Slowly but surely the Spartans are coming around.

Riding a three-game winning streak, MSU has made a name for itself sharing the ball.

And it's not just the point guard who has been the main distributor. Junior Shannon Brown and senior Maurice Ager have joined sophomore Drew Neitzel in helping the distribution.

Yet it's the older group of guys that is evolving — and it has been contagious.

"Two things are happening: Like, in Maurice's case, you do get a kick out of passing. There is some excitement," MSU head coach Tom Izzo said in his Monday news conference.

"Sometimes they're watching tape, and I see Shannon throw a cross-court pass and Mo hits a three and Shannon is more excited than Mo is about it. There is something about helping somebody else be better, and I think that is starting to happen to these guys."

The players leading the charge to spread the load are the players who weren't at the top of that category in previous seasons.

"I don't think we've been selfish," Izzo said. "I think there's been time that some of our shooters didn't look for things in their freshman and sophomore years, but I think it was more out of ability than it was out of selfishness.

"We're getting better ball movement, we're getting better player movement and I think those help."

MSU rang up 26 assists on 30 baskets Saturday against Iowa and are averaging a Big Ten best 18.2 assists per game.

A(nkle)-OK

Izzo said senior center Paul Davis is "90-95 percent" healthy and will be ready 8 p.m. Wednesday at Michigan.

"It was pretty good after the game — swelled up a hair," Izzo said of the ankle. "We didn't practice yesterday just for that reason."

Mr. Versatile

Senior forward Matt Trannon is still likely to get the start against U-M despite the Wolverines being a bigger team, unlike Indiana and Ohio State.

Trannon played just 13 minutes against a bigger Iowa team Saturday, mostly due to foul trouble.

What Trannon might do more of Wednesday is play at small forward, the position Izzo had envisioned him spending most of this season.

Izzo said Trannon could have seen more time there in practice last week but was forced to keep him at power forward when Davis went down.

Losing his MoJo?

Izzo said he would've liked to get freshman guard Maurice Joseph more time in the second half Saturday. Joseph played five minutes and was 0-of-3 from the field.

"We're working towards it, but he's got to keep earning it, too," Izzo said.

That's gotta hurt

Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant exploded on the Toronto Raptors on Sunday for 81 points — second best in NBA history.

The man guarding him for most of the evening: none other than former Spartans great Morris Peterson.

"I think Morris needs me back," Izzo joked.

"It's incredible that a guy can score 81 points. It's something that I never did. I think that was a career's worth, in fact."