Fortunately for the Spartans, Green delivered on all six opportunities, overcoming his free throw demons and sending MSU to its second consecutive overtime win, 71-67, against the Wildcats.

“When you miss a few and you let it get into your head, it just leads to missing more and more free throws,” Green said. “I kept putting the time in, but I had to get it out of my head that I’m gonna miss the free throw when I get to the line, and just tell myself when I get up there that I’m making a free throw.”

Heading into the last 60 seconds of regulation, Green already had converted on all four of his free throw attempts on the day.

And with the Spartans trailing by three, Green decided he was going to force overtime by willing his way to the free throw line instead of hoisting from the outside.

“I could have shot a few jumpshots,” Green said. “But I’m kind of getting a feel where I don’t feel anybody can stop me going to the hole, so I’m going to keep attacking and keep on trying to get to the free throw line.”

Green did just that three times in the final minute, tying the game at 60 on his seventh and eight free throws with 11 seconds to play in regulation.

In overtime, Green made two more free throws to move to 10-for-10 on the day, before fouling out with three seconds to play and the game already in hand.

As a team MSU shot 24-for-28 (85.7 percent), and for the first time all season, won a game with free throws instead of losing because of them.

“I needed every single one of the 24 we made,” a relieved head coach Tom Izzo said after the game.

Before Green’s late game heroics at the line, the beginning of Saturday’s game had the makings of an ugly day.

Both teams turned the ball over on their first possession and looked shaky on offense.

The Wildcats started the game cold as ice, failing to score until guard Michael Thompson split a pair of free throws at the 14:40 mark to cut the Spartans’ lead to 6-1. However, that free throw started a 9-0 run for Northwestern, as it was MSU’s turn to go on a drought.

The Spartans went almost eight minutes without scoring a field goal, before freshman guard Keith Appling knocked down a 3-pointer to tie the game at nine with 9:18 to play in the half.

The remainder of the half was not much better, especially for MSU, which finished the half shooting 6-for-23 (33.3 percent) from the field and 3-for-10 (30 percent) from deep.

“It’s getting to be something now that I think is in our guys’ heads,” Izzo said of the shooting woes, which have lasted for most of the Big Ten season. “I thought we had shot after shot in the first five to 10 minutes that were good enough to go in.”

It wasn’t much better for the Wildcats, who shot 8-for-24 (33.3 percent) from the field, but Northwestern was able to take a 23-18 lead into the break despite forward John Shurna — one of the league’s best scorers — scoring zero points on four shots.

Following a knock down, drag out first half, the final 20 minutes of play saw both teams find their groove offensively.

On the opening possession of the second half, senior guard Kalin Lucas drilled a jumpshot from the left side. About five minutes later, junior forward Delvon Roe made a free throw to give the Spartans a 29-28 lead, their first since 12-11 with seven minutes to go in the first half.

Down 35-31, MSU went on a quick 7-0 run to take a 38-35 lead with 10:14 remaining.

However, on the Wildcats’ next possession, Thompson came down and hit a 3-pointer of his own to even the game at 38.

For the next nine minutes, both teams went back-and-forth, before Green sent the game to overtime.

Fresh of calmly sinking the free throws to force the extra session, Green made two more free throws to start overtime, and after five straight Northwestern points, Green’s dunk on a fastbreak cut the Wildcat lead to 65-64.

With 1:51 to play, Appling’s fifth 3-pointer of the game gave MSU a 67-65 that it never would relinquish.

Appling was a huge factor for MSU all day, going 5-for-8 from behind the long line and hitting two free throws late in overtime, on his way to a career high 19 points.

Recently, Appling has made a name for himself defensively, but Saturday he also showed what he can do on the offensive end.

“Appling, for a freshman is really starting to raise his game,” Izzo said. “(The players) are all calling him Charlie Bell because he can check, and he has checked awfully well for a rookie, but he’s starting to get his offense.”

Appling, who was a prolific scorer at Detroit Southeastern High School, said it felt like his days as a prep star when he was shooting the lights out Saturday.

“The shots were falling,” Appling said. “Every time a shot went in, my confidence got higher and higher so I continued to shoot.”

Appling’s 19 points led the Spartans, with Lucas and Green following with 18 and 16, respectively.

Green chipped in eight rebounds as well.

Northwestern was led by guard Drew Crawford with 16 points, while Shurna, who was averaging more than 20 points coming in, finished with six.

Playing in and winning two straight overtime games has helped the Spartans’ confidence Green said following the game. But with road games against No. 16 Illinois and No. 8 Purdue on the horizon, Green also said he hopes MSU doesn’t continue to make things so dramatic.

“It’s good to have that type of experience,” Green said. “But (we) don’t want to keep on getting there.”