Head coach Tom Izzo didn't take it easy on his old school, as MSU handed Northern Michigan a 42-point loss in its second exhibition game at Breslin Center on Sunday.
Izzo said he was satisfied with MSU's unselfish play and rebounding in the 98-56 win against his alma mater.
But he was disappointed the Spartans shot 41 percent from the field.
"We did a poor job of shooting the ball, and I think we are the best shooting team I've ever had," he said.
"It was our inside game that was really poor and I don't mean just our big guys. We just seemed to throw the ball at the basket instead of getting shots in there."
Six Spartans scored in double figures and nine registered an assist. Junior center Paul Davis and junior guard Maurice Ager led the team in scoring with 18 points apiece.
Senior guard Kelvin Torbert acknowledged the inaccurate shooting but said it is not a long-term concern.
"We know that we got a lot of guys that can shoot the ball and that are going to hit those open shots."
MSU beat Grand Valley State, 77-62, in its first exhibition game last Wednesday.
Despite that win, Izzo and the Spartans were generally disappointed in the team's performance, especially the fact they were outrebounded 36-33 by Grand Valley.
The Spartans' rebounding numbers against Northern were greatly improved. They outrebounded the Wildcats 56-30, including a 23-8 advantage on offensive rebounds.
"Even though it was a smaller team, in a way, I thought we really hit the offensive boards a lot better," Izzo said.
MSU opens regular season play Friday at Breslin against Florida A&M. The Spartans ended their exhibition season with the win Sunday.
The Spartans were in control most of the game against Northern, but they actually trailed by three points nine minutes into the game.
MSU then picked up its defensive intensity, which led to a 28-0 run, dashing any hopes Northern had of keeping the game close. Northern's 17-14 lead became a 42-17 MSU advantage.
The Spartans didn't have any major breakdowns after that and maintained a substantial lead until the final buzzer.
Northern Michigan head coach Dean Ellis said he was grateful for the opportunity to play MSU at Breslin in an exhibition, adding the Spartans were even better than he expected.
"We played zone and we had to, to try to slow them down a little bit," he said.
Freshman center Idong Ibok sat out the game with a broken left hand. He suffered the injury in practice last week and will miss four to six weeks. The injury will be re-evaluated later this week.
Ibok's injury is the latest among MSU's freshmen big men. Freshman center Goran Suton is recovering from knee surgery and freshman forward Marquise Gray has a bone bruise in his ankle.
"He put his hand through the rim, I think, is how he did it," Izzo said of Ibok's injury. "On all those guys now, we just don't know how much time is the biggest key."
