The Spartans learned a valuable lesson the hard way — the power of two. When Indiana’s captain and Big Ten Player of the Year favorite D.J. White went down with a knee injury with less than five minutes remaining in the first half, freshman phenom Eric Gordon filled White’s shoes and tallied a game-high 28 points.

But MSU senior guard Drew Neitzel, who led the team with 21 points, was hung out to dry without an accomplice. Sophomore forward Raymar Morgan was out of sight all evening and it was too late by the time freshman guard Kalin Lucas got into any sort of a rhythm.

Even with White on the bench, who averages 17.1 points and 10.2 rebounds per game, MSU’s junior center Goran Suton couldn’t establish a post presence. Indiana outscored the Spartans 40-20 inside the paint.

MSU stunned a color-coordinated, fired-up Assembly Hall crowd for the first seven minutes of the game, jumping out to a 15-4 lead. Neitzel had 10 points in that span and the Spartans limited the Hoosiers to two field goals in the first seven minutes of play.

“Defensively, I don’t think we could have done a better job the first 12 minutes,” MSU head coach Tom Izzo said. “We played our tail off, we covered everything. Then boom, boom, boom — two or three turnovers led to dunks or layups.”

While White was the only Hoosier to score before a DeAndre Thomas jump shot at 11:35 in the first half, it was as though White’s injury was just the remedy for an out-hustled Indiana team.

When White came down, hurting his knee, the Hoosiers were leading, 29-26. From the time he hobbled to the locker room until the clock showed 0.0, the Spartans never cut it any closer.

“Losing D.J. White when we did, you are just not quite sure how a team will react because he’s our captain and our leader,” Indiana head coach Kelvin Sampson said.

“But I can’t tell you how proud I am of (Thomas). He deserves a lot of credit for keeping his attitude at a high level and having confidence and believing in himself.”

Thomas, one of four Hoosiers to score in double figures, finished with 10 points and four rebounds. It also was the first time all season the Spartans allowed an opponent to shoot better than 50 percent from the field (54 percent) and it was the second highest 3-point percent age (44 percent) allowed this season.

Sampson couldn’t help but display his emotions toward the end of the game, embracing his players out of a timeout while the crowd chanted his name. He was cited with five NCAA recruiting violations this week and his fate in Indiana now lies in the hands of the athletics department.

“The game is about these kids,” said Sampson, who declined to comment on the specific situation. “Basketball is so much bigger than one person. The game will always be about the players. I am happy for them. You just can’t go anywhere and not see the situation.”

The Spartans continue play against Penn State at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Breslin Center.

“We’re not going to win this week playing games like this,” Neitzel said. “We still have a lot to play for. We have to band together and play for each other.”