Tisdale the center of attention at Illinois

It doesn't take exhaustive investigation and analysis to conclude this much about Illinois basketball:

Seven-foot-1 junior center Mike Tisdale needs to be on the floor for the Illini to win. And when he's on the floor, his teammates need to pass him the ball.

Since Big Ten play began Dec. 30, Tisdale has averaged 20.3 points, 8.8 rebounds, 2.5 blocks and 35.3 minutes per game in Illinois' 4 wins.

But in Illinois' 2 losses? Tisdale averaged 3.0 points, 0.5 rebounds and no blocks in 15 minutes per game.

He took 1 shot every 3.1 minutes in the wins but just 1 shot every six minutes in the losses.

The bad numbers include Tisdale's "Lost Saturday" at Michigan State, where he picked up 4 fouls before grabbing his only rebound and sinking the 2 free throws that comprised his point total.

"He can't get cheap touch fouls," said Illinois coach Bruce Weber. "He's a marked man. He's a good player. And when we throw it to him, we're pretty effective and people are going to fight him in the post, and he's got to deal with that."

A video review of Illinois' 10-point loss at Michigan State reveals two things:

1. The Spartans so feared Tisdale getting the ball in the post, they did everything possible to prevent entry passes. During the first six minutes of the second half, he drew 4 fouls while posting up. Only one came after he caught the ball.

2. Michigan State did an ingenious job of calling and executing plays that exploited Tisdale on defense.

No. 13 Purdue, which invades Assembly Hall today (8 p.m., ESPN), runs a motion offense and calls relatively few plays.

But one wonders if Boilers coach Matt Painter - and every coach who faces Illinois the rest of the way - will swipe Michigan State's sets in an attempt to get Tisdale in foul trouble:

• At the 16:45 mark of the first half, the Spartans spread out four players above the 3-point arc. That left Tisdale to battle 1-on-1 in the post with Delvon Roe.

Tisdale defended Roe correctly when MSU's Korie Lucious had the ball on the wing. But when Lucious swung the ball to Draymond Green at the top of the key, Roe pinned Tisdale as he tried to regain position, caught Green's bounce pass and drew a foul while banking in a layup.

• Tisdale picked up an offensive foul with 12:37 left in the first half that forced him to sit out until a few seconds before halftime.

MSU's Garrick Sherman used constant contact to shove Tisdale out of the post. When the smaller Green found himself guarding Tisdale after a switch, Tisdale made an assertive move to gain position in the lane. Green brought his right arm down and locked up Tisdale's right arm as the Illini center tried to elevate it, yet official Dan Christman gave the Spartans the call.

The kicker to this play? Illini guard Demetri McCamey had the ball in a place above the 3-point arc where he couldn't possibly have fed it directly to Tisdale, so it was wasted effort by the big man.

• With 16:09 left in the half, MSU coach Tom Izzo called a clearout play for Green.

While the other four Spartans stood on the side of the court in front of MSU's bench, Green took the ball from the left edge of the free-throw line and drove right at Tisdale for a layup and free throw.

There wasn't much contact, but Tisdale couldn't move his feet quickly enough to stop Green.

• More Izzo ingenuity. Kalin Lucas, playing off guard, stood on the baseline with Illinois' Jeff Jordan with 14 minutes left in the game.

(Remember, Tisdale already had drawn 4 MSU fouls in the second half at the other end of the court. The Spartans needed to do something.)

Lucas gave Jordan a quick shove to gain separation and skipped through a double screen that knocked Jordan out of the play.

Lucas took a pass at the top of the key, blazed past 6-10 Mike Davis on the ineffective switch and dribbled down the lane directly toward Tisdale.

Again, there wasn't a ton of contact as Lucas missed his scoop layup, but the foul knocked Tisdale out with his fourth foul at a crucial time in the game.

Tisdale walked to the bench and told Weber he didn't do anything wrong, but officials keep telling him differently.

"We've worked a lot on footwork," Weber said. "He's got to work on the mental part of it, just keeping his poise. He can't just keep doing the same things. He's got to learn to change if he's going to make some progress and stay in the games."

Here's why Tisdale must stay in games: Illinois and seventh-ranked Michigan State played to a tie during Tisdale's 19 minutes on the floor. The Spartans won by 10 during his 21 minutes on the bench.