“We took two days off, which never happens around here,” Izzo said. “But I think it was for the right reasons.”

In the home stretch of what has been a difficult season, MSU played the last week-plus with some of Izzo’s best players battling a variety of ailments.

Junior forward Delvon Roe has been far from 100 percent since suffering a bone bruise and fellow junior forward Draymond Green has been dealing with a virus since last week. Add to that an exhausted senior guard Kalin Lucas playing nearly every minute of every game down the stretch, and it was no secret the Spartans could use a break.

“I think both days were good for (Roe and Green), and I think Kalin needed a little rest, too,” Izzo said. “This time of year, it’s more about are you healthy than if you have stuff in tune.”

With four days in between MSU’s win against the Golden Gophers and its pivotal game against the Boilermakers, Izzo said the Spartans still would be prepared for Purdue come Sunday despite the two days off.

And for the players, especially Roe, getting some rest was more beneficial than two days of practice could have been.

“It feels like a year body-wise,” Roe said. “I feel like a different person out there. This is the most fresh I’ve been this late in a season since I’ve been here.”

For Roe, that’s a huge turnaround from barely being able to play because of his knee just a little more than a week ago. Roe’s return to health couldn’t have come at a better time for MSU, as Purdue’s JuJuan Johnson into Breslin on Sunday.

Averaging 20.4 points and 7.8 points per game, Johnson is one of the leading candidates for Big Ten Player of the Year.

However, Roe — who said he feels healthier than when MSU lost to Purdue in West Lafayette, Ind., about a month ago — said he has an award of his own on the mind and wants to prove he’s worthy of it against Johnson.

“It’s another chance for me to make a case for something I’ve been building and trying to get this whole Big Ten season — Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year,” Roe said. “That’s still a goal of mine, and there’s not a better chance to do it than against him.”

Johnson will get considerable amount of attention from Roe and the rest of the Spartans, but Lucas said it will be guard E’Twaun Moore who will have at least three MSU players watching his every move.

“You just have to play him honest,” Lucas said. “Don’t Reach, make sure you have help and make sure you have six eyes on him at all times.”

Moore dropped 26 points on the Spartans in Purdue’s 86-76 win back in January and took his scoring to new heights a week ago by putting up 38 against then-No. 3 Ohio State.

“Even before (the OSU game), he was good, but maybe he wasn’t quite great,” Izzo said of Moore. “Now he’s really lifted his performance.”

For MSU to pull out the upset Sunday, Izzo said the Spartans will need to contain Moore and Johnson.

MSU also will have to stop Purdue’s role players, especially point guard Lewis Jackson, who scored 19 points on mostly layups the last time the two teams met.

This time around, though, Roe said the Spartans are a different team, and that should not only help MSU on Sunday but the rest of the season as well.

“I feel like we’re playing the best we’ve played all year,” Roe said. “That’s common here. Heading into February or March, your team starts to play their best or they start to go the other way. And I think we’re really starting to turn the corner.”