College basketball: Michigan State at Michigan - Feb. 6, 2016

Michigan State guard Denzel Valentine (45) looks on in the second half of their Big Ten basketball game against Michigan at the Crisler Center in Ann Arbor, Saturday, February 6, 2016. Michigan State won the game, 89-73.

(Mike Mulholland | MLive.com)

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- As Michigan State asks Denzel Valentine to take on more and more responsibility, you won't hear any excuses from the senior guard.

"Winners don't make excuses," Valentine said on Tuesday night.

His coach, though, will say what is becoming obvious to observers of this Spartans team.

"We're playing him into the ground," Tom Izzo said.

Valentine played a season-high 42 minutes in Michigan State's 82-81 overtime loss at Purdue on Tuesday night. He took 23 shots, also tied for a season-high, and finished with 27 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds.

More than Valentine's minutes, his expanded role contributes to fatigue. Since Tum Tum Nairn was shut down with a foot injury on Jan. 15, Valentine has started at point guard and been the team's primary ballhandler both on the fast break and in the half-court offense. He also typically draws one of the tougher defensive assignments -- on Tuesday it was Rapheal Davis, Purdue's leading perimeter scorer.

By the end of Tuesday's game, Valentine's fatigue was obvious on plays like a dunk that came up short and shots that were off the mark.

"I was pretty tired, but it's not really just because I'm out of shape," Valentine said. "It's because I'm getting the ball and I'm getting dogged up the floor the whole game, and then trying to make a play, and then coming down playing defense on Rafeal Davis."

After the game, Purdue coach Matt Painter explained how his defensive strategy was designed to exacerbate that fatigue and otherwise slow down Michigan State.

Instead of putting his best perimeter defender, Davis, on Valentine, Painter assigned him to Spartans senior Bryn Forbes. The Purdue coach knows Forbes' startling splits: in Michigan State's five losses, he's shooting a mere 16 percent from 3-point range. In 20 wins, he's shooting better than 55 percent.

Davis' play contributed to a 1-for-7 3-point night for Forbes.

"We wanted to keep Davis on Forbes as much as possible," Painter said. "I think we're maybe the one team that's jumped up and put our best guy on him."

Forbes' struggles, plus a poor game from Eron Harris, put even more scoring onus on Valentine. And for Valentine, Painter's strategy was less about limiting the Spartans star than it was simply about wearing him down with dogged defense.

The Boilermakers assigned 5-foot-10 P.J. Thompson to pester Valentine as he brought the ball up the court in an effort to try to "work him and grind him," Painter said.

"We just wanted to stop Forbes," Painter said. "Maybe Valentine gets 50 points, I don't know."

The goal for Painter was to have Valentine too tired to make plays down the stretch. He was only partially successful in that department.

Valentine missed a fadeaway at the end of regulation, and had that missed dunk early in the overtime period. But he also made a layup over three defenders with 12 seconds left in overtime.

If he thinks he could have performed better at the end of the game with a little more rest, though, Valentine isn't saying so.

"Michael Jordan played through a game with the flu and he willed his team to victory," Valentine said. "I feel like I could have willed my team to victory."

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