This year’s Spartans aren’t as far into the conference slate. A loss at Purdue on Saturday would hand MSU (12-6 overall, 4-2 Big Ten) its third conference loss in two weeks, and the goal of a conference championship will have to take a backseat.

“If we want to go defend something like a Big Ten championship, we’re going to have to win some key road games,” junior forward Delvon Roe said.

“Going into this, we knew we could possibly be 5-1, but we’re 4-2 right now — that’s something that we don’t want to be. But, we also know it’s not going to be an undefeated team that wins the Big Ten — that’s not going to happen.

“We know we need somebody to beat Ohio State, and we need to beat Ohio State. But, we’ve also got to focus on Purdue this weekend, Saturday. It’s a must-win for us.”

The Boilermakers (16-3, 5-1) come into the game three seconds away from a three-game losing streak. Following back-to-back road losses at Minnesota and West Virginia, forward JaJuan Johnson hit a jumper with three seconds remaining to defeat Penn State at home, 63-62, on Wednesday.

All season, Purdue has been dealing with the loss of star forward Robbie Hummel, who tore his anterior cruciate ligament, before the season began. Hummel tore the same ACL last season, one game before the matchup with MSU in West Lafayette.

Without Hummel, the Boilermakers live and die with their two senior stars, Johnson and guard E’Twaun Moore. Johnson leads the Big Ten in scoring, averaging 20.5 points and 8.1 rebounds per game, while Moore averages 17.6 points and 5.8 rebounds. Moore also averages 3.42 assists per game.

“(Moore has) gone into a little shooting slump of his own. (Against Penn State) he came out of it, but he had three or four games where he was not shooting very well at all,” MSU head coach Tom Izzo said.

“That’s one thing I told Durrell (Summers), ‘If you’re not shooting good, there’s other ways you can contribute.’ Give E’Twaun Moore credit, he’s working his way out of the slump, but he’s doing other things for that team to help them win.”

During a season in which neither team has lived up to expectations — for various reasons — a win Saturday would be a huge boost for either team, especially with the parity of the Big Ten.

“I think everybody feels the same way: You look at your schedule and wonder where your next win is coming from,” Purdue head coach Matt Painter said in a teleconference.

“Before, in our league, you would look at it, and you would know we should get these wins. Now you don’t feel that way about anybody.”

Adding to the intensity of the game, ESPN’s College GameDay will be at Mackey Arena broadcasting a morning show and a pregame show before the game.

“I think that place will be hopping as good as it has in 15 years — I really do,” Izzo said. “We’re a rivalry for them. It’s GameDay. It’ll be awesome.”

With the Spartans having struggled for most of the conference season, Saturday provides an opportunity to turn the season in the right direction.

“(Purdue is) good,” Roe said. “But at the same time, we feel like we’re going to go down there, and we’re going get that win Saturday and start trying to turn our ship around.”