Michigan State tries to recover respect

Michigan State is one victory - one colossal victory - from setting itself up for a piece of the Big Ten championship, but today's game at Purdue feels more like a respect recovery mission than a banner grabber for the Spartans.

"We're down but we're not out yet," sophomore forward Draymond Green said. "I think this game can change a lot of things for us."

The No. 14 Spartans (21-7 overall, 11-4 Big Ten) can pull into a tie with No. 3 Purdue (24-3, 12-3) and draw even in the loss column with 13-4 Ohio State, entering the final week of play. They aren't exactly fighting back from the gutter.

It's just that four losses in six games, a blown three-game lead in the standings and persistent talk of intangible shortcomings can drag on a team's confidence and self image. Both were healthy, maybe too healthy, four weeks ago when MSU was 9-0 and alone in first.

"Whenever you can lose four out of six games and STILL be having a chance to win the Big Ten championship, you must have been doing something right," sophomore forward Delvon Roe said. "We've got to get back to that point."

They'll try to do it in Mackey Arena, one of the Big Ten's rowdiest spots and a place that hasn't seen an MSU win since 2005. They'll try to do it against a team missing one of its star players - junior forward Robbie Hummel, who tore the ACL in his right knee Wednesday at Minnesota and is lost for the season.

Hummel's injury is a crusher for Purdue, the Big Ten and college basketball. It seriously hampers the Boilermakers' dreams of reaching the Final Four in nearby Indianapolis.

And it should give the Spartans an advantage today, at least physically. Emotionally, that may be another story. Tom Izzo expects Purdue to respond with a "win one for the Gipper" performance.

"The best thing we can do for Rob is continuing on and pushing on and playing hard," Purdue coach Matt Painter said Friday.

Emotion, cohesion, leadership and toughness are lacking elements at times for this MSU team, Izzo said, and that's how it appeared when Purdue and Ohio State walked out of Breslin Center with victories.

Both games were marked by sustained runs for the Boilermakers and Buckeyes, who took double-digit leads into halftime and withstood MSU second-half rallies.

"We've got enough tough guys but whether they're gonna grit their teeth and not let a run go..." Izzo said. "Have a big stop at the end of the game. That's how championships are won."

MSU fed those runs with defensive lapses and offensive panic. In three straight losses in Mackey, the Spartans have been hit with huge runs, including a 33-4 avalanche in 2007.

Izzo typically saves his timeouts during games, but that may not be the case today.

"Why the runs? Why the depth of the runs, you know?" he said. "I mean, you can have six- and eight-point runs but you can't have 15-0 runs. We've had some of those. I've got to take responsibility for that too.

"I do like to save my timeouts. I always have. And there's a good reason, but usually you have somebody on the floor that settles it down. If I don't have that, I have to use two or three timeouts in the first half, if that's what needs to be done."

MSU's downturn also illuminated the Spartans' physical issues. Their shooting has been erratic, their decision making is suspect at times, and their defense is not always sound.

The lack of a veteran center means Roe and Green have to check bigger players. They will try to deal with Purdue star center JaJuan Johnson today.

Johnson had 19 points in a Feb. 9 win at MSU, and guard E'Twaun Moore had 25. Those two hurt the Spartans more than Hummel, who scored 15.

The Boilermakers still have great players and plenty of inspiration. The Spartans still have to prove to themselves that they're good enough to win games like this.

"If you're a competitor and you want to win, it's not about confidence because you're gonna go play so hard to win and stay in the race that nothing's gonna matter," MSU junior guard Chris Allen said. "So anything could happen. You could break your leg in the game but if you're a competitor you're gonna try to stay in there as long as you can, or do whatever you can to help your team win. So I mean, it's battle time. It's a war now. No more games, it's war. The rest of these games is war."