East Lansing – Michigan State has been playing with fire ever since Big Ten play resumed after the first of the year.
On Saturday afternoon at the Breslin Center, things final caught up with the Spartans as Northwestern came to town and handed No. 10 Michigan State its first conference loss, 64-62, ending a nine-game winning streak for the Spartans.
Northwestern was the aggressor throughout the game, grabbing 17 offensive rebounds, even without leading scorer and rebounder Pete Nance, who was out with an ankle injury.
Ryan Young stepped in for Nance and scored 18 points to lead the Wildcats (9-6, 2-4 Big Ten), who won in East Lansing for the first time since 2009.