“Of course it’s hard to go to class; it’s an embarrassment,” Green said. “We’ve been embarrassed the last couple weeks.”

Beginning with a 71-62 loss to Illinois on Jan. 18, the Spartans (13-10 overall, 5-6 Big Ten) have lost five of their last six games, including a home loss to Michigan for the first time since 1997.

Just when it seemed it couldn’t get worse, MSU reached its low point in the last two games, when the Spartans suffered two consecutive 20-point losses at last place Iowa and Wisconsin.

The losses — and the potential of missing the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 14 years — has made everything a little more difficult for Green and MSU. But with seven games left in the regular season, starting with a matchup against Penn State (12-10, 5-6) at 7 p.m. tonight at Breslin Center, Green said the Spartans refuse to give up.

“We still believe we can do some things,” Green said. “So we’re going to work like we can.”

Thursday’s game against the Nittany Lions will be a rematch of Penn State’s 66-62 win in State College, Pa., earlier this season. Along with being the first Big Ten loss of the season, the Spartans’ last game against the Nittany Lions in early January was one of the first signs MSU might be in trouble in the conference season.

Heading into the first meeting, MSU’s main concern was slowing down Penn State’s high-scoring guard Talor Battle. The Spartans did a decent job with Battle, holding one of the league’s leading scorers to 13 points on 3-for-14 shooting.

However, as MSU learned that day and a number of other teams have learned since, the Nittany Lions are far from being a one-man show.

“They’ve stepped it up a lot, and that’s what’s making (Penn State) better,” Green said of Battle’s teammates. “It’s not just all Talor Battle. He’s been more of a team player, and those guys are stepping up.”

Head coach Tom Izzo said two players especially — forwards David Jackson and Jeff Brooks — have helped Battle and the Nittany Lions compete in the tough Big Ten conference this season.

“Battle’s always been Battle,” Izzo said. “But those other guys are better right now than they were.”

With Battle struggling to score in the first matchup, Brooks and Jackson accounted for 17 and 11 points, respectively. Brooks also brought down 12 rebounds, half of which were on the offensive end.

Unfortunately for Penn State and head coach Ed DeChellis, Brooks might not be available for Thursday’s game after hurting his shoulder in a loss to Illinois last week.

DeChellis said in a conference call Monday that Brooks — the Nittany Lions’ leading rebounder at 7.2 boards per game — is day to day. Brooks has been working with trainers, DeChellis said, and he hopes to have the 6-foot-8 forward back within the week.

“Whenever he has the strength back in his shoulder, they’ll let him go,” DeChellis said. “That could be three or four days, and that could be seven days.”

With or without Brooks, Penn State has proven to be a different team than previous years by knocking off some of the conference’s top teams. But as Thursday approaches, the Spartans said the rest of the season is less about their opponents and more about MSU getting back to its winning ways.

Now that the Spartans are playing teams for the second time, senior guard Kalin Lucas said it will be easier for him and his teammates to focus on what they need to get done and not worry so much about what the opposition is going to do.

“We know their plays, we know the shots they like to take (and) we know they like to offensive rebound,” Lucas said. “We just have to make sure we’re ready to play and we bring it.”

With MSU’s 13-season NCAA Tournament streak in jeopardy, the Spartans likely will have to “bring it” in the remainder of their games.

But players and Izzo all agreed that at this point in the season, there’s no reason to look ahead, and MSU needs to concern itself with only the immediate future.

“We just need to get a win at this point,” Green said. “It starts with one, so we just need to take it one game at a time.”