“We have to come out with that fight,” Lucas said. “We know it’s going to be a dogfight, so we have to come out there and just play them, be ready.”

And a fight it might just be.

“That game we played last year, there was almost a fist fight in the first three minutes and the game went that way from then on,” MSU head coach Tom Izzo said. “We’re going to have some interesting practices to see if we can get ready.”

The game tips off at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Frank Erwin Center.

Texas, the most talented team MSU will play all season, Izzo said, is fresh off a 103-90 victory against No. 10 North Carolina at Cowboys Stadium on Saturday, while the Spartans (9-2) are coming off a sluggish 80-58 win against IPFW.

Against North Carolina, Texas (10-0) displayed a dominance inside that could give the Spartans fits. MSU struggled inside with North Carolina, but the Longhorns’ Damion James and Dexter Pittman absolutely destroyed them. James notched 25 points and 15 rebounds in 34 minutes, while Pittman racked up 23 points and 15 rebounds (12 offensive) in only 26 minutes.

“As far as people think we’re athletic, we’re athletic, but we’re going to see athletic thoroughbreds this time,” Izzo said.

Also against North Carolina, Texas shot 36-of-87, meaning it missed 51 shots. Of those 51 misses, the Longhorns got an offensive rebound on 29 of them en route to a 60-41 total rebounding advantage on the Tar Heels.

MSU’s freshmen centers, Garrick Sherman and Derrick Nix, certainly will be challenged by Pittman. Against North Carolina, Sherman and Nix combined for only 13 minutes, mainly because of the matchup, Izzo said.

“These are different kinds of big guys,” Izzo said. “Two of their big guys are not as mobile as Carolina’s, and I think that’ll be an advantage for us. But our big guys will get their eyes opened when Pittman ‘bows them in the chops one time. If there’s anything they aren’t used to, they’re going to get used to it quick. We’re going to have to be soldiers down there.”

But senior forward Raymar Morgan is confident in their abilities.

“They’ve seen enough clips of Pittman already to know what he’s about and what Texas brings,” Morgan said.

For the Spartans, this game represents an opportunity. Izzo called it a great opportunity — but also said this year’s Texas team is much better than the one MSU beat 67-63 in Houston last season.

“It’s going to be a great challenge for us,” sophomore forward Draymond Green said. “We already had a good challenge and we failed to live up to it, so we want to come out and redeem ourselves.”

It will be MSU’s first trip to Austin since winning the Austin Regional in the 2005 NCAA Tournament by beating both Duke and Kentucky in the same weekend.

“It was a must-win for us,” Lucas said. “We came out there and won that game (last year). It’s going to be the same thing for us this year.”