On Sunday, the Spartans (23-10 overall, 12-6 Big Ten) will look to win the Big Ten championship for the second consecutive year and third time in four years when they take on No. 6 Wisconsin (30-3, 16-2) at United Center at 3:30 p.m. ET. 

The opportunity to compete against league-rival Wisconsin, against whom the Spartans have played a number of close games over the years, is an ideal scenario in Izzo's eyes.

"It’s a perfect ending for Bo (Ryan) and I to be here, we’ve had some wars together and we’ve had a lot of great games and played for championships," Izzo said. "This is the dream that I have every year. My team to be able to play for a championship. And that, there’s nothing more exciting to me than that. Nothing.”

The Badgers fell behind early against Purdue Saturday, but terrorized the Boilermakers defensively in the second half, holding them to just six made field goals and 24 percent shooting. The Badgers went on to win the game 71-51, outscoring Purdue 41-16 in the final 20 minutes. 

Wisconsin has weapons all over the floor. Senior forward Frank Kaminsky might be the best player in the country. Sophomore guard Bronson Koenig, who led Wisconsin with a career-high 19 points on Saturday, has done an admirable job filling in for senior guard Traevon Jackson who is out with a broken right foot. Junior forward Sam Dekker is a threat on both sides of the ball, and sophomore forward Nigel Hayes and senior guard Josh Gassar are also impact players.

Izzo didn't like the way MSU played against Wisconsin two weeks ago, a match the Spartans lost, 68-61, with senior forward Branden Dawson coming off the bench.

"You've got to make adjustments, and boy, we didn't do a good job of that in the first half of the Wisconsin game," Izzo said. "They have so many different weapons. Koenig, I guess, had a big game today. I didn't watch the game. I was too worried about our game, but my assistants did, and Dekker has been playing well and Kaminsky is Kaminsky, and if you don't like Gasser you don't like real people."

Dawson, last year's Big Ten tournament most valuable player, said the opportunity to face Wisconsin again means a lot. 

"We just have to contain Frank Kaminsky," Dawson said. "First time we played him, he went off for a career high. He had a great game. Just contain those guys and play solid. Wisconsin is a good team, they don't turn it over, they don't make mistakes. So we're going to have to play solid."

The Spartans are coming off of a big win themselves, erasing a 16-point deficit to defeat No. 8 Maryland 62-58 to advance to the championship game. 

"It feels good," senior guard Travis Trice said in the locker room after the win. "Right now we’re going to celebrate this win until we get back to the hotel and start working on Wisconsin. Any time you can erase a deficit, a 16 point deficit to a really good team that’s already beat you twice this year to come back and win, it’s an emotional win."

Only two programs have won back-to-back Big Ten championships — MSU in 1999 and 2000, and Ohio State in 2007 and 2008. If the Spartans win on Sunday, they will become the first Big Ten team to win back-to-back titles more than once. 

“That’s something too that I think — is it us and Ohio State back to back — so to do it again would be special," Izzo said. "We got our work cut out, but I really believe those are the kinds of things that start separating programs, not teams. If you can do that over a period of time and different players can come back and win it, I think that speaks a lot.”