“They have improved in just about every game,” sophomore forward Draymond Green said Monday. “With the exception of a few, they’ve taken everybody to the wire. We know we have to go in there and play tough, especially at Indiana. That place is going to be rocking.”

Since former MSU assistant Tom Crean took over in Bloomington, Ind., with a bare cupboard last year, the program slowly has been on the upswing. They were a dismal 6-25 overall last year and 1-17 in the Big Ten.

This season, they have quality wins against No. 19 Pittsburgh, Michigan and Minnesota. In consecutive losses at Illinois and against No. 4 Purdue, they lost by a combined five points.

The Hoosiers are losers of six straight, but Izzo said Indiana senior guard Devan Dumes didn’t travel to Wisconsin for a 83-55 loss and sophomore guard Verdell Jones III was ill throughout the trip. Losing leading scorer Maurice Creek to injury heading into Big Ten play only has made things more difficult for the inexperienced Hoosiers.

“I’ve never experienced anything where you come in and have to overhaul a situation that was nothing short of an athletic disaster,” Crean said in a teleconference.

“I have no doubt that we’re making progress, but we’re not making it as consistently as we would like.”

Izzo, who has multiple former assistants now in head coach positions in various Division 1 programs, said he keeps in touch with Crean and his wife weekly.

“It’s never fun to play against one of your assistants,” Izzo said Monday at his weekly press conference. “It’s not what you’d rather do, but it’s OK to dislike someone for two hours every five or six weeks for a couple times a year. But the respect factor is what’s really important when it’s all said and done and I have great respect for him, for his program and their fans.”

The Spartans appear to be back on track after a three-game losing streak followed by a win at Penn State on Saturday.

Although Green has shot a gruesome 1-for-20 in MSU’s past two games, junior guard Kalin Lucas has responded well to a right ankle injury, racking up 24 points and six assists while turning the ball over just once Saturday.

Beyond individual performances, Izzo highlighted a few keys to the Spartans’ success in Big Ten play, which includes a conference-best five road wins.

“We have to take care of the ball and get to the foul line,” he said. “I think that’ll be important because I don’t think their depth is as good as ours.”

The Spartans’ drastic improvement from the foul line has gone largely unnoticed. MSU has made more free throws (186) than its conference opponents have attempted (170) and after shooting 64 percent in their first 10 games, the Spartans are knocking down 72 percent in their past 16 games.

But heading to a venue like Assembly Hall, where the Spartans have won just 11 times in 53 meetings, against a team familiar with MSU’s schemes hardly is likely to be a cakewalk, despite statistics and records.

“Coach Crean is going to have them all amped up,” Green said. “He’s playing against Coach Izzo, who’s basically his mentor. We’re going to have to go in there and play tough and physical and play like it’s a championship game because, in all actuality, it is.”