All of this has helped achieve a 29-5 record, a Big Ten Tournament championship and a No. 2 seed in this weekend’s upcoming NCAA Tournament.

But for the past few weeks, it’s been MSU’s second unit of guys stepping up and giving the Spartans a boost, as was the case in the MSU’s Big Ten Tournament championship run.

Senior forward Colby Wollenman, junior guard Alvin Ellis III and sophomores Marvin Clark Jr. and Lourawls “Tum Tum” Nairn Jr. all had their moments in MSU’s run to the Big Ten Tournament championship. They provided the depth needed to win games in back-to-back-back days.

“It’s huge,” Costello said about the importance of the team’s depth after MSU defeated Purdue on Sunday. “If somebody goes down with injury, if somebody’s tired, if somebody’s playing bad, we can sub them in. And Alvin and Colby know their job and they took care of it today.”

Early this season, MSU head basketball coach Tom Izzo constantly harped about finding a consistent rotation. But after seeing what his bench guys have given him as of late, he’s eating his words a little bit.

“All the complaining I did and said I had to get my rotation down and all those things, we’ve actually done a pretty good job of utilizing our guys, and it’s paying off now,” Izzo said. “It drove me nuts for a month, but shame on me, it’s actually been a pretty big plus for us in the way things are going now.”

Nairn, who sat out for a stretch of seven games this season and returned to the team with a lesser role, said players stepping up is what a team should be all about.

“Around this time, everybody’s got to be ready to play and what’s been so good for us, is been our depth and our bench,” Nairn said. “And I think guys got to continue to step up ... where we give (Denzel Valentine) a break sometimes. You know, that’s what a team is all about. You’ve got to have people to make shots. You’ve got to have people to defend. You’ve got to have this. You’ve got to have that. ... Everybody can’t do everything. Everybody’s not going to be good at everything so we’ve just got to find guys who’s good at something and if you’re a role player, play your role to the best of your abilities.”

MSU associate head coach Dwayne Stephens is one of two coaches on the MSU staff, along with assistant coach Dane Fife, tasked with getting the scout team ready for practice. He said guys like Wollenman and Ellis have done a fantastic job in that sense this season.

“Those guys do an unbelievable job for us of simulating what the other team does,” Stephens said. “Sometimes they run the stuff better than the other team does. And for us that’s a great asset for us, because you can’t ask for more and what happens is, once you run that team’s stuff and you run it so well, you know it, so it’s easier for you to defend.”

And as for when they get in the game and succeed, Stephens is extremely proud.

“They want to contribute and they can contribute to our success,” Stephens said.