A few moments later, reality clicked.

“I’m like, ‘Wow, I forgot they were a mid-major school,’” Green said. “They’re really not. Their basketball program isn’t.”

The No. 2 Spartans (1-0) begin head coach Tom Izzo’s patented tough schedule earlier than ever this season when they host Gonzaga (1-0) at 8 p.m. tonight at Breslin Center.

“I think this is a real good team,” Izzo said. “They are well-coached and what Gonzaga’s done over the years, and rightfully so, they’ve put a lot, a lot, a lot into their preseason games. … They put a lot into those because those are big, big games for them and they’ve played well in 99 percent of them in the last five years. Win or lose, they’ve been dog fights.”

MSU holds a 2-1 all-time record against Gonzaga (1-0 at home, 1-1 at neutral locations).

The Spartans beat Gonzaga in the schools’ first two meetings — 70-68 in 1997 and 77-62 in 2001 — before falling 109-106 in an epic triple-overtime nonconference game in the 2005 EA Sports Maui Invitational.

This year’s Gonzaga team is similar to MSU in terms of athletic ability and quickness. Matt Bouldin is Gonzaga’s jet-quick point guard, while Izzo said 6-foot-5 guard Steven Gray is “supposed to have a 40-inch vertical.”

Elias Harris, a 6-foot-8 forward from Germany, is a do-everything type of player who can score, defend and rebound.

The athletic similarities between the two teams excites MSU junior guard Kalin Lucas for what should be a fast-paced game.

“They run their break real well,” Lucas said.

“We run our break real well, too. They have players that can run and who are explosive and can get to the basket, and we have the same thing. It’s going to be a fun game to watch and a fun game to play.”

Gonzaga’s frontcourt — consisting of two 6-foot-11 forwards (Kelly Olynyk and Andy Poling), a 7-foot center (Robert Sacre) and 7-foot-5 center (Will Foster) — is one of Izzo’s biggest concerns.

To prepare, Green said he and fellow MSU big men spent time this week watching how former MSU center Goran Suton defended bigger players, such as Kansas’ Cole Aldrich and former Connecticut center Hasheem Thabeet, during last year’s NCAA Tournament.

Between seeing how freshman centers Garrick Sherman and Derrick Nix respond to their first big game and how the Spartans gel after suffering from some injuries, Green said tonight’s game will be an important test.

“Gonzaga always has a great team, so it’s going to be a great test,” Green said.

“It’s coming earlier in the season and lets us know what we need to work on and what we need to keep working on and improving on.”