But Tom Izzo said days before that, for him, Friday night would be about two things: rooting for MSU and celebrating Derrick Nix in his final game on the Breslin Center court.

A few minutes after the game was underway, Izzo’s goals were all that was left; another Big Ten championship would not be coming to East Lansing.

Instead, the No. 10 MSU men’s basketball team (24-7 overall, 13-5 Big Ten) found itself locked in a tight one with the scrappy Wildcats (13-17, 4-14) to close out the regular season, ultimately hanging on for a 71-61 victory, sending Nix off the floor to chants of “Thank you Derrick.”

Four Spartan scorers in double-figures with junior guard Keith Appling leading the way with 16 points, while Nix added 10 points, six assists and four rebounds.

MSU opened the scoring when Appling found Gary Harris early for a one-handed fast break dunk, two of the freshman guard’s 12 points.

But the Wildcats quickly responded with five consecutive points to take their first lead of the game.

It would be the only lead Northwestern would hold for the remainder of the half, as a 3-pointer from Appling ignited a 17-2 run to put MSU ahead by double-figures, 19-7, midway through the half.

MSU spent the rest of the period in front by a comfortable margin, as the lead swelled to as many as 13 points, before a late rally from the Wildcats cut the Spartans’ lead to seven, 33-26, at halftime.

The push from Northwestern continued to open the second half, as the Wildcats capitalizing on a sluggish start from the Spartans to claw back into the game, using a 12-4 run to pull within three points.

Needing a boost, MSU turned to the long ball, with back-to-back 3-pointers from guard Travis Trice and center Adreian Payne bumping the Spartans’ lead back up to nine points, 49-40, prompting a Northwestern timeout with 11:15 to go.

Yet the Wildcats refused to go away, putting together an 11-2 run, capped off by a dunk from center Alex Olah to tie the game at 53 with 5:44 remaining.

But MSU closed strong, scoring ten consecutive points to gain a double-digit lead with just over a minute to go to put the game out of reach.