He and fellow Branden Dawson returned to the starting lineup but only Trice was able to finish the game.

After hitting his head in the first half, Dawson went to the locker room and did not return back into the contest.

Trice, however, took advantage of his last game at home. He played with urgency early, slamming home two dunks in transition to score four of MSU’s first six points in the game.

Before the injury, Dawson was stripped on his own fast-break attempt, but Trice responded defensively. The 6-foot guard swatted away a Purdue shot, and later, he showed his strength as he muscled up a floater to beat the shot clock to cut Purdue’s lead to (14-10).

With both teams jockeying for position in the Big Ten, the first half was the type of grinder you’d expect. In the post especially, Purdue freshman center Isaac Haas and junior center A.J. Hammons went to battle with MSU sophomore forward Gavin Schilling and junior forward Matt Costello.

The four of them went after each other, and emotions boiled over when Hammons drove a shoulder into Costello at mid-court as the Spartans were running into their offense.

A late MSU run before the end of the first half narrowed Purdue’s lead to 30-27, and right out of the gates in the second, junior guard Denzel Valentine scored the first five points to give MSU a 32-30 lead. Notably, Dawson did not start the second half after he slammed his head towards the end of the first.

After his hot start, Valentine appeared to fall awkwardly on his leg and headed to the locker room with the training staff at the 16:42 mark. He returned minutes later to an applause from the Breslin crowd.

Filling in for Schilling and Costello, Wollenman sent a skip to a wide open Marvin Clark in the corner for three put to MSU up 39-33, and the tide began to turn.

Defense was the storyline for MSU in the second half, as the Spartans locked in and held Purdue to just four points for nearly the first ten minutes.

With MSU leading 47-39, sophomore guard Kendall Stephens drained a three to cut the Spartan lead to just five. Trice answered loudly, making back-to-back threes, once again willing his team along.

After pulling down an offensive rebound, Costello weaved his way along the baseline and under the hoop before throwing down a handed-reverse. His dunk blew the top off of an already rocking and extended MSU’s lead to 56-44 at the 3:57 mark.

A three from Purdue’s Stephens narrowed the gap to six points with under a minute left but four MSU free throws led to a bit of breathing room. The Boilermakers hit a couple of threes late, but it wasn’t enough. Trice was able to give a final kiss to the mid-court logo and MSU transitioned to senior night festivities with an important Big Ten win.