But the biggest question of all facing the team this season may have been how they would replace the scoring of departed guard Drew Neitzel. Neitzel, who graduated following last season, was the unquestioned center of the offense last season, and coming into this year there weren’t many viable candidates to fill his shoes.

The first player many people looked to replace the scoring, junior forward Raymar Morgan, showed early that he could be the guy, racking up 13 of the teams first 36 points in the first half while using three steals to get the teams fast break offense on the move.

But with 5:31 remaining on the clock in the first half, a star emerged.

Durrell Summers, the sophomore guard who was hyped as a poor man’s Jason Richardson when he was being recruited, dropped any stigma that he had been tagged with in the past and exploded into the spotlight.

The Detroit native scored 13 points in four minutes to close out the half, raising the Breslin fans from their seats, while burying three consecutive three-pointers and finishing a lay-up on the fast break, causing the Northern Michigan coach to take a timeout.

“He is a go-to scorer,” sophomore guard Kalin Lucas said. “Durell can shoot the outside three pointer and he can get up and down the floor and draw fouls and get to the line.”

Summers, who head coach Tom Izzo said would have been a starter if not for injuries that plagued him recently, finished the night with 30 points in 25 minutes on 11 of 14 shooting.

He was just one of 14 players to record points on the night, a depth MSU hasn’t been able to boast recently. The team has the possibility of going 11 deep on any give night, Izzo said.

“It’s hard to play that, there’s that’s going to happen,” Izzo said. “But I looked back at our 2000 team when we had 10 deep playing 10 minutes. Our 2001 team, our 2005 team spent the day kind of looking at stats and combinations and numbers. A lot of the great years we were playing nine or 10 and we definitely utilize some people. The way its going now we could play 11 or 12, that won’t happen probably. It depends on who we play.

“What I like is we have some versatility and we have some flexibility. And if we keep getting some consistency and aggressiveness than a good team can become a great team.”

The ability to go that deep into the bench allowed Izzo to implement the full court pressure defense he asked his team to perform so much last season.

“The pressing and the running I’d like to do all year long,” Izzo said. “Definitely I think we got to keep in perspective tonight and not get carried away by it. But, I think it shows we have depth and we have better athletes this year. We’re much more athletic. I think we’re stronger and maybe a better passing and shooting team than we’ve been (in the past).”

The Spartan defense forced 23 steals and 30 turnovers in the game, helping kickstart the suddenly crisp fast break offense, the combination of which finished the game on a 30-4 run.

“Yesterday we had a great practice today we had a great game,” Izzo said. “Are we going to build on it or are we going to rest on it? I guess that’s what we have to deal with.”