proud of his team after the game saying, "We found a way to win a game with some toughness. This team hasn’t done that all year.” On December 30, the Spartans returned to Breslin Center to face Northwestern, winners of nine in a row. MSU started out hot, leading by as many as 19 early in the first half. The Spartans kept up the pressure in the second half, but Northwestern twice narrowed the lead to four points. But, led by Ellis' 16 points, the Spartans were able to hold off the Wildcats, to win 61–52. Cassius Winston added 15 points and six assists while Nick Ward added 11 points and nine rebounds. The win moved MSU to 10–5 on the season and 2–0 in conference. January On January 2, 2017, Tom Izzo announced that Miles Bridges would return to action on January 4 against Rutgers though he would not start. Rutgers visited Breslin Center and started well, opening up an early 6–0 lead on the Spartans. But, the Spartans answered and Bridges, who did not start, scored on an alley-oop dunk 16 seconds after entering the game. Eron Harris led the way for the Spartans, scoring a Big-Ten-career-high of 24 points and the Spartans ran away with the game. Bridges again had a highlight-reel dunk on an alley-oop from Cassius Winston, who had eight assists, in the second half following his block of a Rutgers shot. Nick Ward added 15 points and Matt McQuaid added 12 for the Spartans in the 93–65 rout. The win was the fourth in a row for the Spartans as they moved to 11–5 on the season and 3–0 in conference. Bridges ended up with six points and six rebounds in 17 minutes after missing seven games. On January 7, the Spartans started all four freshmen as they visited the Palestra in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to take on Penn State. The Spartans started out slow again in the game which was technically a neutral site game as Penn State gave up a home game to play at the Palestra. Izzo said he was embarrassed by MSU's performance in the first half: "We guarded nobody, played with no energy and I was totally frustrated with the way we played. … This was humiliating for me in this great city and great basketball venue and our players did not play and I did not have them ready