Head coach Damon Rensing said over the course of the season that MSU has played pretty well and it’s important to look at the season as a whole.

“It’s a very big game, it’s (Indiana’s) senior night,” Rensing said. “Wisconsin was a little bit of an outlier. It was one of the few games this year that we didn’t have the right mentality. To be fair, this group has been good all year, and I expect a response from them.”

Indiana leads the all time series 36-6-3, but the Spartans are 5-2-1 in the last eight meetings, including a sweep of the Hoosiers in two games last year.

MSU beat Indiana 2-1 in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament on their way to the tournament title, after goals from junior forward Adam Montague and junior defender Ryan Keener.

Indiana went 16-5-3 en route to their eighth national title in 2012.

This year has been a different story, as the Hoosiers are 5-10-1 with six losses in their last seven games.

Indiana is led by freshman forward Tommy Thompson and sophomore forward Femi Hollinger-Janzen with five goals apiece.

Rensing said that Hollinger-Janzen, along with senior midfielder Harrison Petts, are two players the defense needs to look out for.

“Very good movements, technical,” he said. “You’re going to get some chances against Indiana, it’s a matter of if you can absorb defensively. If our defenders show up and play and defend then we’re going to get some chances and we’re going to need to finish them.”

The Spartans will be without Montague, who ranks second on the team with four goals, for the rest of the regular season.

“We didn’t create a lot of chances, and Montague helps create chances both directly and indirectly,” Rensing said. “We’re going to look at some different pieces and see how that works out. We’re going to have to use a game or two to see.”

MSU finishes the season with two games at home, the first against No. 2 Notre Dame on Nov. 5 and the regular season finale against Michigan on Nov. 9.

Rensing said the Hoosiers easily could be in the same position as they were last season, but tough decisions against difficult teams haven’t gone their way, so the Spartans will have to be on top of their game to come away with a win.

“They lost games in the last few minutes and outplayed some teams, so they aren’t that far off from last year,” Rensing said. “Playing at IU, Armstrong Stadium is a neat environment, so our guys are looking for a great opportunity, and that’s how were looking at this.”