Losing to Purdue had started to become too common place in recent years for Michigan State. Entering Tuesday’s matchup, the Boilermakers had won five straight against the Spartans and nine of the last ten overall meetings.

This time, in a game absolutely critical to both team’s chances at a Big Ten title, Tom Izzo and MSU finally got 'em in a 75-66 win on Tuesday.

“This team has owned us,” Izzo said after the game. “They really have. The last few years, they’ve owned us because they’re well-coached. They’ve got a good team; guys were classy after the game. I felt like these two programs kind of mirror each other in a lot of ways, and I felt fortunate and good to win a game like that.”

“There’s a lot of respect for them,” said guard Jaden Akins. “They had a win streak on us, so I knew today that we needed to get a win by any means necessary. So I’m just going to enjoy this win and get ready for the next game.”

The respect had always been there between Izzo and Purdue head coach Matt Painter, who have been going at it for 20 seasons now and entered Tuesday with a combined 1,193 wins at their respective programs.

“I’ve known him for a really long time, and he’s done it the right way,” Painter said about Izzo. “He’s worked. It’s hard man, (not just) batting everybody else in competition, but battling your own people.

“I think people don’t understand that; the people that support you, you battle also. Because when you raise your expectations you go to eight Final Fours and 10 Big Ten (regular season) championships, people expect that. As a coach, what people expect from you is your best year, so if he doesn’t win the national championship, win the Big Ten, he’s shit, right? And we all know he’s really good.”

What Michigan State is now doing is letting the conference and the nation know that it can go out and legitimately beat good teams. The Spartans beat Illinois by 14 on the road on Saturday, but that took an extended 64-34 run and 42-24 margin in a second half that MSU can’t rely on to show up every time in late February and March.

Simply put, the Spartans were able to exert some replicable control on the Boilermakers in that second half. Purdue was never within one possession of Michigan State in the final 19 minutes of action, despite the halftime margin just being two points in favor of the home team.

Part of the reason for that is because every single thing for Purdue’s stars Braden Smith, Trey Kaufman-Renn and Fletcher Loyer was difficult to earn. They got their stats — Smith had 17 points and eight assists and Kaufman-Renn scored 24 — but it was some of the little things that led to the Boilermakers’ lowest scoring output in a month. For example, Smith had six turnovers, tied for the most he’s had all season.