The sophomore forward and co-captain gave an impassioned speech at halftime on the MSU men’s basketball team’s 78-73 loss to Illinois before doing some leading on the floor, as well. Green finished with 17 points and 16 rebounds, a career high in boards, in a Herculean effort for the beleaguered and shorthanded Spartans.

“He’s a warrior, just a warrior,” MSU head coach Tom Izzo said. “He just grits his teeth and doesn’t care about all the flash and dash. He is the perfect Spartan. He’s just a blue-collared workhorse and I’m going to ride him like a jackass. He’s tougher than nails and winning matters to him. It really does.”

Playing without junior starting point guard and leading scorer Kalin Lucas, Green filled his role as the team’s vocal captain. He commanded teammates in the huddle and during breaks on the floor.

The effort showed on the hardwood for Green, who came into the game third in the conference in field-goal percentage, shooting (91-for-156, .583) and third in rebounding (7.9 rebounds per game). Saturday, he was 7-for-9 from the floor and had twice the rebounds of the next-closest player in the game.

Green is hoping his teammates soon will follow his lead.

“It’s all heart,” Green said. “We have to find that heart as a team. Not one individual — I’m not singling anyone out. But we have to find our hearts as a team. A few guys can have heart. All 16 guys can have heart. But if we don’t put it together, there’s no heart. So we have to find that heart as a team and once we find that heart, we’ll hit that run.”

Green, who would bring the ball up the floor every possession if he could, has burst onto the scene this season as MSU’s most versatile player — all while coming off the bench as the Spartans’ sixth man.

He has tremendous basketball IQ and has developed an inside-outside game that makes him difficult to guard. In a close game against Michigan and with the Spartans trailing at a ruthless environment at Wisconsin, Green showed ice in his veins dropping in 16-foot jumpers from different spots on the floor.

He said before Saturday’s game that he spoke with Izzo about what makes him a most effective player — utilizing his size and energy in the paint to give the Spartans a spark. Green is the only player in the Big Ten standing 6-foot-6 or taller averaging more than three assists per game, but knew his interior presence would be most vital against the Fighting Illini.

“Where I was making my hay was down low, then stepping out and hitting a few jumpers,” Green said. “I don’t think I’ve been playing good for a four- or five-game stretch, not doing things that were good for my team, which is helping others — helping others on offense, rebounding. I think I was floating around outside too much. … I think I played with energy tonight, but obviously not enough to carry my team to a win, so I’ve got to pick it up some more.”

Green traded in those jump shots for tip-ins and post moves, helping the Spartans outdo the frontcourt-oriented Illini down low, holding a 32-26 advantage in points in the paint Saturday.

This season, Green has been likened to many current and former basketball stars — including MSU great Earvin “Magic” Johnson — but Illinois coach Bruce Weber made a discernible comparison Saturday night when he equated Green to NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley, one of only four NBA players to finish a career with 20,000 points, 10,000 rebounds and 4,000 assists.

“He’s got that big body, but yet he’s got skills,” Weber said of Green.

“He’s as good a passer as anybody. Think of that last play of the (first) half. He gets the rebound, dribbles all the way to half court, finds (MSU junior guard Austin Thornton) and (Thornton) makes the basket. Our big guys get the ball and they take two dribbles and I’m running out and stopping them.

“He’s just got a lot of things going for him and the thing that tops it is just his leadership.”