The Illini's bumbling with the ball and struggles to bottle up perimeter shooters tripped them up Friday in Indianapolis

The Illini entered a Big Ten tournament quarterfinal matchup against No. 2 seed Maryland on a four-game winning streak that included total domination at Michigan, a gutsy comeback against Purdue and a 106-point binge against Iowa here Thursday. They’re also healthy and whole again — finally — and had started to seem mighty dangerous.

Michigan State’s late surge carried over to the start of the postseason. After winning a Big Ten title last week, the top seeded Spartans beat No. 8 seed Oregon 74-64 in a conference tournament quarterfinal on Friday afternoon in Indianapolis.