When Purdue beat Wisconsin on Saturday, many around the Big Ten were left scratching their heads.
After all, the Boilermakers had won only one of their nine Big Ten games to that point. They're the only team in the conference averaging fewer points a game than its opponents this season. They lost forward Carl Landry — the Big Ten's top returning scorer — for the season with a knee injury and are without two other double-digit scorers: guards Nate Minnoy (knee injury) and Korey Spates (dismissed from team).
So excuse MSU head coach Tom Izzo for not being one of the people whose jaw hit the ground when Purdue won. He's seen the Boilermakers come close to doing the same thing all season long.
In Ann Arbor on Jan. 7, they led Michigan for most of the game, until the Wolverines rallied late to win by three.
They were on the brink of beating Northwestern on Jan. 25, until Craig Moore's 3-pointer with less than a second left in regulation forced overtime, when the Wildcats pulled away.
And a week ago, they led Iowa by as many as 11 in the second half, until scorching-hot shooting by Jeff Horner lifted the Hawkeyes to a late victory.
"(Purdue) didn't just play well in stretches in those games; they played well for the majority of a lot of those games and coulda, shoulda won some of them," Izzo said. "They're sitting there with two wins and they could easily have four or five."
Izzo hopes to avoid the Badgers' fate when the Spartans host Purdue at 8 p.m. tonight at Breslin Center.
"We're all resigned to the fact that anybody in this league can beat anybody," Izzo said. "There's never an off night. There's never a night where you can just relax. And every time you think you can, as we learned, somebody smacks you."
But while upsets such as Purdue's give the Spartans some help in the standings, Izzo said he's not sure they always help the league's reputation.
"I always think it hurts it some, and I don't think it's fair," Izzo said. "If your top two or three teams don't carry that flag, I think the conference is looked down upon. I think the image of the conference is based more on the marquee teams; the strength of the conference is based more on the total teams. You would think they should go together, but I don't think they do."
Purdue forward Matt Kiefer has picked up the scoring slack for his fallen teammates, averaging just less than 15 points a game in conference play.
Kiefer will have his hands full with MSU senior center Paul Davis, who returned to the lineup Saturday after missing the previous game with a gash on his head. Davis, who's averaging 18 points a game, said he's not feeling any lingering effects from the injury.
"I'm back," Davis said. "I'm feeling fine. I don't see it hindering me anymore."
The Spartans have made big strides in recent weeks in rebounding (they had a plus-16 advantage on the glass at Northwestern) and defense (their last five opponents are shooting less than 37 percent), but with games against the conference leaders looming down the stretch, they can't afford a letdown against the Boilermakers.
"They're going to be coming in here confident," sophomore guard Drew Neitzel said. "This is a key stretch for us now, and we've just got to stay consistent."
