“I think they’re going to be pretty good,” Izzo said. “They picked up a couple of good recruits, one kid who is really good at the point guard.”

Tom Izzo was a graduate of Northern Michigan and played point guard for the Wildcats from 1973-1977. He was voted the team MVP his senior year after being a walk-on, and was a third team All-American in Division II. Izzo was also an assistant for Northern Michigan from 1979-1983, and was elected to the Upper Peninsula Sports Hall of Fame in 1990.

“It’s a fun thing to be able to do that with your alma mater, especially when your alma mater is at a different level,” Izzo said. “Every time that I see us, if we don’t practice hard enough or if we get a little spoiled, I always bring up my Division II days.”

One surprise for MSU has been the play of Javon Bess, who after an injury-riddled freshman year, has made tremendous strides in improvement and recovery. Bess is currently slotted as the starting power forward, despite being only 6-foot-5, for the exhibition game. He is listed ahead of big man Gavin Schilling and highly touted freshman Deyonta Davis.

“It’s a blessing," Bess said. "I’m just glad that I got this opportunity. I play a lot of four now. They have been moving me around a lot but the majority has been at the four.”

Despite the injuries that caused him to miss 27 games last year, Bess said he plans on contributing through his versatility, which will create match-up problems and allows him to defend multiple positions.

“My whole body is feeling good right now,” Bess said. “Since I got back from Italy I feel like I’m a lot better conditioned. I’m feeling good.”

The explosive transfer Eron Harris, who is now eligible to play after sitting out a year since leaving West Virginia for MSU, will be playing in his first game at Breslin Center, despite being on pace to graduate in May.

“I’m anxious, I don’t know what’s to come though,” Harris said. “I’m kind of embracing the fact I don’t know what’s to come and I’m going to see what’s to come out of it.”

Harris was a big time scorer at West Virginia, averaging more than 17 points per game his sophomore season there. With his high talent level, Harris remains humble about his opportunity to be with MSU.

“I don’t know how I’m going to do on a given day,” Harris said. “I see it as a blessing every time I make a shot. I just do my work, say my prayers, and then we see what happens.”

Izzo is still playing around with lineups, and expects to use the exhibition game as a way to get everyone game action and figure out the lineup that works best for MSU.

“I’m going to try to play a lot of people in this game,” Izzo said. “But I think it’s very important because of the number of question marks we have. I’d say we have two definitive starters and that’s (Bryn) Forbes and (Denzel) Valentine.”

The last time these two teams met was in a 2008-2009 exhibition game, with the Spartans winning 118-57. That season, MSU went on to win the Big Ten and play in the National Championship game.