ATLANTA — It is fair to say Michigan State has evolved, and then some, since its first trip to Atlanta in November.Then unranked, the Spartans fell to No. 1 Kansas in the Champions Classic in its first marquee game of the season.More than four months later, second-seeded Michigan State (29-6) is back at State Farm Arena with a revamped lineup on Friday when it faces No. 6 seeded Ole Miss (24-11) in the first South Region semifinal of the NCAA Tournament.”I’ve learned a lot about my team since then,” Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo said. “I made no bones about it in our first meeting we had with everybody, that I thought we could be a good team, but I didn’t know how good. … Now that we’re here, I can see why we got here. We’ve been as consistent as many of the teams that I’ve ever had.”Since that first loss of the season on Nov. 12, Izzo has tweaked the starting five, flipping Xavier Booker for Jaxon Kohler and Frankie Fidler for Jase Richardson. The change has helped the program reach its most wins since the 2018-19 season, which is the last time Michigan State advanced past the Sweet 16.Before the Spartans can look down the road, Izzo knows that his team has its hands full with hot-shooting Ole Miss.”The team is shooting 49 percent from (3-point range) in the NCAA Tournament, which is incredible,” Izzo said of the Rebels. “We’ve got our work cut out for us. It’s a good team that I think has gotten better as the year has gone on, and I know that they’ll be well coached and well prepared.”Michigan State has struggled from beyond the arc at 31.0 percent, which ranked last in the Big Ten.Spartans leading scorer Jaden Akins has averaged 13.5 points in Michigan State’s first two NCAA Tournament games. Tre Holloman has delivered 14 points off the bench in each of the first two games to pace the Spartans’ scoring.