Michigan State men's basketball secured their fifth straight win - this time over 11th-ranked Wisconsin - on Sunday afternoon at the Breslin Center.

Over its last five matchups, Michigan State has had a number of different players step up offensively when the team needed them the most. It makes sense that offense has been the talk of the town, from game-winning buzzer beaters to career high nights; but the unsung hero of these past few wins has been MSU's ability to shut down good shooting teams on the defensive end of the court.

The Spartans have exceeded expectations and now hold a five-game win streak over the toughest opponents the conference could offer.

In their matchups against Illinois, Michigan, Purdue, and Maryland, the Spartans held their opponents without a field goal in the final four minutes of each contest. Against Wisconsin, the trend changed only slightly with MSU allowing one bucket in the final minutes.

Your defense travels," started head coach Tom Izzo. "It does. Doesn't matter where you play. It doesn't matter where you are."

Izzo has been impressed by how well so many of his guys can guard, listing off almost every guy on his roster during his postgame press conference, applauding their defensive abilities at different points in this heavy five game stretch.

"Jeremy [Fears] can guard, Tre [Holloman] can guard, Jaden [Akins] [can guard]," said Izzo. "Jase [Richardson] is a budding defender. He's gotten so much better. [Carson] Cooper is an elite defender, and Coen [Carr] (is too) when he comes in."

In the locker room, the players echoed their coach's comments about their team defense.

Richardson feels his teammates excel on defense during crunch time.

"10 minutes left, we know we got to get stops," said Richardson. "I feel like its a group effort defensively. We try to shut down everybody. I saw a stat like last 17 minutes of each of the last three games we've held people scoreless."

Richardson has been having one on one time with Izzo to watch film and discuss defense.

"He's been calling me in, watching film together," shared Richardson. "Kind of just showing me my minutes. Showing what I'm doing right, what I'm doing wrong and what to improve on. I feel like the on-ball and off-ball defense has definitely gotten better over the year."