Fans will get their first glimpse of the MSU men's basketball team in the annual Green-White game at Breslin Center on Saturday.
The game will tip 20 minutes after the conclusion of the MSU football game.
Most of the players agree this year's team will be better than last season's Final Four participant, since it has four starters returning — sophomore guard Drew Neitzel, junior guard Shannon Brown, senior guard Maurice Ager and senior center Paul Davis.
"We've got two of the best athletes in the country playing the wings," Davis said. "We've got a couple guys inside that can really get up and our point guards know where to put the ball so we're going to be running and gunning all year."
The players enjoy the exhibition, which will give fans a glimpse of players that didn't play often last season and this year's freshmen.
"This will give the fans a chance to see some of the younger guys who haven't played much," Ager said. "They'll get to see how much we've improved."
Davis said he expects fans to see the team's offensive improvements, specifically.
"We're definitely a better shooting team than we were last year," Davis said. "That's hard to believe, but everybody is shooting the ball better. The bigs are doing better. I think everybody's stepped it up from last year."
MSU head coach Tom Izzo said he's looking forward to the game — his staff's first chance to see what they have in a game setting.
"We're going to go a full game, go up and down and it's going to be a big evaluation day for us," Izzo said. "We've got four or five veterans but then we've got four or five guys that have never played. It's going to be interesting to see how they handle that in front of people."
Good and fresh
MSU's two true freshman, guards Travis Walton and Maurice Joseph, have impressed coaches and teammates with their play.
"Travis Walton, coming in, he's playing real well," Brown said. "He's playing defense, he's bringing energy. He does everything the coaches want him to."
Izzo already anointed Walton the toughest player on the team and expects him to be one of its top defenders. Joseph's strength is his shooting.
"Both of them have come in and have done what everyone expects of them," Brown said.
They aren't perfect, though.
"I see the freshmen this year making the same mistakes as I did, so I think it's something every freshman goes through," Neitzel said. "I sit there and say I can't yell at them because I did the same thing last year, so I just have to help them through it.
"It feels good to be a sophomore."
