EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- Northwestern coach Kevin O'Neill was realistic when he compared his young basketball team to Michigan State's veteran squad.

"I think they have a better chance of beating us 10 in a row than we have of beating them once in 10 games," O'Neill said Saturday after the No. 10 Spartans rolled past his Wildcats 69-45.

"They're not at the top of their game now and they probably won't be until the Big Ten tournament, but by the end of the year that's a team that will play for it all," O'Neill said.

Charlie Bell scored 14 points and Morris Peterson and Andre Hutson added 11 apiece to extend the Spartans' winning streak at the Breslin Center to 22 games.

Michigan State (13-5, 4-1) had its 21-game Big Ten winning streak snapped by Ohio State last Thursday. Northwestern (4-13, 0-5) lost its eighth straight.

"It's good to bounce back with a win," Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said. "I thought we did some things well, but there are still some concerns about where we are and where we want to be for a shot at repeating (as Big Ten champions).

"We're still not in sync. I said that I hoped to be there by the end of January, and we're still 10 days away from that, but the (shoulder) injury to (freshman Jason) Richardson muddies the waters. I just hope we can survive until we get everyone back in sync."

Northwestern missed its first 11 shots from the field as Michigan State jumped out to a 14-0 lead. Peterson scoring seven points during the early run.

"One thing coach talked about before the game was coming out strong defensively," Peterson said. "We also wanted to play tougher on the boards than we did against Ohio State. We focused more on rebounding and getting the transition game going."

The Wildcats, who shot a season-high 56 percent against Michigan on Wednesday, connected on only 6 of 20 shots from the field in the first half, while Michigan State shot 54 percent. The Spartans also held a 19-6 edge on the boards in the first half.

A three-point basket by A.J. Granger in the final minute of the first half gave Michigan State its biggest lead, 33-15, and the Spartans held a 33-17 advantage at halftime.

Michigan State continued to add to its margin in the second half, eventually leading by as many as 28 points.

The Spartans, who lead the nation in rebounding margin, outrebounded the Wildcats 45-13 as Peterson, Hutson and Aloysius Anagonye grabbed eight apiece.

Steve Lepore led the Wildcats with 11 points and Aaron Jennings came off the bench to score nine.

"We needed a redshirt year for our whole program," said O'Neill, who has the youngest team in NCAA Division I with freshman and sophomores playing all but two minutes this season.

"Our freshmen and sophomores are gaining valuable experience they wouldn't get anywhere else, but you can't play without juniors and seniors and expect to win in this league," he said.

The victory was Michigan State's 15th straight over Northwestern at home and the 24th in the last 25 meetings overall.

The teams play again at Northwestern on Thursday.