[media-credit name=’DEREK MONTGOMERY/Herald photo’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]EAST LANSING, Mich. — Six in a row was enough for Alan Anderson and the Michigan State Spartans. Behind a perfect 28-point outing from the senior forward, No. 9 Michigan State (20-4, 11-2) defeated No. 20 Wisconsin (17-7, 8-5) 77-64 Thursday. The win ended four years of frustration for head coach Tom Izzo and the Spartans, who had not defeated the Badgers since Feb. 27, 2001 — a stretch spanning six meetings.

“It was like somebody took some weight off their shoulders, and mine too,” said Izzo, who secured his sixth 20-win season with the victory.

Anderson did the bulk of the heavy lifting, hitting all 10 of his field goal attempts and finishing a spotless 7-for-7 from the free-throw line. His 28 points set a new career high, smashing his previous best of 18.

“I just stayed in the flow of the game; I didn’t try to force anything,” Anderson said. “When I thought I had an open shot, I took it.”

The Spartans came out firing after the opening tip, hitting seven of their first ten shots, led by a quick, 11-point outburst from Anderson. After hitting his first two shots of the contest, Anderson went on a personal 7-0 run by connecting on a 3-pointer and adding a lay-up and a turnaround jumper.

“He got going early,” Wisconsin forward Alando Tucker said of Anderson. “He was feeling it.”

Before the Badgers could respond to the Spartan onslaught, they found themselves staring at a 20-6 deficit, one from which they could not recover.

“I don’t think guys were really expecting what Michigan State was going to bring tonight,” Tucker said. “Mentally, we have to be ready for these types of games.”

Wisconsin tried to claw its way back into the contest by getting the ball inside. Thanks to 11 first-half points from forward Mike Wilkinson, the Badgers cut the Spartan lead to 33-25. Tucker and fellow forward Zach Morley added eight and six points, respectively, in the first stanza. However, the three forwards were the only UW players to score in the game’s first 20 minutes, as Michigan State effectively eliminated Wisconsin’s perimeter threats.

“It certainly isn’t in the game plan where a coach says, ‘Look, let’s let these guys get up by 10 and see if we can come back,'” Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan said. “They got it done. Give them credit. They hit shots.”

MSU quickly took control of the second half with an 8-2 run. A little over two minutes later, Anderson scored five-straight Spartans points. Unlike the two squads’ Jan. 16 meeting in Madison, there would be no Wisconsin comeback. Unable to climb out of the early hole, the Badgers would get no closer than eight the rest of the way, as the Spartans shot 65 percent from the field in the second half to secure the victory.

“In the second half, we closed the lead to eight a couple times,” Ryan said. “We’ve been in that situation before and have been able to whittle it down. But with the experience of a team like Michigan State and the way they’ve [been] playing, it was hard to get it to single digits, let alone get it down to five or four points, and that’s what we needed to have a chance here.”

Tucker finished with 18 points to pace Wisconsin, while Wilkinson finished with 16 points and a team-high seven rebounds. Morley led all bench players with 11 points. The rest of the Badger roster shot just seven for 25.

“We wanted to come in here and play hard and give ourselves a shot in the end,” Wilkinson said. “We didn’t do that, and that’s the frustrating part. We had our chances here and there and didn’t take advantage. They did.”

Three Spartans joined Anderson in double figures. Center Paul Davis scored 13 points to complement his 11 rebounds, while guards Shannon Brown and Maurice Ager each contributed 11 points to the win.

For Michigan State seniors Anderson, Chris Hill, Kelvin Torbert and Tim Bograkos, the victory marked the first time in their collegiate careers they had defeated Wisconsin.

“This is real big,” Anderson said. “This is our first time beating them. Before the game, we were like, ‘They’ve got our number. They own us.’ We had to get this game. We couldn’t leave school saying we hadn’t beaten Wisconsin.”

The Badgers return to action Sunday, when they take on the Ohio State Buckeyes (18-9, 7-6) in Columbus.