On Jan. 17, the Spartans went to Ann Arbor and played poorly and still came away losers by just a point. Sure, the Wolverines didn’t play all that well in the first matchup, but still closer to their potential.

But on Sunday, both teams played much closer to their potential ­— MSU’s best players playing better than Michigan’s best players.

Green was unmatchable; he wasn’t going to lose. Sophomore guard Keith Appling played his lockdown defense and finished his key layups. Freshman Branden Dawson played with the unstoppable motor he can. And the Spartan bigs took advantage of their height.

The Spartans, playing like they can and should, won, and decisively so.

They won playing the way MSU basketball wins best: with gritty defense and rebounding.

Green’s 16 rebounds — the same as the whole U-M team — led MSU as it outrebounded the Wolverines 40-16.

“It’s a team effort, it’s not solely me,” Green said. “That was a complete team effort. (Rebounding has) been a staple of this program — to come out and outrebound a team on the boards, and what better team to do it against?”

MSU dominated the inside against the smaller Wolverines. Green, junior center Derrick Nix and sophomore center Adreian Payne did what they wanted when they wanted. Even with some questionable foul calls.

U-M head coach John Beilein said his team’s rebounding efforts were hindered because MSU only missed 22 shots. But MSU had 12 offensive rebounds — one less than the Wolverines had defensively.

Meanwhile, the defense was as stingy as it has been all season. A team effort held Freshman of the Year candidate Trey Burke to 11 points and forced him to turn the ball over four times. Spartan guards also held Tim Hardaway Jr. to one of his worst games of his career with just two points.

The Spartans played with energy, an energy that has helped them go undefeated at Breslin Center this season and showed Michigan how to play the Spartan way.

Both teams will win several more games this season, but MSU showed Michigan who the better team is this season. Beilein even said so.

“You can see (Sunday) why Michigan State is so highly ranked,” he said. “They really have a lot of ways that they can take you out of what you want to do.”