Besides being back to class Tuesday, the Illini men’s basketball team will also be back on its home court.

After dropping back-to-back Big Ten contests last Tuesday at Penn State and Saturday at No. 18 Wisconsin, No. 23 Illinois (13-5, 3-2 Big Ten) is set to return to the Assembly Hall on Tuesday to battle No. 17 Michigan State (12-5, 4-1 Big Ten).

For Illinois head coach Bruce Weber, the losing streak hasn’t been easy to take.

“It is painful,” Weber said. “You put a lot of time in, your staff puts a lot of time in.

“I’m just disappointed in our performance the last two games. We lost the play hard chart; I didn’t think we were great in execution. That’s what’s really, to me, just as painful as the loss,” Weber added. “When you throw in just having to be a parent to 13, 14 kids and deal with all the ups and downs, it can be mentally draining.”

The last two games have been just the opposite for Michigan State, as the Spartans ride a two-game winning streak into Champaign after defeating both Northwestern and Wisconsin in overtime last week.

When the Illini last challenged the Spartans, the Fighting Illini came away with the 78-73 victory on ESPN College GameDay on Feb. 6, 2010.

“It was one of the coolest moments of my college career so far, the crowd storming the court, being part of that, College GameDay, everything like that, students were amped up,” sophomore forward Tyler Griffey said. “I’m sure they’re going to be amped up again. It’s going to be a great environment and a fun game to play in.”

This year’s Spartans are led by senior Kalin Lucas, who averages 14.7 points. But the guard, who missed the final seven games of the regular Big Ten season due to injury a year ago, may not have played his best basketball yet this season.

“When you don’t play basketball for a long period of time, it takes a while to come back,” Weber said. “And I think he shows some signs of that, but he’s still trying to figure it out.”

Joining Lucas to lead the offensive charge for Michigan State is junior Draymond Green. The forward averages 12.8 points and 8.9 boards.

Senior forward Mike Davis will likely be assigned to guard Green. And after allowing Wisconsin forward Jon Leuer to go off for 26 points on Saturday, Davis said he needs to improve.

“I didn’t do a good job on Leuer. A little bit of it is due to the refs because of the hand check and all that kind of stuff, I didn’t want to be too physical and get another foul,” Davis said. “I got to do a better job because if Draymond (Green) goes for 26, we’re going to lose.”

Weber has been preaching the importance of defending home court all season, especially if the Illini want to contend for the Big Ten title.

So far, the Orange and Blue are 9-0 at the Hall. And the message hasn’t been lost on senior forward Bill Cole.

“You never want to lose two games in a row, but it’s awfully important that you don’t lose three. So this game’s huge,” Cole said. “There’s always up and downs in a season. It’s important that you don’t ever panic or you don’t ever get too high, so we’re trying to stay somewhere in the middle and get a ‘W’ against Michigan State.”