“I knew we were going to win,” he said. “I was telling people before we played them. I was messing with their manager in the layup line saying, ‘We’re going to beat you.’ I just knew we were going to win.”

Nix was one of several contributors as the Spartans (22-7 overall, 12-4 Big Ten) moved into a three-way tie in the loss column Sunday in the Big Ten standings with Purdue (24-4 overall, 12-4 Big Ten) and Ohio State (23-7, 13-4).

If the Spartans win their final two regular season games against Penn State and Michigan, they will earn at least a share of the Big Ten title.

MSU was led by much-maligned senior forward Raymar Morgan, who scored a game-high 16 points and grabbed 11 rebounds.

Without starting forward Robbie Hummel, who will miss the rest of the regular season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament, the Boilermakers were unable to find an offensive flow, matched with an increased intensity on the defense end by MSU.

“I thought Michigan State, with one fewer skilled guy (for us), really forced some guys to make an open shot,” Purdue head coach Matt Painter said. “There’s no question when you take a skilled guy out of the lineup and you don’t have the same skill, you’re going to be able to give more attention to (guard E’Twaun Moore) and (forward JuJuan Johnson).”

The Spartans held Purdue to 30 percent shooting from the field. Moore led the Boilermakers with 12 points while Johnson scored 11.

For the Spartans, it was the signature win that men’s basketball head coach Tom Izzo was looking for.

“The only good thing for us to me was it was kind of a tournament win,” he said. “It was just a knock-down, drag-out (game).”

After being outrebounded 31-30 when these teams met Feb. 9, the Spartans took it upon themselves to grab every rebound — and they almost did. The Spartans outrebounded the Boilermakers 46-20.

“(Assistant coach Mike Garland) has been stressing it all week and we’ve been crashing the boards crazy with War Drills all this week and I think it just paid off,” Morgan said. “We worked at it so hard this whole week, it was ridiculous so I’m not surprised.”

The Spartans got into foul trouble before the game even started, it seemed. MSU committed five fouls in the first five minutes and Purdue went into the bonus with nearly 14 minutes still to play in the half.

After MSU was able to calm down and take a lead, the Spartans’ turnover problem began to rear its ugly head again, and as MSU wasted possessions, the Boilermakers made theirs count. Purdue finished the half on a 12-4 run highlighted by two steals and breakaway layups by Purdue guard Chris Kramer. The teams went into the locker room at halftime with Purdue leading 28-26.

As the second half began, the Spartans went back to what was successful for them in the first half: playing in the paint. MSU went on a 6-0 run to start the half with all three buckets coming inside the paint.

The Spartans finished with 25 points in the paint compared to 15 by Purdue.

“We knew we would have the advantage if we went inside, and I felt that every time we went inside, something good happened,” sophomore forward Draymond Green said. “I kept telling the coaches to give me the ball and I made something out of it.”

Green finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds for his sixth double-double of the season.

The Boilermakers cut the Spartans’ lead to 42-38 with less than nine minutes to play and Mackey Arena was buzzing. But while the Spartans’ guards had turnover issues, Green took over the team and scored eight consecutive points for MSU. In one sequence, he missed two layups but grabbed two offensive rebounds and finally put the ball in to give MSU a 50-44 lead with 1:25 to play.

A 3-point shot by Moore rimmed out with one minute to play and an alley-oop dunk by Morgan finished it off.

The Spartans finish the Big Ten season 7-2 on the road and are playing the tough basketball for which Izzo’s teams are known.

“It was the prettiest ugly win I’ve ever had or the ugliest pretty win I’ve ever had,” Izzo said.