It's pivotal because it's the rivalry.

It's huge. This is my biggest win at Michigan State with the magnitude of the rivalry and beating a Top 10 team on the road. This is a great momentum builder.

He's just tough, when you've got a 6-10 kid who can shoot it from 20 feet, who could put it on the floor and who could pass ... it's really tough. We tried boxing him out, but he just leaps right over us, [and] they're not over-the-back calls. He just would leap right over us.

I like where we are and I'm looking forward to the second half. Looking back there is one or two games where you say 'man if we had made a free throw here or there. But we are young.

It was a good road win. There's no question about that.

We really stepped it up on the defensive end. We took three or four charges. We hit the boards.