterson, Polonowski, Weathers).
__________________________________
Illinois           32   34  -   66
Michigan St        31   32  -   63
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None.  
A: 12,975. 
Officials: Joe Poliak, Jerry Loeber, Frank Michale.

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