Junior forward Aaron Henry, who entered the season as a player to watch, has emerged as of late, scoring at least 20 points in both of the Spartans' last two showings.

Henry was expected, but freshman guard A.J. Hoggard, on the other hand, might not have been. Hoggard has appeared in the starting lineup in MSU's last two Big Ten matchups. The freshman accumulated 11 assists, three turnovers, seven points, three blocks and two steals across his two starts.

Purdue is led by junior forward Trevion Williams, who graduated from Henry Ford Academy in Michigan and averages 14.1 points and 9.6 rebounds per game.

"I have great respect for their program," Izzo said. "Trevion Williams is a guy that we looked at hard, and they got him and he's a double-double machine. ... He's just becoming a great player in this league, not a good one."

Purdue ranks fifth in the league for scoring defense, which could cause trouble for the turnover-doomed Spartans who coughed the ball up a total of 18 times against Rutgers, a season-high that the Spartans have reached three times this season.

Izzo said the Spartans played their best defense all year, and maybe even over the past couple years, in the team's last showing against Rutgers. It was a defensive energy that Izzo said put the team back to playing "Michigan State basketball," and it's one that they will try to mimic on Friday against the Boilermakers.

"We played some of our best defense this past game, and I mean that from a standpoint of what we did, not just that they missed some shots," Izzo said. "I was very pleased by our energy and our attention to detail."

Purdue and MSU are both 2-3 in conference play and will be looking to level out their records with Friday's matchup.

Purdue leads the all-time series against the Spartans, 70-55. However, Izzo is 26-18 in his career against the Boilermakers.