MSU kicked off the basketball season Friday with an offensive assault against Florida A&M, winning 104-72.
The Spartans got off to a quick start making 70 percent of their shots in the first half and took a 60-27 lead into the locker room at halftime. They held the Rattlers to 25 percent shooting in the first half.
Head coach Tom Izzo attributed the victory to the team's passing after they recorded 25 assists to go along with 35 made field goals.
"Our unselfishness was something special," Izzo said. "We played awfully well in the first half."
Leading the way for the Spartans was senior guard Kelvin Torbert, who had 21 points off the bench.
Izzo started sophomore Shannon Brown and junior Maurice Ager on the wings around senior guard Chris Hill. Senior Alan Anderson and junior center Paul Davis rounded out the starting five.
Torbert said he wasn't disappointed at all by not starting, and finished with 8-10 shooting, including hitting three-of-four three pointers.
Izzo said Torbert was his "No. 1 star," and that "there was no rhyme or reason" to not starting the Flint native, but that Ager and Brown had earned the right to start.
"Whether we keep him as a sixth-man, I don't know. But for K.T. to step up like that, I think that tells us what kind of kid he really is," Izzo said.
Brown had a career high 18 points to go along with three assists, three steals and an alley-oop dunk from Hill to bring the crowd to their feet.
"We came out with a lot of intensity and shot the ball well," Brown said.
Ager warned that opposing teams that aren't prepared to run with the Spartans would be in for a long game.
"I think we're the best running team in the country," he said. Ager finished with 20 points and nine rebounds.
Yet Izzo wasn't entirely satisfied by the result, noting that things didn't go their way in the second half.
"Defending the transition, we were a little sketchy in the second half," he said. "Are we going to rebound?"
Florida A&M stole 23 offensive boards, though MSU won the overall rebounding battle, 47 to 41.
MSU sophomore forward Delco Rowley led all players with 12 rebounds, a career high.
The Spartans cooled off in the second half and shot 43 percent as the Rattlers outscored MSU 45-44 in the final 20 minutes of play. Guard Tony Tate led Florida A&M with 19 points and four steals.
Hill finished with 14 points and six assists with no turnovers, while Davis was held relatively in check with 10 points and six boards.
Davis fouled out midway in the second half. Anderson scored 10 points as well, and also added seven rebounds and six assists.
Freshman guard Drew Neitzel had a rough experience in his first appearance for the Spartans.
Michigan's Mr. Basketball last year, Neitzel fouled out with zero points, four assists and six turnovers.
But Izzo wasn't too turned off by the young point guard's performance.
"He turned the ball over way too much," Izzo said. "But with the mistakes that he made, the good news is he probably won't make them twice.
MSU's high scoring offense eclipsed the century mark for only the third time under Izzo. The 104 points were their second highest scoring output since beating U-M on Mar. 4, 2000.
The Spartans have now won 28-straight season openers.
