Six players scored in double figures — including double-doubles by sophomore forward Draymond Green (11 points, 10 rebounds) and freshman center Derrick Nix (11 points and 14 rebounds) – as the Spartans beat Florida Gulf Coast 97-58 in their season opener Friday night at Breslin Center.

“I said I needed to learn something in the two exhibitions, and I didn’t learn much, but I felt a little better about it tonight in some ways,” head coach Tom Izzo said. “After a shaky start with all those turnovers, we did a much better job taking care of the ball, but I think you can see the rust, though, on some guys.”

MSU started slowly in the opening minutes, integrating three players – senior forward Raymar Morgan, sophomore forward Delvon Roe and junior guard Chris Allen – into the lineup who were injured during the exhibition season.

The Spartans, who had five turnovers in the first six minutes, trailed the Eagles as late as midway through the first half, before two dunks by junior guard Durrell Summers jump-started MSU.

Summers was on the receiving end of an alley-oop from Allen that gave MSU the lead for good, and Morgan stripped Florida Gulf Coast’s Hunter Miller moments later, flipping the ball to Summers, who slammed down a one-handed dunk.

From there, easy points from the free-throw line courtesy of the double-bonus, 3-pointers from Allen and senior forward Isaiah Dahlman and better defensive communication expanded MSU’s lead to 44-27 at halftime.

“Normally, our offense gets going on defense, and we had a couple switches and stuff that we didn’t communicate on and kind of got the other team going and that kind of hurt us,” Summers said. “Once we (began communicating), the offense started flowing and the defense started flowing.

Lucas and Allen came out firing in the second half, each nailing 3-pointers in the first few minutes, before sophomore guard Korie Lucious drilled two treys of his own as the Spartans continued to pull away.

Two transition lay-ups by Lucas – including a reverse that went in after he tossed the ball toward the rim without looking and was fouled – continued the rout, and a put-back by Nix put MSU up 30 with less than seven minutes to go.

“I think that was (our problem early on), just getting in sync as time went on,” Green said. “We already had some games, but the first real game you’re going to have some first-game jitters. I think we got it together and picked up the tempo and it worked to our advantage.”

Lucas led MSU with 21 points, while Summers (17), Lucious (11 points and eight assists) and Allen (10) joined Green and Nix with double-figures. Nix’s 14 rebounds were the most for a freshman in a debut game in school history, beating the 10 rebounds Matt Steigenga pulled down in 1988.

Morgan – who said his ankle felt “pretty good” and simply needs time to let it heal – didn’t play in the second half, while Roe was limited to 13 minutes because of foul trouble.

Izzo said although he was impressed with some areas of MSU’s play, he acknowledges the Spartans will need to greatly improve before hosting Gonzaga at 8 p.m. Tuesday.

“It’s part of the process, but believe me – we have a long way to go and we definitely have to get two key cogs back, and that’s Delvon and Raymar,” Izzo said. “You’re going to see a team that’s huge coming in here Tuesday night, so a lot has to change in the next three, four days.”