The Spartans' win over Illinois bought breathing room against one of the Big Ten's most dangerous title contenders.

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.

After going down early, Michigan State basketball survived a nail-biter vs. Illinois to stay undefeated and alone at the top if the Big Ten.

As long as Tom Izzo is the head coach of the Michigan State Spartans, they’re not a team that should be overlooked.

Illinois basketball coach Brad Underwood was less than thrilled with the officiating crew during Sunday's loss to Michigan State.

MSU, which is ranked No. 12 in the USA Today Coaches Poll, is coming off a 90-85 victory over Penn State on Jan. 15 in East Lansing. Illinois (13-4, 5-2 Big Ten) is ranked No. 20 in the Coaches Poll and is coming off a 94-69 win over Indiana in its most recent game on Jan. 11.

The No. 12 Michigan State Spartans picked up their 11th straight win with an 80-78 triumph over Big Ten foe and 19th-ranked Illinois on Sunday. BIG WIN FOR SPARTY ‼️ No. 12 Michigan State defeats No. 19 Illinois in a heavyweight Big Ten matchup pic.twitter.com/BXNzjLVqlY

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,