Illinois' defense is trending in the wrong direction.

After allowing 24 points with 6 minutes, 32 seconds left, Illinois dropped the road contest to Michigan State, making the road to a regular-season conference title an uphill battle that would require help from the rest of the conference. It becomes necessary. It was yet another mediocre defensive performance for a unit that is trending in the wrong direction as the season approaches its home line.

“I hope we get better,” Illinois coach Brad Underwood said of his defense after Saturday's 88-80 loss to the Spartans. “Again, when you give up 23 points in transition on turnovers, it will happen and it will happen. You know, we probably blew three or four switches tonight as well. But the defense We caused the mistake.'' We have to clean it up. ”

Michigan State used pick-and-rolls to create space throughout the afternoon, going to Malik Hall in the late post, while capitalizing on a series of post mismatches late in the game to take the lead.

The University of Illinois also forced overtime by forcing the Cornhuskers, led by Keio Tominaga, to win, but their defense has given up 75 points or more in four of the past five games. The Illini have only allowed opponents that many points in four of his first 18 games.

“I think we'll just have our personnel in place and just defend,” Coleman Hawkins said. “Guard somebody and just give it your all. It's the last few minutes where you make stops and take care of the ball. You know, we've had a lot of trouble with our older guys who have been playing minutes behind. “Because we won, we know how to finish the game. So I don't think it's anything, but we just have to adjust more. I think it's just

The power forward position was where the Illini struggled the most defensively late against Hall, with Quincy Guerrier and Luke Goode being thrown in for Hall late and each had their ups and downs defensively.

Guerrier committed four fouls in just 14 minutes, while Good was brought down multiple times in the final few possessions. Hawkins also had some foul trouble, which affected his ability to be aggressive in the rotation and roam the paint in the second half. Underwood chose not to use Ty Rogers, one of the team's top defenders, until the end. He clocked the final 4 minutes and 39 seconds.

“There's a lot of stuff going on with the offense and what's going on. At a certain point, it's just doing your job,” Underwood said of not playing against Rodgers. “They worked all night, or most of the night, and I was very good. Malik (Hall) was trying to shoot hard twos. We put Coleman there. You had him sitting there, right? There was nowhere for him to go. There are a lot of factors that go into these decisions.”

Terrence Shannon Jr. has seemed to be on the upswing in recent weeks after returning from suspension at the end of January.

He scored a game-high 28 points against the Spartans and has averaged 26.3 points over the last three games since shaking off the rust. His ability in transition and ability to take tough shots helped energize Illinois' offense before it collapsed late.

“TJ was great for us,” Marcus Domask said. “He hit a lot of big shots and got out in transition. He was just playing great all around. That's what makes our team and takes us to a different level. Obviously, we… We've got to step up and be around him and support him and we'll win this game. But with him doing that, we'll win more games than not. It will happen.”