“He was great. He’s not a hard guy to talk to, I just need so much out of him,” Izzo said of Lucas. “I hold Kalin to a different standard. You know, we’re not supposed to have favorites, we’re supposed to treat everybody equally in some people’s minds — just not mine.

“I think back on all the guys I throw out of practice, there’s one good common denominator — most of them are the ones that are the best players. You don’t throw the worst players out and most that were thrown out are hanging from the rafters, so Kalin’s in good company.”

Lucas and Izzo met for about three hours after practice Tuesday to discuss the reigning Big Ten Player of the Year’s performance this season and Izzo’s expectations as the team begins Big Ten play Saturday at Northwestern.

“I learned that he does care about me, he does want the best for me.”

Junior guard Durrell Summers, who battled flu-like symptoms, also ran out of Izzo’s doghouse barking with a season- and game-high 20 points. Summers spent countless hours shooting in the gym during the past two weeks, which he said calmed him during the game.

“I was real comfortable,” he said. “When you see your shots go in in practice and when you’re working, it’s a mental confidence… thank God this is the game I got out of the slump and I hope this play will continue into the Big Ten.”

The Spartans set the tone early with a 12-0 run to start the game, scoring 10 of the first 12 with Lucas sitting on the bench and shooting 50.8 percent on the night. And although Lucas played well after registering just 10 points during an 80-58 win Dec. 19 against IPFW and 11 in a 79-68 loss on Dec. 22 at No. 2-ranked Texas, he shared the spotlight fellow substitutes Summers and sophomore forward Draymond Green.

Green was the beneficiary of Summers’ more aggressive play, as he tipped in two of Summers’ missed three-pointers and a Summers missed lay-up. Green scored 13 of his 19 points (7-for-11) in the second half, and showed his range by hitting a couple jump shots from above the free-throw line. Still, Izzo hounded Green for being out of position on the defensive end as several rebounds went over his head.

“I felt I was misjudging my defensive rebounds, so I felt I had to get my rebounds some kind of way,” Green said jokingly of his four offensive to three defensive boards. “Coach was like, ‘You’re not getting any rebounds, that’s what you do.’ And I said (to myself), ‘Well, you got to get some rebounds some kind of way.’ So I just figured I’d hit the offensive glass harder.”

Everything seemed to go right for the Green and White late in the second half, as the Spartans put together a 14-2 run to separate from the Mavericks (5-5). Even when MSU screwed up, it found a way to capitalize on the mistake — a statement epitomized when the backboard intercepted Lucas’ alley-oop pass to senior forward Raymar Morgan, only to have Lucas regain possession and score a lay-up plus a free throw to make it 80-58 at the 4:37 mark.

Summers, like Lucas, had a rebirth of sorts Wednesday. Summers, who began the year as a starter but lost that role to junior guard Chris Allen, was all over the court and heeded Izzo’s call to be a more selfish player. The 6-foot-4 guard announced his return to relevance when he took the inbounds pass after a Jordan Reves free throw and ran the length of the court for a dunk with 12:42 left in the half to make it 20-8 MSU.

“When something starts going right, it just opens up everything else,” Summers said. “When I was in a slump, the shooting was just mentally getting to me and I wasn’t as active. Now that I’ve got my confidence back I’ve been able to do everything.”

The Spartans slowed Mavericks guard Marquez Haynes — a Boston College transfer who came into the game second in the nation averaging 25.2 points per game — in the second half, which helped MSU pull away after a close opening frame. Haynes scored 13 in the first half but just seven in the second to finish with 20 points, three rebounds and five assists.

Lucas made the most of the lessons learned from Izzo’s detention session, as he led the first half MSU retaliation to a Mavericks 8-0 run with seven straight points, bringing the game to a 40-27 score with 3:19 left in the first stanza. His surge was highlighted by a layup in which he grabbed a rebound in the defensive zone, ran the ball up the court and through the key, shifting the ball from his left to his right in midair for the lay-up with 4:01 left to make it 37-27.

The Mavericks weren’t fazed, as Haynes responded immediately with a three-point field goal plus a free throw on a foul by junior guard Chris Allen — who had 14 points including 4-for-7 from three-point range — at the 2:56 mark as he scored eight points in the last three minutes of the half to help bring the deficit to six points, 44-38 at halftime.