After Monday’s scheduled practice, MSU head coach Tom Izzo’s squad was signaled into its locker room to listen to the former Spartan, a member of the 1979 national championship team and NBA legend.

“He talked about getting that passion back, getting that confidence back, playing like we did early on in the season,” senior guard Drew Neitzel said. “That’s why this program is good — we have great players that played here before us and they care, 30 years after they’re done playing, doing whatever they can to help.

“It’s a true family — we have to make sure we realize that pride is something special here at Michigan State.”

Senior center Drew Naymick said Johnson’s motivational speaking, as well as the team members’ realization that they need to regain their swagger, will help the Spartans respond more easily when an opponent begins to make a run in a game — which the Nittany Lions could do tonight.

“We need to be able to bounce back from a few early mistakes, like what happened against Indiana,” he said. “That will come from gaining some team confidence … and that’s the key to success.”

When MSU first met Penn State this season, the Spartans found themselves on the negative end of an 85-76 upset loss in State College, Pa.

Sophomore forward Raymar Morgan fouled out of the game and found himself playing conservatively for many of his 30 minutes — finishing the game with 11 points and a team-high three turnovers.

Morgan has played mediocre ball since Jan. 27 against Michigan, not being able to respond to different defensive presences — averaging just 9.8 points, six under his average.

Could one break-out game against the Nittany Lions get him back on track to finish off the season productively?

“It might be (that simple),” Morgan said. “It’s me picking out different things I have to do in a game and just getting myself going. If it’s rebounding, passing the ball, getting my team involved, getting them energized for the game — I just gotta find something to keep me encouraged.”

What hit home the hardest about Johnson’s speech for junior guard Travis Walton was the idea of picking one’s teammates up after a turnover, a bad call by a referee or a missed shot.

“Morale is kind of down right now, especially after a rough week,” Walton said. “We’ve gotta find ourselves right now. We can’t get down because in basketball, you’re gonna make mistakes — it’s about picking each other up after them.”

Walton admitted a Big Ten championship might be out of reach now with four conference losses, but playing for respect is just as important.

“We lost a lot of it from a lot of different people,” he said.

“We’ve got some tough games coming up, so we’ve gotta pick ourselves up and go from there.”

As for tonight, Izzo described the game as a type of “revenge” — especially after the Spartans left State College with a bitter taste in their mouths after the Nittany Lions attempted 51 free throws compared to MSU’s 21.