Michigan State seems to be a bit ahead of schedule for the 2021-22 basketball season, with three productive victories en route to a 3-1 start to a season in which the Spartans were on nobody’s preseason Top 25 list.

MSU’s ranking, for what it’s worth, could change coming out of Thanksgiving week if the Spartans can come way with three wins and a tournament championship at the Battle 4 Atlantis this week in The Bahamas.

The tournament begins at noon today (Wednesday) with the Spartans playing Loyola of Chicago (4-0) on ESPN.

If the Spartans win, they will play at noon on Thursday against the Auburn (3-0) vs Connecticut (4-0) winner (ESPN).

If the Spartans lose to Loyola, Michigan State will play at 2:30 pm on Thursday.

If Michigan State wins its first two games, the championship game will be played at 11 a.m. on Friday.

The other half of the eight-team tournament includes defending National Champion Baylor (4-0), Arizona State (2-2), Syracuse (2-1) and Virginia Commonwealth (2-2).

“It’s great preparation for an NCAA Tournament sometimes when you have to learn how to change gears from a 3-point shooting team, to possibly a pressing team, to a big, athletic team, or maybe a zone team,” said Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo. “I told them you have to learn how to function. We got a few days prep for the first game and then everything goes crazy with a quick turnaround the next day.”

Loyola returns two starters from last year’s Sweet 16 team, but none who averaged double figures.

* Drew Valentine, 30, is Loyola’s first-year coach, replacing Porter Moser who left the Ramblers to become head coach at Oklahoma.

Valentine is the brother of former Michigan State superstar Denzel Valentine. Drew was a graduate manager at Michigan State in 2014 and ’15.

“What I don’t like doing is having to play one of my kind of former assistants,” Izzo said. “It’s always bitter-sweet but at the same time I can like him for 30 games and not for one.”

Princeton transfer Ryan Schwieger (6-7, Sr.) is the Ramblers’ leading scorer at 14.8 points per game.

Schieger is 8-of-16 on the year from 3-point range for a team that has nailed a red hot 45 percent of its 3-pointers on the season.

Loyola hit an outrageous 20 3-pointers against Coppin State (20 of 46) in a 103-45 victory.

“They didn’t shoot that many 3s last year,” Izzo said. “So far, he has changed a lot. They are opening up. That can be good and bad, depending on who you play. It’s hard to get a sample size, he played all home games, although Florida Gulf Coast is a good team.

“The best thing they’ve got is experience. They have fifth-year players. That’s going to be a plus for them.

Loyola has scored double-digit victories in all four of its games against Coppin State, Florida Gulf Coast, Chicago State and Illinois-Chicago.

“This is a better all-around shooting team than Eastern,” Izzo said. “We know we have to do a better job. We had been defending the three pretty well and then I think we started playing the score a little bit and we got a little lacks. As a coaching staff, we have to do a better job keeping guys connected on the floor.

“That’s what I’m going to lean with these two guys,” Izzo said of captains Gabe Brown and Malik Hall, sitting next to them during the Battle 4 Atlantis Press Conference on Tuesday. “Player-coached teams are valuable. Sitting there on the bench, you can almost feel when guys are taking things for granted. We take a few bad shots, we aren’t getting out on shooters the same, and the guys playing the game have to do a better job. The three of us will be responsible for that.”

Loyola’s tightest win was a 89-77 decision over Florida Gulf Coast.

“They have a really good team,” Izzo said. “They have guys coming back that have been starting for two years that are not even starting. When you have that number of players back and guys that have been in big-time NCAA Tournament games, they are going to be experienced. We are a little more inexperienced, especially on the perimeter.”

Senior forward Joey Hauser was back practicing with the Spartans at full-go on Tuesday. He was held out of Saturday’s 83-59 victory over Eastern Michigan with a lower body strain.

Izzo also held him out of scrimmaging during Sunday’s practice.

“That was strictly precautionary,” Izzo said. “If Saturday’s game had been a Big Ten game, he would have played.

“He practiced Monday for the first time and was good today and seems to be feeling pretty good,” Izzo said. “That was one of the few good moves I made, not wanting him to play in that game (on Saturday). Any injuries that can be ones that drag on, any pulled muscle in the groin, hip, thigh or calf, those ones can linger. So I think we got through that. He might be a little rusty, maybe, with five days off. But I think he will be fine.”

Hall was more productive than Hauser at the stretch four position during MSU’s win at Butler on Nov. 17.

Hall followed up with a solid performance as a a starter against Eastern Michigan, with 15 points and nine rebounds. He is 3-of-5 from 3-point range in his last two games.

Michigan State has three players averaging double figures. Gabe Brown is averaging a team-high 14.0 points per game while shooting .318 from 3-point range.

Brown has a bright green light to launch from 3-point range, and is MSU’s best gunner from deep in transition. The Spartans need him to get his percentage above 35 percent.

Center Marcus Bingham is averaging 12.8 points and 8.3 rebounds and 4.0 blocks per game.

“Marcus Bingham is starting to be the player we thought he could be,” Izzo said.

Freshman Max Christie is averaging 11.5 points per game while shooting .333 from 3-point range.

Hall is MSU’s top 3-point shooter for those with more than five attempts from long range. Hall is shooting 40 percent from deep (4-of-10).

Point guard Tyson Walker, a career 30-plus percent shooter from 3-point range at Northeastern, is just 1-of-2 from long range thus far for the Spartans. He is averaging 5.0 points per game. Izzo wants him to look for his shot more.

Walker has an assist-to-turnover ratio of 19-11. Izzo would like to see that improve, as well as MSU’s average of 14.7 turnovers per game.

“We have turned the ball over so much early and it cost a chance to beat a team like Kansas,” Izzo said. “But I think we are starting to correct that.

“I think some of that is with the youth of our team. Gabe is the only guy on the perimeter who has played here. AJ (Hoggard) played a little bit last year. Tyson Walker is a new guy. And the other two guys are young on the perimeter.

“On the perimeter we are a not quite as deep and a little less experienced.”

Izzo has won only four preseason tournaments as head coach at Michigan State. For a legendary, Hall of Fame coach who has had tremendous success in winning conference championships and making long runs in the NCAA Tournament, Izzo hasn’t had as much good fortune during preseason, off-campus tournaments.

Izzo has failed to win tournaments during 13 of his 25 seasons at Michigan State.

Izzo’s preseason tournament championships:

* 2013 in the Coaches vs Cancer Classic in Brooklyn, N.Y., defeating Oklahoma in the final, 87-76, (Keith Appling was the leading scorer with 27).

* 2015 in the Wooden Legacy Tournament in Anaheim, Calif, beating Providence in the final, 77-64, (Bryn Forbes was the leading scorer with 18)

* 2017 in the PK80 Tournament in Portland, Ore., beating North Carolina in the final, 63-45, (Joshua Langford was the leading scorer with 23).

* 2018 in the Las Vegas Invitational, beating Texas in the final, 78-68 (Joshua Langford was the leading scorer with 28).

This is MSU’s first preseason tournament since 2019 when the Spartans lost to Virginia Tech in the opener of the Maui Invitational, and then beat Georgia and UCLA in the consolation round.

“This will be hard for the young guys, the freshmen, realizing that today you’re guarding it one way, tomorrow you have to make adjustments,” Izzo said. “Three games in three days is very difficult for a coaching staff but it’s even more difficult for the players. Later on, it’s really going to help you on, win, lose or draw.

“I almost grew up watching the tournament in Maui. Atlantis has come on a little more recently but it has become one of the great tournament sites and one of the great tournaments and one of the great tournament sites.”