“So, Brian Gregory and David Thomas were on the bench,” Izzo said. “Brian Gregory said, ‘This reminds me of the Mateen (Cleaves) days.’ Old times when we were rebounding, we were running and we were checking. Maybe it is the old school unis. Whatever, I’m not superstitious but if something works, if it ain’t broke why fix it? We just keep building on it but I hope some of those guys back in the prehistoric days appreciated the MAC.”

In the Spartans' 65-47 victory against No. 24 Minnesota (15-3 overall, 3-2 Big Ten), MSU forced the Golden Gophers back into their holes, shooting a combined 33 percent from the field and 18.8 percent from 3-point territory.

At the end of the first half, the Golden Gophers recorded a measly 17 points, just one point more than freshman forward Miles Bridges had in the half.

“That is what Michigan State is known for, defend, rebound and run, and that’s what we did today,” Bridges said after the game.

In one of four Bridges’ blocks, he chased down Minnesota’s Dupree McBrayer. As McBrayer’s shot floated toward the rim, Bridges entered the picture, swatting the ball out of bounds. McBrayer scored 11 points for the Golden Gophers, however was held scoreless in the second half.

“They’re energy plays, that block, I always time my blocks right so they just keep our team’s energy up on defense,” Bridges said.

Leading scorer for Minnesota junior guard Nate Mason was blanked in the first half, missing all of his six first half shot attempts. Guarded by a combination of junior guard Lourawls “Tum Tum” Nairn Jr. and freshman guard Cassius Winston, Mason ended the game with his regular season average 14 points, however, nine of those came in the final 2:18.

“I thought our offense was, at times, very good in the first half,” Izzo said. “We got a little stagnant in the second half. We started playing to score. Defensively, I thought we played together. There was a cohesion. They’re very good on those ball screens. We did a good job with that.”

With the defense stinging, the Spartans followed up their play with high energy on the boards. Leading the way was sophomore forward Kenny Goins with nine rebounds. So far this season, the Spartans fall in the middle of the Big Ten in rebounding margin. A season ago, MSU led the nation in rebounding margin with a plus-11.4. This season, the Spartans just beat out their opponents by 3.6 rebounds per game. 

In their first contest with Minnesota on Dec. 27, the Spartans completed a 13-point comeback to win 75-74 in overtime. In that game, Minnesota out-rebounded the Spartans by seven, sophomore forward Jordan Murphy pulled in 21 rebounds.

This time around, MSU won the rebounding margin by 13, 11 of which were on the offensive end. Murphy ended the game with four rebounds.

The Spartans will be back in action Sunday as they travel to Columbus, Ohio to play the Ohio State University Buckeyes (10-6 overall, 0-3 Big Ten). The game is set to tipoff at 1:30 p.m. and be televised on CBS.