Here’s a position-by-position breakdown of the Spartans and Boilermakers:

Guards

Purdue’s Chris Kramer and MSU’s Walton cancel one another out as lockdown defenders. Purdue has E’Twaun Moore, while the Spartans have the sophomore guard duo of Kalin Lucas and Durrell Summers. Not even the defending Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year can lock up two guys, so MSU gets the advantage on the basis of depth.

Advantage — MSU

Forwards/centers

Can you imagine if this game actually was for the Big Ten Championship? With both teams being so evenly matched, it’s going to be a great game regardless, but if there was a little extra riding on it, the game would get out of control. Purdue’s JaJuan Johnson could be the runner-up to Lucas in the Big Ten Player of the Year voting, while Big Ten Preseason Player of the Year Robbie Hummel proved his back was more than fine with 11 points against MSU on Feb. 17. Center Suton, junior forward Raymar Morgan and company are very talented players, but Hummel and Johnson get the slight edge.

Advantage — Purdue

Bench

The comeback of Morgan will move Summers back to the bench eventually, and when it does it will make the Spartans that much more dangerous. The sweet-shooting of Summers and sophomore guard Chris Allen, the quickness of freshman guard Korie Lucious and the toughness of freshman forward Draymond Green make this an easy decision.

Advantage — MSU

Coaches

Purdue head coach Matt Painter was just announced as a finalist for a National Coach of the Year award. MSU head coach Tom Izzo has won four of them. Enough said.

Advantage — MSU

Intangibles

It’s Senior Day for Gray, Ibok, Suton and Walton, and that’s all that matters. There’s no way a fiery leader like Walton is going to want to lose his last home game, which means there’s no way it’s going to happen. That’s the definition of intangibles.

Advantage — MSU