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All due respect to the Virginia game — one of the greatest nights Mackey Arena has seen in recent years, and there have been a lot of them — Sunday's 71-42 win over eighth-ranked Michigan State now stands as Purdue's signature win for the season.

Our breakdown on the résumé win Purdue earned and the upward trending it might represent for the Boilermakers.

Purdue was dominant, a reflection of the advantage Mackey Arena has often afforded it, the building's way of propping the Boilermakers up into being something more than they might otherwise have been.

But two other realities for Purdue were highlighted in a game it won by nearly 30 against an elite team. The Spartans were 5-0 in the Big Ten coming in, ranked first nationally in offensive efficiency per KenPom, and considered by many prior to the season a national title frontrunner.

First, the Boilermakers have been a very good defensive team all season, and Sunday was a peak.

Yes, Michigan State missed on a number of opportunities, and that contributed to woeful 35-percent shooting, but it goes beyond just shooting.

Purdue's defense — both man-to-man and team defense — were exceptional against Spartan star Cassius Winston, the masterful point guard who's one of college basketball's best players. Eric Hunter and Nojel Eastern were all over him, as were Purdue's big men, hedging ball screens effectively and "bottling up" the player who makes the Spartans go.

"We just tried to build walls," Eastern said.

Winston could never run through them, missing nine of his 14 shots and turning the ball over nine times, nearly a quarter of his total from his first 15 games this season.

"We just tried to bottle him up and get the ball out of his hands," Eastern said.

And when they did, no one else hurt Purdue; Michigan State, the Big Ten's No. 1 three-point shooting team was 2-of-16 from distance — 2-of-11 outside of Winston's 0-for-5 — and no Spartan scored more than 10 points.

Purdue's defensive plan centered around Winston, but also itself.

Michigan State, for a generation, has feasted in transition.

Matt Painter was asked after the game what he liked about his team's transition defense.

His response: That they didn't have to play it.

Purdue's only turnover of the first half came in the final minute, an offensive foul on Trevion Williams. For the game, the Boilermakers turned it over just six times, and Michigan State got just eight points off them — Purdue got 21 off 18 Spartan turnovers — and was credited with only four fast-break points.

Painter often says that to beat Michigan State, you have to beat it at its own game, and that's precisely what happened.

Purdue grabbed 13 offensive rebounds, won the glass overall, defended at its highest levels and played with supreme effort.

When Michigan State had cut its deficit of 22 from the first half to just 11 with less than 10 minutes to play, it was also set up for that classic Spartan extra gear to kick in. Painter knows of it. He's seen it time and again over the years, including in Mackey Arena.

In that slippery-slope moment, though, when the Big Ten's standard-bearer, led by arguably the best point guard in college basketball, seemed poise to throw that punch, it was Purdue that delivered the blow, scoring 24 of the next 30 points.

It was made by Eastern rebounding like Michigan State traditionally rebounds, by Evan Boudreaux diving to create turnovers when Purdue led by two-dozen with five minutes left, and by Trevion Williams serving as the game's foremost physical force in a series where you win with physical force.

"Michigan State is one of the hardest-playing teams in the country," Boudreaux said. "That's what we want to be as a team. We want to be the hardest-playing team in the country, and I think you saw that all night. It wasn't just me. It was everybody diving on the ball, grabbing the 50/50s and I think that ultimately wound up being a huge factor."

Coming off a remarkable game in the double-overtime loss at No. 19 Michigan the other night, Williams didn't look particularly drained after playing 43-and-a-half minutes in Ann Arbor, scoring 16 points and grabbing seven rebounds, with four assists, vs. the Spartans. Based on the past 90 minutes of basketball, he might be on the verge of something big.

Probably above all else, Purdue flexed its defensive muscles against a Spartan team with limited weaponry beyond Winston, but a strong résumé this season. Michigan State, again, was No. 1 nationally in offensive efficiency and tops in the Big Ten in three-point shooting coming in.

Xavier Tillman barely hurt Purdue as a complementary piece to Winston and Aaron Henry's only field goal was a three off transition, one of few such opportunities. Henry was 1-of-6 from the floor.

Whether that was those players simply struggling, Purdue stopping them or a combination thereof is up to the eye of the beholder.

Meanwhile, after Michigan State grabbed four offensive rebounds in the game's first few minutes, only to not capitalize on any of them, Purdue wound up out-rebounding the Spartans for the game, and allowing only a half-dozen second-chance points.

Again, Purdue beat Michigan State at its own game.

Badly.

The 29-point margin matched the Virginia game for the biggest margin of victory ever for Purdue vs. a ranked opponent.

"Probably the worst beating I've ever taken as a coach," Michigan State's Tom Izzo said.

Williams was outstanding again, but three sparks in particular stood out.

Evan Boudreaux, most notably.

The Boilermaker senior has shown in his career that he can make threes, but this season, he was 1-of-13 prior to Michigan State.

He was 3-of-5 vs. the Spartans, finishing with 11 points.

That was only part of the story, and maybe the least important part.

After Malik Hall made a three-pointer with 11:30 left to make it a 13-point game, Boudreaux took back-to-back charges in the span of 30 seconds to erase consecutive Spartan possessions.

Earlier, late In the first half, Trevion Williams missed a pair of free throws as Purdue was trying to protect the robust cushion it had created on the scoreboard. On the second, Boudreaux followed the miss, and to cap the ensuing possession, was fouled cutting to the basket. He made both free throws.

And then, again, the play with 4:26 to go, with Purdue up 24, when Boudreaux dove to help along the turnover Eric Hunter turned into a transition bucket.

Hunter was outstanding defensively against Winston, tenacious and disciplined, and a key piece to a really nice passing game for Purdue.

"Eric Hunter did a really good job on him of just not trying to do too much," Painter said of Winston. "When he's dribbling, just try your best to take up his space and not give him angles. That's easier said than done, because he's a great player."

Then, Eastern, whose physical presence around the basket really mattered and who's offensive rebounding led directly to five points as Purdue ran away and hid in the second half, including a grown-man lefty tip-in against a hopelessly blocked-out Aaron Henry.

"We just had to fight," said Eastern, who totaled nine points and seven rebounds. "Michigan State, they're going to fight you the whole 40 minutes, no matter if they're down or up. We just had to persevere and come out and fight, no matter if we missed shots and they came out and made tough shots. We had to battle. That's the approach we took."

The Illinois loss was a crossroads for Purdue.

The past two games, the Boilermakers have played like an NCAA Tournament team, at minimum, and this game vs. Michigan State was basically the opposite of that game in Champaign, suggesting positive residuals coming out of it.

Purdue again showed it's capable, but it also showed distinct maturity — a hot-button term this season at times — in not only playing so well, but playing so well in the context of an opponent against which you must be disciplined and tough.

Lastly, Purdue showed something in finishing the Spartans off, which historically has been no small feat.

Now, a week off, basically, and maybe a new trajectory for the Boilermakers.

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