Scouting: Michigan St. @ Illinois

Michigan St. (12-5, 4-1) at Illinois (13-5, 3-2)

When: 6 p.m. at Assembly Hall

TV: ESPN

Radio: WIND 560-AM

The skinny: It's weird to think that a Michigan State visit doesn't represent the highlight of Illinois' week, but new No. 1 Ohio State shows up Saturday. Nonetheless, the 17th-ranked Spartans are a crucial test for the No. 23 Illini. Tom Izzo finally settled on a smaller and quicker lineup that features three guards at almost all times, which will be a challenge for the lanky Illini. Either the Illini must force-feed the ball to Mike Tisdale and Mike Davis in the post to score over Delvon Roe and Draymond Green ... or they're going to need lots of help from Brandon Paul and Jereme Richmond off the bench. Yes, Richmond returned to practice Sunday and Illini coach Bruce Weber had this to say Monday: “You know, Jereme had some personal issues he wanted to deal with. We talked and talked and then he went home and talked with his family. He came back. He was in Madison and he was at practice yesterday and hopefully be a valuable member of our team down the stretch run.”