However it wasn’t the fans donned in green and white causing crowd noise to start the game – it was the UM faithful causing ruckus for the first five minutes of play.

Michigan guard and the Big Ten’s leading scorer Nik Stauskas lived up to his sharp-shooting persona, scoring five early points to give UM an early 10-2 advantage.

Sophomore guard Gary Harris, the Spartan assigned to contain Stauskus, is putting on a show of his own with a game-high 12 points.

His 3-pointer just under the 11 minute mark gave MSU its first lead of the game.

The home court advantage reached its peak when sophomore guard Denzel Valentine stole the ball and pushed it up to redshirt freshman forward Kenny Kaminski, who layed it in to take a 21-16 lead.

The Wolverines didn’t stay on their backs, as they compiled a 6-0 run at the end of the half to cut the Spartans’ lead down to two. A layup by freshman forward Gavin Schilling followed by a fast-break layup by Harris gave the Spartans the 36-30 lead.

Missing their top two rebounders in junior forward Branden Dawson and senior forward Adreian Payne, it’s sophomore forward Matt Costello who leads the team on the boards with six.

The Spartans also are getting a team effort in scoring, as nine different Spartans have scored in the first half.

Michigan’s Jordan Morgan and Glenn Robinson III both are in foul trouble with two apiece, as freshman forward Alvin Ellis III is the only Spartan with a pair of fouls.