Although Nix — at 6-foot-9, 250 pounds — wasn’t mistaken by anyone as a point guard in the No. 6 MSU men’s basketball team’s 62-34 throttling of Nebraska on Saturday at Breslin Center, he did his best impersonation. Nix finished with a career-high five assists and put the exclamation point on the win with a one-man fastbreak dunk with about 14 minutes to play.

“I was hoping the ball boys would watch out,” head coach Tom Izzo said after the win.

Nix’s Dunk put the Spartans (24-5 overall, 13-4 Big Ten) ahead by 20 points in a game that saw another dominating defensive performance from MSU and another milestone reached by senior forward Draymond Green.

Grabbing his 10th rebound of the game with about five minutes to play, Green became the fourth Spartan to collect 1,000 rebounds in his career.

More importantly, though, the win put the Spartans, who now lead Michigan by two games and Ohio State by a game and a half in the Big Ten standings, one step closer to a conference championship.

The first half was a sloppy one for both teams, as neither seemed to be able to find much of a flow. Nebraska (12-15, 4-12) missed its first five shots and committed two turnovers before forward Brandon Ubel’s tip-in put the Cornhuskers on the board at the 15:14 mark.

MSU started the game much better, scoring the first seven points and forcing Nebraska into contested shots late in the shot clock. The Spartans looked to run away with the game early, but the Cornhuskers adjusted.

“I thought we really brought a lot of energy when we came out,” Izzo said. “(We) played awfully hard, awfully well for five, six, seven minutes. And then give them some credit, they started doubling that post hard, and I just didn’t think we were ready for it.”

Nebraska forced MSU into eight first half turnovers after the Spartans committed just five in the entirety of Wednesday’s win over Minnesota. And despite MSU shooting 9-for-18 (50 percent) in the first half, The Cornhuskers were able to hang around, trailing 23-15 at the break.

But as it has all season, the Spartans’ defense set the tone with the offense struggling. After holding Nebraska to 15 in the first half, MSU allowed just another 19 points in the second half, when the Spartans exploded for 39 and sealed the win with a 21-2 run.

“That’s been the key thing for us all year,” said Green, who led all scorers with 20 points. “We really feel like if we defend and rebound, our offense is going to come.”

The Spartans held the Cornhuskers to 29.2 percent shooting, and the 34 points allowed is a season low. Meanwhile, MSU — while facing some zone — shot 59 percent from the field, including 9-for-18 from the long line.

Next up for the Spartans is a trip to Bloomington, Ind., on Tuesday to take on No. 23 Indiana. Then it’s back home for the last game of the regular season Sunday against No. 8 Ohio State. In each game, MSU will have a chance to clinch at least a share of the Big Ten title.

And although it won’t be easy to beat either the Hoosiers or Buckeyes, Izzo said it’s exactly the way he wants to play this out.

“I think that’s the best part of the whole deal right now,” Izzo said. “Destiny is in our hands. It would probably be the most earned (championship) out of all of them.”