Tom Izzo might owe Matt Painter a phone call and a thank you for beating his good friend Fred Hoiberg on Tuesday night, sliding the once-undefeated Nebraska Cornhuskers down into a third-place tie in the Big Ten standings with Michigan State and Purdue.
While Izzo might hold off on that “thank you” phone call until after the Spartans and Boilermakers play in about two weeks, he has to be pretty happy that Purdue breathed some new life into Michigan State’s Big Ten title hopes.
How does this help Michigan State if Purdue is also tied with the Spartans in the standings? It drops a Nebraska team into a tie before the Cornhuskers have the easiest stretch of the top five title contenders to close out the regular season. Nebraska doesn’t play a single ranked team in its final seven games, and Michigan State will see Purdue in a couple of weeks. The Spartans control their own destiny in this 3-team tie.
Michigan State sits behind a Michigan team with just one Big Ten loss and an Illinois team that it just beat, handing the Illini their second conference defeat.
Purdue could do the Spartans another favor soon.
Michigan State may soon rely on Purdue once again
Purdue did Michigan State a favor here with this massive win over the No. 7 Cornhuskers who don’t exactly have a gauntlet to finish the season — at Iowa is probably their toughest remaining game. Painter and Co. will have a chance to do Michigan State another one in exactly one week.
The Boilermakers host No. 2 Michigan on Feb. 17, and if they can beat the red-hot Wolverines, that will be their second Big Ten loss with Michigan State still on the schedule. In that scenario, the Spartans would control their own destiny — for the most part.
Illinois may now have the best shot to win the Big Ten (assuming the Illini finish off Wisconsin) with the toughest remaining game being at home against Michigan. The Spartans will likely need the Wolverines there.
There are a ton of moving pieces in this Big Ten title race, but Michigan State is right there with an improved chance to repeat thanks to Purdue.