Cleaves returned to the Spartans lineup on January 5 , 2000 to help the Spartans to wins over Penn State and Iowa . Led by Cleaves the Spartans defeated No. 9 Indiana before losing their first Big Ten game on the road to No. 7 Ohio State . The loss stopped MSU 's 21-game conference winning streak dating back to 1999 . The Spartans bounced back with wins over Northwestern in back-to-back games , holding Northwestern to 29 points in the second game . A win over Illinois led by Charlie Bell 's 20 points led to a matchup against rival Michigan with the Spartans at 15 – 5 , 6 – 1 on the season . In Ann Arbor , MSU blew out the Wolverines as Michigan was without leading scorer Jamal Crawford who was declared ineligible 20 minutes before the game started because of NCAA investigations . Led by Morris Peterson 's 32 points and 10 points , MSU had no problems with Michigan especially without their leading scorer , winning by 20 . MSU then stepped out of conference for a matchup with No. 7 Connecticut , a fellow participant in the prior year 's Final Four . The Spartans had no problems with the Huskies , scoring 25 second chance points and 20 points off Huskie turnovers . MSU returned to the Big Ten to face Purdue in West Lafayette and were upset , falling 70 – 67 . The loss dropped the Spartans to 17 – 6 , 7 – 2 . The Spartans would rebound to beat Wisconsin in Madison before beating No. 7 Ohio State to avenge their earlier loss . A close win over Wisconsin in East Lansing marked their 26th straight win in the Breslin Center and pushed the Spartans to 10 – 2 in conference . A road win over Penn State preceded an overtime road loss to Indiana . MSU returned home and blew out Minnesota 79 – 43 . In the final regular season game of the season , the Spartans faced Michigan . Cleaves dished out 20 assists as he set the Big Ten career record for assists in the 114 – 63 thumping of the Wolverines . The Spartans finished the conference slate with a 13 – 3 conference record and 23 – 7 overall while being ranked No. 2 in the country . MSU earned a share of the Big Ten regular season title with Ohio State , their third consecutive championship . The Spartans went on to win the third annual Big Ten Tournament as the No. 2 seed , defeating No. 25 Illinois for the championship for the second consecutive year . Cleaves and Peterson were named to the All – Tournament Team and Peterson was named the tournament 's Most Outstanding Player
Big Ten Tournament
2000 Big Ten Conference Men's Basketball Tournament
1999–2000 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team