DIMONDALE - The Moneyball basketball tournament tipped off on Thursday, June 30 with four games that made rivals work together and put teammates against each other.

This time around, there was one particular game that caught the crowd’s attention: black vs. green.

Michigan State junior “Tum Tum” Nairn played with incoming freshman Miles Birdges for the green team, while senior Gavin Schillin played with also incoming freshman Josh Langford for the black team.

"You know what, it's exciting to see all the fans come out and watch us play, kind of for the first time of the year and we really appreciate them coming out and we just kind of want to put a show for them and give them a lot of fun,” Nairn said.

For Birdges, it meant preparing for the season.

"It's getting me in shape, it's getting me bigger, stronger, faster, and I'm just ready for the season, he said.

Alongside Schilling and Langford were Mark Donnal and Derrick Walton of the University of Michigan.

"It's a great atmosphere, I've never really played in anything like this. So when the crowd is going, you know, it just feels good, you know, to be able to come out here and play against good competition,” Langford said.

On the center of the court it’s Spartan against Spartan, as Bridges taps the ball over Schilling to Indiana Tech’s Maurice Benson, who ten returns it to Birdges with an alley-oop to open the scoreboard.

"You know it helps us to compete against each other, learn about each other, stuff like that,” Nairn said.

That dunk was the first of many in the game, showing Michigan State University coach Tom Izzo’s 2016 recruiting class’ potential.

"We have a good recruiting class coming in, with Miles, Josh, Nick (Ward) and Cassisus (Winston), so I'm excited about them, they've been working hard so far. It's always good to play against teammates, because you know they bring out the best in you, they challenge you, so that's the best,” Schilling said.

Bridges might have had close to, if not more than, 10 dunks in the game, but it was the black team who had the lead during almost the whole 36 minutes.

Nairn scored early on, Langford also showed off his skills with threes, and layups.

Langford and Bridges had a friendly teammate competition throughout the game, and in the second half, Bridges blocks Langford’s shot, carries it down the court and puts two more on the scoreboard with a layup for the green team.

With just a few minutes left, Schilling slams the ball in for two, followed by another dunk by Langford with five seconds left.

"I'm just looking forward to winning the national championship. You know, just getting better and growing with these guys,” Langford said. “Michigan State is the true definition of a family atmosphere and I feel like since I've been out here these guys are turning into my actual brothers so I've had a great time out here, and also when it comes to the court, learning different angles, learning how to play the college game, you know, it's been exciting."

Bridges tries to put the ball through his legs and dunk it one more time to get the crowd rowdy, but that one’s a no go.

Final score, black team 101, green team 96.

Team black will play against red on Tuesday, July 5, while team green will take on team purple.

For Michigan State basketball, they’ve only done team workouts so far, but the incoming freshman are already earning respect from the older guys.

"I really like those guys because they're so humble. They just came in with a working mentality, working out every day, working out in the weight room,” Nairn said.

As for the goal for next season?

“I'm looking forward to the first game, I'm really looking forward just to take it one day at a time. It's a long season, it's going to be a lot of fun, but also you know it's going to be a lot of travel for us, playing in Hawaii, in the Bahamas and going to New York, so we just gotta make sure we stay healthy and stay off of our feet as much as we can,” Nairn said.