Michigan State men's basketball looked the part of a national championship contender in Monday night's dominant season-opening win over Quinnipiac.

The Spartans looked impressive from essentially the opening tip on Monday, starting the season with a 96-59 victory over Quinnipiac. Michigan State led by double-digits for the better part of the game, with their lead never dipping below 20 points in the second half.

Michigan State put this game away early thanks to strong play on both ends of the floor. After a slow start, Michigan State would outscore Quinnipiac 42 to 18 across the final 15 minutes of the opening frame. That impressive run led to the Spartans holding a 52-24 advantage at the break.

Quinnipiac was able to cut into the Spartans lead early into the second half, but it never dipped below 20 points en route to the blowout season-opening victory. Michigan State led by as many as 40 points in the second half before ultimately winning by the final score of 96-59.

Michigan State was led in scoring by Jeremy Fears Jr., who ended the game with 13 points and 11 assists. Five other Spartans finished with double-digits in scoring, including Charlotte transfer Anton Bonke, who had a double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds.

Michigan State ended the night shooting 58.1% from the field, which included a solid 39.1% (9-of-23) from three-point range. The two notable knocks against the Spartans in this otherwise dominant victory was free throw shooting (15-of-26 for 57.7%) and turnovers (12), which will surely be areas that head coach Tom Izzo will look for improvement moving forward.

Next up for the Spartans is another home non-conference game later this week. Michigan State will host Toledo on Thursday, with tipoff scheduled for 8 p.m. ET. That matchup between the Spartans and Rockets will be available to watch via streaming on Peacock.