CHICAGO — Maybe the sine of the angle of trajectory was miscalculated. Or it could've been that the slight wind friction created from the United Center air conditioning wasn't taken into account, in a thermodynamic sense.

One way or another, Northwestern threw away their best chance at victory Thursday afternoon, falling 62-57 to Michigan State, when Jeremy Nash failed to connect with teammate Craig Moore who was no more than 10 feet away, without a Michigan State defender in sight.

Having trailed for almost the entire game, the Wildcats finally had a chance to take control, holding the ball, and down three with just under 20 seconds to go, when Nash threw the ball away.

"And then the last play, Jeremy did everything right. He was on Neitzel, he defended great, he rebounded the ball well," Moore said. "I don't remember if I called for the ball or not, but I kind of looked over at coach to see what he was doing, I looked at the clock and then the ball flew past my face."

Northwestern head coach Bill Carmody said there really wasn't much that could be done.

"What can you say, that's part of playing basketball. Stuff like that happens," Carmody said. "What are you going to say? We all wish it was different, but you're playing basketball. I told the kid to keep his chin up. That's all you can do."

Michigan State (22-10) now will gear up to play Wisconsin yet again, in a tiebreaker match for the season series.

"We're going to get ready for Wisconsin, looking forward to that," Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said.

Drew Neitzel made five of his seven 3-pointers and added six assists (without a turnover) to lead the Spartans, while Northwestern (13-18) was led by Moore and freshman Kevin Coble, who each poured in 15 points.

In his final game, Wildcat legend Tim Doyle managed nine points, six assists and five turnovers, joining the likes of Magic Johnson and Isaiah Thomas in finishing the year with more than 350 points, 150 assists, 100 rebounds and 50 steals, becoming just the 14th player to achieve that feat.

Down 10 with just 1:23 to go, the usually offensively challenged Northwestern exploded, drawing to within three with just seconds remaining, before Nash's pass got away from him.

"And yet, I'll continue to say this, not to give Bill (Carmody) credit, but that team deserves some credit. They made some plays, they made some shots," Izzo said. "Well, it's hard to feel great and yet again, as I told my guys, Northwestern is a hard team to play against. I think it's one of the harder teams to prep against."

Illinois 66, Penn State 60

Penn State couldn't have asked for a better beginning. Basically on the road against a pro-Illinois crowd at the United Center, the bottom-seeded Nittany Lions jumped out to a 13-2 lead in the opening minutes of their contest against the sixth-seeded Illini.

However, it wasn't meant to be that easy, as Illinois answered with a 16-1 run to take the lead, one they wouldn't relinquish despite the best efforts of Mike Walker.

"We needed somebody to make some shots," Penn State head coach Ed DeChellis said. "We weren't shooting the ball very well. Mike stepped up and made some big baskets for us, so we kept trying to get him the basketball, and he continued to make some shots for us down the stretch, which was very important."

Down by as many as 16, Penn State slowly chipped away at the margin, eventually paring the Illinois lead to just two with 1:38 left, with the help of an effective full-court press and the outstanding shooting of Walker, who made a Big Ten tournament record seven 3-pointers, en route to 22 points.

Illinois was carried by the strong outside shooting of Chester Frazier, who made five 3-pointers and had 21 points. Warren Carter chipped in 19, while Shaun Pruitt was only a basket shy of a double-double, with eight points and 10 rebounds.

"You scout guys all season long and you know they do one thing and then they come out and they play big," Walker said. "[Frazier] stepped up. He's a player in the Big Ten. He's going to step up and make shots, and I think that was the difference."

Michigan 49, Minnesota 40

Michigan head coach Tommy Amaker couldn't say it better about his team's 49-40 win over Minnesota Thursday:

"It wasn't a pretty game," Amaker said.

The Wolverines shot just 27 percent in the second half and coughed up a 15-point lead, but were still able to claw past the Gophers in the first round of the Big Ten tournament.

The opening game of the conference tournament didn't open with any fireworks, either. Minnesota missed its first seven shots, but then exchanged runs with Michigan before the Wolverines went into halftime 20-16.

"Both teams were struggling to put it in the basket," said Dion Harris, who led Michigan with 14 points. "We had to convert going into the second half."

The Wolverines held onto the lead after halftime as Michigan and Minnesota combined for the lowest point total in tournament history.

Amaker was coaching as if his job was on the line. Despite a 20-win season, Michigan is on the bubble to make the NCAA tournament and needs a good run in the Big Ten tournament to secure a bid. However, he was not feeling the heat in the ugly game Thursday.

"It's not about me personally," Amaker said. "It's about our team and trying to see if we can advance in this tournament."