A three-game slide, a 74-67 loss to the then 12th-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes at home, and Kalin Lucas' ankle injury—three curveballs that have caught the Spartans off-guard in 2010.

However, these three "bumps" in the road have not and will not define the 14th-ranked Michigan State Spartans' (11-4, 21-7) season—Feb. 28 against Matt Painter's third-ranked Purdue Boilermakers (11-3, 23-3) will.

Sunday's matchup just doesn't have conference title implications; the game itself is so much more than that. The winner Sunday will likely have at least a share of the Big Ten pie, that's a given. Painter's crew recovered from their slide, and Izzo's bunch are trying to get back on track. After deflating Sparty 76-64 Feb. 9 at th...

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