It's hard to imagine the MSU men's basketball team had any losing streaks associated with its 20-4 record.

The two streaks that have lingered over the team for two years were seemingly erased from the current scouting report and filed into the history books Thursday as the No. 10 Spartans knocked off No. 20 Wisconsin, 77-64.

Now, a 12-game losing streak to ranked teams - which goes back to 2003 when MSU beat Maryland - no longer sits on the Spartans' backs. The undefeated streak that Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan held for six games and three years over MSU head coach Tom Izzo and the Spartans is no longer a roadblock on MSU's path to a championship of some kind.

"I was thinking some people are going to have to find other things to write about," junior center Paul Davis said. "We're taking care of a lot of stuff right now."

Now there's a big win to put on MSU's NCAA Tournament résumé. A big win over the Badgers that adds to dominating wins over Stanford, UCLA, Minnesota and Ohio State this season.

MSU's four losses came at then-No. 10 Duke, a then-hot George Washington team, Wisconsin at the Kohl Center and No. 1 Illinois.

The Spartans are likely to get a No. 2 seed in the Big Ten Tournament and could grab as high as a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

MSU did what Izzo has searched for all season - the Spartans dove for loose balls, fought for offensive rebounds and even blocked shots.

"The bottom line is, we really did a heck of a job sticking to our game plan for 40 minutes," Izzo said.

Before the game, Izzo said senior swingman Alan Anderson had to have a big game, and Anderson answered with 11 points in the first seven minutes and a career-high 28 points.

It appeared all the players battled for offensive rebounds and the Spartans guards got their hands on Badgers passes all over the court.

Now the bitter memories of a temporary one-sided rivalry against Wisconsin can be tossed away with the sore memory of MSU watching an eight-point lead slip away in the final two minutes earlier this season.

"It feels good," Anderson said of beating Wisconsin. "They took a lot from us, our streak, a couple championships. We had a lot of chances to do a lot of things for champions."

We wanted this game. We had to get this game. And we got it."