MSU head coach Tom Izzo wanted his team to play better defense. Check.
He wanted them to do it without falling prey to foul trouble that has plagued it at times this season. Check.
And he wanted all five players on the floor to go after every rebound. Check.
The No. 12 Spartans responded on all counts, allowing a season-low 52 points and more than doubling up Purdue (8-14 overall, 2-9 Big Ten) on the boards in a 77-52 win Wednesday at Breslin Center — their sixth win in seven games.
The Spartans (18-5, 6-3) are one of three teams tied for second in the Big Ten.
Senior center Paul Davis led all players with 22 points. Senior guard Maurice Ager had 16, and junior guard Shannon Brown added 14.
The Spartans only led by two at halftime but started to pull away slowly before a 10-1 run midway through the second half put the game on ice.
Much to Izzo's delight, redshirt freshman forward Marquise Gray was the only Spartan in foul trouble. MSU only committed 16 fouls and had 12 more attempts from the free-throw line.
The Spartans also made good on Izzo's challenge from last week to improve on the boards. They more than doubled Purdue's rebounding total (38-18) and, in the first half, had more offensive rebounds (9) than Purdue had total rebounds (8).
"They were quicker to the ball," Purdue head coach Matt Painter said. "Usually if you just kick somebody on the boards like that, you're going to win pretty handily."
MSU had 24 assists on 29 baskets, led by sophomore guard Drew Neitzel's six. Neitzel also scored 11 points — his fourth double-figure scoring performance in the last five games.
Tempers flared during the second half when Purdue forward Gary Ware grabbed senior forward Matt Trannon's arm on a rebound attempt, yanked him down hard and words were exchanged. After a lengthy conference, the referees assessed a personal foul on Ware and technical fouls on both he and Trannon.
Ager made one of the two technical free throws, then hit a double-clutch jumper in the lane to put MSU up 14.
"(Wednesday) looked like the championship team that ran all over the court and chased the balls," Painter said.
Early in the first half, Davis fell to the ground to save a loose rebound. He passed it to Brown, who went coast to coast, was blocked, recovered his own miss, forced it in and got fouled.
Those were the kinds of plays Izzo said he stressed to his team beforehand.
"Let's not win the skills test, let's not win the white-collar tests, let's win the effort-related stats," Izzo said.
Staff writer Matt Bishop contributed to this report.
Tom Keller can be reached at kellert1@msu.edu.
