PISCATAWAY, N.J. -- Michigan State coach Tom Izzo hopes his No. 2 Spartans do not have to rely on the 3-point shot to make a deep run in the NCAA tournament.

But until then, Izzo can enjoy the long-distance shooting performance of senior guard Bryn Forbes, who established a Big Ten Conference record with 11 3-pointers in Michigan State's 97-66 win over Rutgers on Wednesday at the Rutgers Athletic Center.

Forbes, who leads the nation in 3-point field-goal percentage, scored all of his career-high 33 points from beyond the arc, going 11-for-16. He missed both of his 2-point attempts.

"It was an incredible performance from Forbes," Izzo remarked. "The execution was unbelievable. There's a reason it's a record because that doesn't happen very often.

"But I hope we're not a team that's going to rely on 3s and that's going to win or lose us games. If we do we'll be a short stay in the NCAA tournament."

The Spartans (25-5, 12-5 Big Ten) earned their fifth consecutive win and ninth in the past 10 games.

Michigan State's Eron Harris scored 15 points and Denzel Valentine, the conference's top scorer, added 14 points, eight assists and eight rebounds. Valentine had an off shooting night, making just six of 17 shots while committing five turnovers.

Rutgers (6-24, 0-17) dropped its 17th straight game, the longest losing streak since the program started in 1906. The previous record skid of 16 games was in the 1987-88 season.

The Scarlet Knights have also dropped 32 consecutive Big Ten Conference games. Their last league win was Jan. 11, 2015, against then-No. 4 Wisconsin. With just Minnesota left on the regular-season schedule Saturday, the Scarlet Knights are looking to avoid becoming the first Big Ten team to go winless in the league since Northwestern in 1999-2000.

Rutgers has lost its Big Ten games this season by an average of 22.5 points.

"Every night is important to us and every day in practice is important to us," said Rutgers coach Eddie Jordan, in his third-year at his alma mater. "Like last year, I don't particularly look at a streak; I look at how we need to get better each day."

Freshman Corey Sanders, back after a four-game suspension for violating team rules, led the Scarlet Knights with 19 points and six assists. Forward Jonathan Laurent added 14 points.

A 3-pointer from Forbes, his ninth of the game with 11:16 to go, allowed Michigan State's lead to blossom to 72-52, its largest cushion of the game to that point.

"We played a pretty good first half," said Jordan. "I was proud of what we were doing in the first half. And then they came out with a barrage of 3s from Forbes.

"We tried to guard him (Forbes) many different ways and we just couldn't get a handle on him. That was pretty much how they broke the game open."

The Spartans went on a 22-5 run in the first 4:46 of the second half to move ahead 65-46. Forbes drained three 3-pointers, all wide open looks, in the blitz.

"I started getting hotter and hotter as I was shooting it and feeling it, so everything felt good from that point on," said Forbes. "It's (3-point record) something that means a lot, because I put in a lot of work to try to do things like that."

The Spartans were 16-for-30 (53.3 percent) from 3-point range, but Izzo was disappointed in his team's inability to follow the game plan, especially in the first half when Michigan State clung to a 43-41 lead at the half and allowed Rutgers, a poor shooting team, to shoot a sizzling 66.7 percent.

"Our bigs did not do the things they needed to do," said Izzo. "They did not help, they got back-doored all night, and to me we just did not respect the opponent and the opponent kicked our butt. It was a good lesson to learn and hopefully we'll grow from that.

"It was one of the worst defensive performances we've had in a while, so that's what bothers me because we know in the NCAA tournament and in the Big Ten Tournament you do not get to have bad halves and come back."

Valentine connected on just two of eight from the field in the first half, including one of five from beyond the arc.

Forbes made five of eight 3-pointers, including a trey from the right elbow with 11 seconds left in the half that gave Michigan State the 43-41 advantage.

NOTES: There were a combined 21 NBA general managers and scouts in attendance. ... Michigan State F Matt Costello is two blocks away from setting the school record for career blocks (143). He recorded his 12th career double-double with 10 points and 15 rebounds. ... Michigan State leads the nation in scoring margin, field-goal percentage defense, 3-point field-goal percentage, rebound margin, assists per game, total assists and defensive rebounding per game. ... Michigan State G Denzel Valentine is on pace to become the first player to average 19 points, seven rebounds and seven assists since the NCAA started tracking assists in 1983-84. ... Rutgers F Deshawn Freeman, C Shaquille Doorson and C Ibrahim Diallo have missed a combined 69 games with injuries.