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A week after knocking off previously unbeaten Texas in a highly-anticipated game at The Palace of Auburn Hills, neither that nor a week to celebrate Christmas was enough to produce an emotional letdown for Michigan State's basketball team, which closed out the 2007 part of its schedule with a 93-75 dismantling of Wisconsin Green-Bay.

MSU finished the non-conference portion of its schedule with a 12-1 record, which included neutral-site wins over Texas and BYU, a road win at Bradley and a home win over North Carolina State, victories that no doubt will boost the resume as the Spartans aim for a No. 1 or No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament.

Now, the fun really begins for the Spartans as they prepare to open Big Ten play at 8 p.m. next Saturday at home against Minnesota. MSU won't play another non-conference opponent until the NCAA tournament.

"I'd say I'm very pleased with the record and very excited about what I see we can grow to be," MSU head coach Tom Izzo said.

Izzo was both ecstatic and furious over his team's play against the Phoenix.

On one hand, Izzo gushed about the offensive statistics MSU produced. The Spartans shot 55.2 percent from the field, had 31 assists to 10 turnovers and saw five players score in double-figures, led by Raymar Morgan's 24 points.

Junior guard Travis Walton and freshman guard Kalin Lucas (Orchard Lake St. Mary's) combined for 20 assists and no turnovers. Unfortunately for Izzo, the numbers weren't as pretty on the defensive side.

MSU allowed the Phoenix to shoot 49.2 percent from the field and score 40 points in the paint, figures that made Izzo irate.

"It was one of the more awesome offensive performances maybe in my short or long career, depending on how you want to look at it, and one of the more disgusting defensive performances in my short or long career," Izzo said.

Fortunately for Izzo, his team's offensive output far outweighed any defensive lapses, particularly in the first half.

MSU took a 53-36 lead at halftime thanks in large part 57.9 to shooting from the field, an assist-to-turnover ratio of 18-4 and a rebounding edge of 20-13 over the Phoenix.

After having a coming-out party against Texas, Lucas (Orchard Lake St. Mary's) was even better against the Phoenix, scoring 14 points and dishing out five assists in 13 first-half minutes.

He finished with 17 points and nine assists.

"I'm feeling good and very comfortable out there," Lucas said. "I feel there are a lot of things I still need to work on, but I'm feeling good."

The Spartans didn't let up to start the second half, taking a 20-point lead on multiple occasions, but the Phoenix did stage a modest rally to cut MSU's lead to 14 at 77-63 with 7:37 remaining, but that was as close as they'd get.

The Spartans pushed their lead up to 24 at 91-67 with 4:16 remaining. Drew Neitzel scored 16 points, Goran Suton and Durrell Summers each added 10 points and Travis Walton dished out 11 assists for MSU, which will now begin its quest to win its first Big Ten title since 2001.

"It's going to heat up," Izzo said. "Defense gets more important as you head to the conference. There was one end (offense) that was really good and one end (defense) that was really bad. The one end that was really bad becomes very, very critical once you start conference play.

I'm not feeling as good as I was last Saturday night, let's put it that way."