This time, it’s not MSU junior guard Kalin Lucas. It’s Purdue forward Robbie Hummel, who tore his right anterior cruciate ligament in the first half against Minnesota on Wednesday night and will miss the remainder of the season.

“Everybody is going to look at that 90 different ways like even I did in my sleep last night because I didn’t see it,” MSU men’s basketball head coach Tom Izzo said. “I was listening to it and the way the guy on the radio talked, I almost knew it. When I got home, I watched it on tape and there was not much doubt in my mind. The kid’s been everything good for the Big Ten to be honest with you. He’s on every committee, he’s a good student, he’s a quality guy and after what he went through last year he was playing great.”

The No. 3 Boilermakers were able to escape Minneapolis with a one-point victory Wednesday night, but now the focus for Purdue shifts to playing MSU for first place in the conference without one of its superstars.

Izzo said that although the loss of Hummel would seem to make things easier for the Spartans, it actually has complicated the game plan.

“Believe it or not, it does complicate things for us too because we know they’re probably going to play (Purdue guard Keaton Grant), but who they’re going to play at the (power forward) and how they’re going to rotate guys in their system leaves a little bit of an issue for us right now, to be honest with you,” Izzo said. “Not that it’s going to be harder than with Hummel there, but it’s going to be different. We prepared one way for two days and now we’re looking at some other things.”

Following his team’s victory against Minnesota, Purdue head coach Matt Painter expressed how important Hummel was to his team in multiple ways.

“He means a lot to our team, he’s a good player and I always say he pieces everything together on both ends for us,” Painter said Wednesday night at his postgame press conference. “He makes other guys better. We have to learn to play better without him because we’ve played without him before and we’ve played with him when he’s gotten in foul trouble and had some success.”

With Hummel done for the year, the top four Big Ten teams have lost one of their best players for some period of time this season, and Izzo stressed how much luck plays into success.

“You realize how incredibly lucky and good you have to be to get to five Final Fours, because so many things can happen,” he said. “Maybe we don’t win it (in 2000) if (then-Cincinnati star) Kenyon Martin doesn’t break his ankle. I don’t know. You have to be so lucky.”

One area of basketball that doesn’t come down to luck is rebounding.

On Feb. 9, the Boilermakers outrebounded MSU 31-30 and MSU lost the battle on the glass against Ohio State their last time out 41-38.

Sophomore forward Draymond Green said the team has been participating in Izzo’s trademark War Drill to improve toughness in the post.

“We’ve been playing war a lot,” Green said. “We’re working on rebounding because that’s something we have to do better if we want to win.”

If the Spartans win Sunday’s game, they’ll be tied with Purdue atop the Big Ten with a week of conference play remaining. If Purude wins, the Boilermakers will be alone in first place with a half-game lead on Ohio State and a two-game lead on MSU.

The task will be tough for the Spartans, though. MSU hasn’t won at Purdue since 2005 and has lost five of the last six at Mackey Arena.

The Spartans have controlled their own destiny all season, but Sunday will be the last chance to jump on that opportunity.

“I think we’re hungry. We know what’s at stake here,” Green said.

“We have to get a win if we plan on being champions and that’s something that we talked about and wanted to be all year. We know that we have to step up now or never.”