Michigan State (12-6, 4-3 Big Ten) fell just short against No. 3 Purdue (17-1, 6-1 Big Ten) in a 64-63 loss at the Breslin Center on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Before mulling over the deciding factors in a back-and-forth game that produced the razor thin result, Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo expressed gratitude for being able to honor the holiday.

“I wanna say it was a privilege on one of the greatest days in our nation, Martin Luther King Day…It’s an honor to get chosen to play that day,” Izzo said. “And I told my team that's one of the privileges of being at Michigan State is being wanted on the events that are big events, whether it be an aircraft carrier, whether it be Martin Luther King Day, you have the opportunity to do stuff that a lot of people just dream of doing.

"So we watched a little bit of the 'I Have a Dream' (speech) this morning and I had a dream that turned into a little bit of a nightmare," Izzo added.

MSU started the game by making two of its first three shots from the field to take an early edge, but missed its next eight attempts. Eight first half turnovers negated the Spartans’ fortune in defending Purdue center Zach Edey early, who shoots 62.9% on the year.

“We lost the game in the first minute, (with) the ridiculous turnovers that first five minutes,” Izzo said. “A.J. (Hoggard) looked like he reverted back to last year. We looked like we were out of sorts.”

Despite Izzo’s disdain, MSU remained seemingly within striking distance until Purdue took its largest lead at 24-11 with 5:47 to go in the half. From that point until 16:27 in the second half, Purdue failed to convert on an attempt from the field. That’s 9:20 of game time that elapsed until MSU bobbled a rebound that fell harmlessly to an unsuspecting Edey, who put it back for the easiest two points he had all day.

Michigan State guard Tyson Walker, who had 30 points on the afternoon, turned it over on the ensuing possession, and Purdue guard Fletcher Loyer made a 3-pointer to tie the game at 32. The baskets by Edey and Loyer halted a 21-3 MSU run over that stretch as the Spartans looked as if they’d start to pull away.

“We battled back and physically out-rebounded them,” Izzo said. “It was just a slugfest, people getting thrown around underneath the basket. We out-rebounded the best rebounding team in the Big Ten and maybe one of the best rebounding teams in the country. We out-shot them, missed a couple of key free throws, a couple of tough calls, a couple of bad plays early that we just couldn't catch up from and Purdue's a hell of a team.”

MSU shot 10 free throws, but missed three of them, including two by Hoggard at a crucial junction in the second half. When the game is decided by one point, these are the things you look back as game-alerting factors.

The Spartans seemingly had an answer to each one of these mishaps, but it came down to Purdue’s final possession with 10 seconds remaining. The Boilermakers were able to get it to Edey on the block who converted for another two of his 32 points on the day.

“I could have doubled (Edey)," Izzo said. “The reason Fletcher Loyer probably didn't and (Braden) Smith didn't go off is cause we didn't (double), because those two have been on fire lately… I had picked my poison. If I had to do it over again, I'd pick the same poison.”

Izzo stuck true to his usual game plan against Purdue’s historically staggering big men, playing mostly one-on-one in hopes of limiting the Boilermakers’ opportunities on the perimeter.

Walker’s heave from deep did not fall on the Spartans’ final shot, and MSU and Izzo left feeling like they let another one slip away.

“It makes me sick just because I thought there was so many different ways that we could have won,” Izzo said.

Had the Spartans gathered the rebound before it made its way to Edey for the momentum-altering dunk, made any of their three missed attempts from the line, or taken better care of the ball in a first half, MSU may very well be looking back on a gutsy win over a top-three team.

Now Michigan State prepares to face Rutgers on Thursday after dropping two-straight Big Ten games, with forward Malik Hall’s availability in question for the foreseeable future.

“We were trying to win the game for (Hall) because he's crushed,” Izzo said. “I appreciate that Malik (Hall) handled it so well and we still don't know exactly what's going on…We didn't hold anything back. We knew he wasn't gonna play today, but specialists just looked at it today and he had a meeting with him by Zoom during our game. So nothing looks good in the immediate future, but whether it's the full year or not, we don't know.”

Still, Izzo credited his team’s resolve in the effort against the first place team in the Big Ten.

“This was arguably the number one, two or three team in the country, and we're still standing,” Izzo said.

“There aren't many times I go into losing locker room and thank my team for competing, tell them how proud I was of them for competing," Izzo added. "I believe we competed well enough to win the game and give (Purdue) credit. They made a couple of plays at the end to win it and we didn’t."