EAST LANSING >> Walk up the pale concrete of Breslin Center’s Piazza Secchia, follow the outstretched finger of Magic Johnson and walk over to the right hand side. Ninth and 10th from the left hand side read the plaques for the 1998 and 1999 Big Ten championship teams. You don’t have to scroll far to see his name: No. 5, Lorenzo Guess.

That’s Dr. Lorenzo Guess, now, who is the Michigan State men’s basketball team’s director of strength and conditioning. And it wasn’t too long ago that he used those plaques as an example.

“He told us at the beginning of the year that his favorite part of his Michigan State history is the fact that he has a Big Ten title,” center Carson Cooper said. “He can go walk outside ‘the Bres’ and see his name on plaques out there and all that. Stuff like that really hits me because I want to be known as a player here — someone that’s done something, someone that’s won, someone that’s put up a banner.”

Three games left in the season, Cooper and his Michigan State (23-5, 14-3 Big Ten) teammates are on the inside path to a Big Ten championship. Tied for first against the Michigan team they beat last week, the Spartans are focused on making good on the opportunity in front of them. Before those plaques and banners come to be, there are still games to handle, including Sunday’s 1:30 p.m. game against No. 11 Wisconsin.

This is familiar territory to Michigan State, just not in the past few years. It’s coach Tom Izzo’s expectation that his teams mathematically contend for a title in the final two weeks or four games of the season. But since 2020’s most recent Big Ten title, the Spartans have finished in the middle of the pack the past four seasons.

This season presents an opportunity to break that drought, against a Wisconsin team (22-6, 12-5) that is among the Big Ten’s most dangerous. Powered by the conference’s fourth-leading scorer in guard John Tonje, the Badgers moved up to third in the Big Ten standings with their own shot at the crown. Technically, this game could be a big swing in the title race, but it’s much more likely that the March 9 home game versus Michigan decides the Big Ten title. That is, if both sides don’t get too far ahead of themselves. So far, Izzo sees his group focusing on the next game instead of eyeing the future.

“I’m not worried about them looking ahead,” Izzo said. “I’m not worried about them thinking we’re better than we are. We just got to play good. You’ve gotta practice good and then you’ve gotta play good.”

The team coming to town, Wisconsin, has done that itself. The Badgers have won six of the past seven games, with the only loss in overtime to Oregon. In what Izzo alluded to as “addition by subtraction,” coach Greg Gard and the Badgers shook off the loss of guards Chucky Hepburn and AJ Storr this season.

“He’s got some very good players,” Izzo said. “He’s got some experience. He’s got some age. He’s got a couple guys that really came on. (John) Blackwell (Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice) is really making himself a hell of a player.”

Michigan State has a chance at a Big Ten title, but that’s not what goes on a plaque. If Cooper and his teammates want to immortalize this team, the path continues through beating Wisconsin.

Key matchup: John Tonje vs. Jaden Akins

John Tonje could be player of the year, Izzo believes, for what he’s done for Wisconsin. His scoring output drives his team, not only in sheer volume but also his consistency. He can shoot, drive and dribble, even dropping 30 points against Illinois and Purdue. Limiting Tonje will be key for Michigan State, preventing a potential takeover from turning Sunday’s game into a slugfest.

Guard Jaden Akins is probably Michigan State’s best matchup against Tonje. He has both the size and toughness to handle the big guard, not to mention his defensive talents are the best on the team. You want your best defender to take on a matchup of this magnitude, especially with all that’s on the line.

If Akins and the Spartans can limit Tonje or otherwise make him inefficient, they’re much more likely to earn an important win. As much as this Wisconsin team functions as a team, mitigating its most dangerous weapon can weaken its punch substantially.