EAST LANSING — Somewhere inside the Breslin Center, Tom Izzo delivered his assessment of Michigan State Basketball‘s second and final exhibition game. And it had nothing to do with his team’s play.

“I learned a little more about their character,” he said. “They’re starting to make progress.”

It was November 14, 1995. Before the Final Fours. Before the national championship. Before the Basketball Hall of Fame induction and all the applause that Izzo has received since.

Before he coached a single game that counted for the Spartans, Izzo laid the foundation for what he wanted most in the program he was about to build.

Physical resistance. Mental strength. Elite talents.

Above all, a passion and a desire to succeed. And win.

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Just like MSU did that night nearly 30 years ago. A hard-fought 77-72 victory. Over Marathon Oil, a team made up of former college stars.

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Izzo himself underwent routine maintenance during the offseason, undergoing hip replacement surgery and feeling refreshed and ready for his 30th season as head coach of the Spartans. Finally, after a late summer trip to Spain for three international matches and two exhibition games against Division II opponents, it’s time to make the games count again.

A revamped MSU roster opens its season Monday night with a visit from Monmouth. Tipoff is at 7 p.m. in Breslin, without television broadcast but available online via BTN+.

“The first year I was very nervous. Year 30, I’m as excited as hell and I just feel like I’m in a good place,” Izzo said Friday. “For me, my team is improving. I think we solidified some things in some of these exhibition games. I can’t wait to see if we can put them to good use.

The Spartans are coming off a 12th straight season of 20 or more wins and a 26th straight NCAA Tournament appearance – an NCAA record by a single school coach – but it happened through ‘a disappointing 20-15 by Izzo’s standards. record with a veteran team that went to overtime in the Sweet 16 a year earlier.

Since then? Tyson Walker and Malik Hall graduated. AJ Hoggard transferred to Vanderbilt and Mady Sissoko to California for their fifth and final year of eligibility. Four key pieces from the last three years are gone.

So Izzo entered the transfer portal and addressed two areas of need, recruiting a high-level, physical veteran in Frankie Fidler (from Nebraska-Omaha) to fill Hall’s hole on the wing. He replaced Sissoko with the sturdy 7-footer Szymon Zapala (from Longwood). He added two freshmen guards, Kur Teng and Jase Richardson, the son of former MSU star Jason, to round out the backcourt.

Izzo also discusses key pieces around which this team will be built. The Spartans’ core of senior shooting guard Jaden Akins, redshirt freshman point guard Jeremy Fears Jr. and sophomore forward Xavier Booker will be counted on to pick up the pace and bring the newcomers up to the demands of Izzo’s defense, rebounding and running around the court.

“We can push the ball very well. We just have to make the effort to do it,” Fidler said Friday. “We are a tough team, and we have to use that strength night in and night out, every game.”

The 6-foot-4 Akins is the leading returning scorer (10.4 points) and by far the most experienced player on the roster. Fears is coming off a gunshot wound to his left leg that cut his freshman season short after an impressive 12 games, showing the leadership Izzo demands from his senior guard. And 6-11 Booker showed late development last season averaging 3.7 points and 1.7 rebounds per game.

Those three should share the spotlight with the 6-7 Fidler, who averaged 20.1 points and 6.3 rebounds in 36 minutes per game a year ago. Zapala posted 9.8 points and 5.6 rebounds in 16.8 minutes for Longwood last year after three seasons at Utah State.

“We have a lot of depth on the team,” Akins said Friday. “So just preparing our minutes and our rotation well for what it’s going to be like in the season, we’ll see that in the first two weeks of the season.”

The Spartans also return key juniors in combo guard Tre Holloman (5.7 points, 2.4 assists) and big men Jaxon Kohler (2.0 points, 2.0 rebounds) and Carson Cooper (3.4 points , 4.4 rebounds). All three have the ability and experience to join the starting lineup, while Richardson and Teng appear to be promising options off the bench behind the veteran guards.

“We tried so many different training courses this summer. … But at the end of the day, whatever lineup you put in the game, you want to do your job,” Kohler said after MSU’s exhibition win over Ferris State on Tuesday. “And if you do your job and you get other people to do theirs and they work really well together organically, that helps a team win.”

Last year began with a historic overtime loss to James Madison, the first time MSU had lost its opener in Breslin, dating back to 1989, and the program’s first loss at home in 48 years.

Which makes this opener just as important as Izzo’s first, which was a three-point escape against Division II’s Chaminade in the 1995 Maui Invitational. Monmouth finished 18-15 last season.

“It’s a big week, because last year we laid an egg in the opener,” Izzo said. “Give (James Madison) credit, they beat us and had a hell of a year. But it’s a great week to see if we’ve learned anything, to see what our approach is.

Contact Chris Solari: [email protected]. Follow him @chrissolari.

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This article was originally published on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State basketball makes Tom Izzo ‘excited as hell’ for 30th year