To make history, the Spartans (16-3 overall, 6-0 Big Ten) will have to complete the bruising task ahead.

During the teams’ last meeting, the Gophers (12-6, 3-3) matched MSU’s physicality shot for shot and finished the game with the same amount of rebounds — something that doesn’t often happen to the Spartans.

The Gophers outhustled the Spartans early in that matchup and led for much of the first half, but MSU pulled away before nearly collapsing at the end — similar to Wednesday’s victory against Iowa.

“We have to play (Minnesota) better than we played them here because they could’ve easily snuck in and gotten a win on us,” sophomore forward Draymond Green said. “If they play the way they did here, their home crowd is going to lift them up even more, so we have to go in and play hard, play much smarter and be more physical with them.”

The Spartans and Gophers are nearly mirror images of one another — both play physical inside and like to run — as shown by both sitting near the top of the conference in scoring and rebounding.

“It’s going to be a dogfight. We gotta growl,” junior guard Kalin Lucas said. “We know they’re a good team. One thing they’re going to try to do is try to press us a little bit. They’re going to play the passing lanes so we just have to be ready for it.”

After opening conference play with four of six games at home, Saturday will be the beginning stretch that sees the Spartans play six of their next eight on the road.

Despite defeating Iowa twice in a short span, head coach Tom Izzo said his team shouldn’t feel comfortable they can do the same to Minnesota.

“(Iowa) was double damage because we went there and won,” he said.

“Minnesota gave us everything we wanted at home. If we have guys that are crazy enough to feel comfortable with that — I can understand why they felt a little comfortable with Iowa, (but) everybody knows what The Barn is like. We’ll really get a whooping.”

Saturday’s task was made a little easier when it was announced Thursday that Minnesota point guard Al Nolen was ruled academically ineligible to play. He is expected to miss Saturday’s game and might miss the rest of the season.

Nolen was averaging 6.7 points and 4.6 assists per game. He also is one of the top defensive guards in the Big Ten, boasting a conference-best 2.39 steals per game.

Without Nolen, the game could come easier to Lucas, who led the Spartans with 14 points the last time around.

With a 1 1/2 game lead in the Big Ten standings, a victory at Minnesota would be a good start heading into the upcoming make-or-break stretch.

“We’re going to have to come ready to get banged and ready to bang back,” Green said.

“It’s going to be a war. It’s like a football game when you’re playing against Minnesota — a lot of banging.”