Twelve Spartans scored and four had double-digit point totals as the No. 10 MSU men’s basketball team (6-1) glided to a 80-51 win against Jacksonville (3-3) at Breslin Center.

“It’s great,” Neitzel said. “It’s what we need. It’s something we didn’t have last year — that balance offensively. If teams are going to take me away and not let me go offensively, that’s when other guys step up and I become the distributor.”

Neitzel, the preseason Big Ten Player of the Year, was held scoreless in the first half but finished with 10 points and seven assists.

Morgan led all scorers with 24 points on 8-for-12 field goal and 8-for-8 free throw shooting. Sophomore guard Ben Smith led the Dolphins with 16 points and five assists.

MSU was able to nearly triple its halftime lead by the end of the game, thanks to an 18-3 game-ending run sparked by Morgan.

“Raymar Morgan was very, very good,” Izzo said. “His stats are very good but his stats are not indicative of how well he played. I would say it was one of (Morgan’s) best overall games.”

After the Dolphins scored the first basket of the game, MSU responded with a 13-0 scoring spurt of its own and never lost the lead.

Junior forward Marquis Gray set the tone for MSU going into the intermission, taking an alley-oop from freshman guard Kalin Lucas right over Gray’s defender and slamming it home, giving the Spartans a 38-28 lead.

Neitzel got the Spartans rolling in the second half with a fast-break basket at the 17:35 mark to extend the MSU lead to 42-30. The two teams exchanged baskets for a short time, with the Dolphins scoring via perimeter jump shots and MSU taking advantage of the fast break. MSU finished with 19 fast-break points, while Jacksonville had two.

“We talked about that before the game and we talked about that at half,” Jacksonville head coach Cliff Warren said. “They did an excellent job of getting out in transition and make some easy baskets. We were trying to make some shots and press to slow them down. Unfortunately, we didn’t make enough shots to do that.”

With 12:25 remaining, freshman guard Chris Allen scored one of his three consecutive baskets for MSU, two of them from beyond the 3-point arc. Neitzel followed with a 3-pointer of his own at 8:08, extending the Spartans’ lead to 62-46.

Following Neitzel’s basket, Morgan went on an individual 10-0 run that included a slam dunk over two Dolphin defenders and two and-one baskets.

In the final seven minutes, the Dolphins only managed one field goal while the Spartans upped the margin to 30 points.

“The love’s starting to show a lot more and I’m having a lot of fun out there,” Morgan said. “Just having a positive attitude on the floor helps me play better. I’m loving the game and how we’re playing right now. Everything’s going smooth.”

MSU continues play at 9 p.m. Tuesday at Bradley.