MSU did not beat Northwestern in a dogfight, 76-66, so much as it escaped it, and those are the wins in this league that can reveal a lot about a team because they force reconstruction possession by possession before the game slips away. The Spartans became disjointed and rebounded in time, albeit imperfectly.

That capacity is one of the dividing lines in the Big Ten. MSU did not have it late at Nebraska or against Duke. Thursday represented progress in the mechanics of recovery, which the Spartans will need against stronger opponents and in less forgiving environments later in the season.

The Wildcats, from the jump, made the night physical and awkward for MSU, the kind of game that strips away whatever rhythm you carried in and tests whether your habits are real. This was the Spartans’ third Big Ten game in six days, and for a while it played like it, a step slow to loose balls, late on reads, sloppy with the ball. Jeremy Fears Jr.’s early foul trouble took away the Spartans’ steering wheel. MSU finished with 15 turnovers, many of them unforced, and Northwestern converted those mistakes into a seven-point halftime lead after closing the half on an 11-0 run.

"I think we looked mentally tired, and that falls on me," MSU head coach Tom Izzo said postgame.

Turnovers notwithstanding, MSU reasserted the program’s foundation down the stretch, tightening defensively, dominating the glass and scoring in transition. Fears, scoreless at halftime, notched all 15 of his points after the break. Carson Cooper finished with 18 points on 6-for-6 shooting with nine rebounds. Jaxon Kohler tallied 15 points. Northwestern had one go-to scorer all night — veteran forward Nick Martinelli, who finished with 28 points. Once the Spartans pounded the offensive glass and the Wildcats were forced to score against a set defense over and over, the game turned. 

MSU’s season to this point has been defined by something sturdier than what appeared for much of Thursday night — a team that knows what it is even when out of sorts. Even its shakier performances of late — losses to Nebraska and Duke, and a narrow win at Penn State — have seen the Spartans maintain their shape. They’ve had stretches with slippery execution, but they haven’t often looked disorganized for as long as they did against Northwestern.

Six days earlier in Lincoln, MSU faced its first true road environment, and it demanded a level of precision the Spartans did not have. In a two-point loss, MSU turned it over 19 times and scored one point over the final 4:41. Against Duke a month earlier, they proved they can compete at the highest level. But once the Blue Devils changed the rhythm late, they didn’t have enough in crunch time to take what was there.

Northwestern, at home, asked similar questions in a friendlier setting, and the Spartans answered them. But the Wildcats don’t have the shot-making or offensive firepower of the league's upper tier, and their inability to punish MSU from the perimeter allowed the Spartans time and margin to recover. That doesn’t diminish the response, but it also doesn’t explain why nights like this still coexist with the profile the Spartans have built. 

MSU’s résumé is that of a contender, both in the conference and nationally. The Spartans are 14-2, 4-1 in the Big Ten, sitting at No. 12 in the AP poll and living in that same neighborhood in the analytics that matter this time of year: top 15 overall and top five in defensive efficiency according to KenPom.com, and top 15 in the NCAA NET Rankings. They assist on nearly 70% of their made baskets, a number that reflects what is visible nightly. The Spartans play team basketball.

That identity starts with Fears, the latest version of an Izzo point guard who understands that his primary responsibility is organization. Fears is a table-setter and a stabilizer, an extension of the staff on the floor, averaging more than nine assists per game, the second-best mark in the country. When MSU looks like itself, it’s usually because he’s pulling the right levers at the right time.

Thursday was revealing because the Spartans didn’t have that version of Fears for the first half — and because it continued to show that this team is not immune to being knocked out of rhythm and dragged into games where very little comes easy.

But what made the win meaningful is that they found their footing before it was too late, enough to sweat out a win. That ability is one of the quiet separators in this league: not avoiding nights like this, but recognizing when a game has slipped and pulling it back into a fashion you can survive. Nebraska and Duke showed how thin the margins can be when an opponent has the skill and dexterity to truly make you pay. 

Edging past Northwestern, while not a win to savor, was progress — evidence that this group is learning how to recover itself before those moments harden into losses.