Michigan State gave the Nittany Lions the boot off the proverbial bubble Thursday night after thoroughly taking care of business at the Breslin Center, downing Penn State, 75-57.

Draymond Green became the third player in Spartan history to record a triple-double (the first two were Charlie Bell and Magic Johnson) by scoring 15 points, grabbing 14 rebounds and dishing out 10 assists. Kalin Lucas also scored 24 points for Michigan State who are now 14-10 on the season and evened their Big Ten mark at 6-6.

Not even Jeff Brooks could stop the tailspin that Penn State is going down in. The senior returned after missing a game and a half due to a dislocated shoulder he suffered against Illinois last week. He scored 15 points to accompany Talor Battle’s 19 in the losing effort which dropped the Nittany Lions to 12-11 overall, 5-7 in conference play.

Penn State is now even inching closer and closer off of the NIT bubble. That’s how quickly college basketball can change in a week. But no worries, there’s always the College Basketball Invitational!

Cleaning the Glass:

• Battle is now four points away from reaching the 2,000 point mark for his career.
• Billy Oliver almost decapitated Spartan Delvon Roe as he went up for a layup with 21 seconds left in the game.
• I’m not going to say the refereeing was bad (Michigan State went to the line 35 times to Penn State’s 11), but when Tim Frazier fouls out of a game,  you know something is going on.