A look back at Kentucky's four Michigan State matchups in the Champions Classic

Kentucky did not live up to the hype in its first legitimate test in the regular season, crumbling in a hostile road environment at Louisville to begrudgingly hand over bragging rights for the year after a half-decade of comfortably keeping those in Lexington. It’s hard to say anything good came out of that performance, but the reality is it was a top-15 true road loss against a desperate program, and the Wildcats will have an opportunity to respond exactly one week later against yet another top-20 foe.

Make a statement in this one, and the national perspective will be that Mark Pope’s group is right back on track as the Final Four contender everyone thought it’d be coming in. The Cats will have to do it in a city that was not kind to them last year, losing by 20 to an unranked Ohio State team right before Christmas, a performance the UK head coach said was the team’s worst all season. Can they recover from not only a week ago, but a year ago in the same building?

Kentucky is no stranger to Michigan State, the Wildcats leading the all-time series 14-12 and 2-2 against the Spartans in the Champions Classic. Tom Izzo in general has had the school’s number, though, sitting at 6-4 overall against the blue and white in his 31 seasons as the head coach in East Lansing.

As we gear up for the showdown at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday, live at 6:30 p.m. ET on ESPN, let’s take a stroll down memory lane with a look at those four most recent head-to-head battles before we break the tie in the event, shall we?

2022 – Michigan State 86, Kentucky 77 (2OT) – Indianapolis

Indianapolis has been enemy No. 1 for Kentucky basketball in recent years, this group hoping to break that curse with a return to the Final Four next April. The last matchup between the Cats and Spartans is one of countless examples justifying that pure hatred.

Ranked No. 4 in the country, UK came in as the better team on paper with serious title dreams in Oscar Tshiebwe’s second season, only to shoot 38.5 percent from the field while getting outrebounded with a once-in-a-lifetime talent on the glass. They had opportunities at the end of regulation — missed free throw, then a wide-open dunk — then again at the end of the first overtime period — missed free throw, then a wide-open dunk — only to let it all slip away in the second overtime to leave with the head-scratching nine-point loss.

Tshiebwe went for 22 points, 18 rebounds and four blocks to go with 14 points, eight steals, five rebounds and five assists for Cason Wallace while Joey Hauser and Malik Hall combined for 43 points in the upset win.

2019 – Kentucky 69, Michigan State 62 – New York City

As ugly as the most recent double-overtime loss in 2022 was, it was equally pretty the time before in 2019 — the Tyrese Maxey game. Under the bright lights of Madison Square Garden, Kentucky taking on the preseason No. 1 in Michigan State, the five-star freshman introduced himself to the world with 26 points on 7-12 shooting while adding five rebounds and the logo dagger with a minute to go to put it away for the Wildcats.

“Are you serious? Look at that swag! Look at that swag! Oh man. Mr. Calipari, you got a star — S-T-A-R.” Dick Vitale said on the broadcast.

Ashton Hagans added 11 points and Immanuel Quickley had 10, but it was all about Maxey that night. Little did we know, he’d go on to become one of the best up-and-coming superstars in the NBA as the face of the Philadelphia 76ers.

Cassius Winston went for 21 points in the losing effort as the lone Spartan to finish in double figures.

2016 – Kentucky 69, Michigan State 48 – New York City

Something about New York City against the Spartans — maybe it’s a sign for this week? Just as Maxey introduced himself to the basketball world against MSU in the Champions Classic, it was Malik Monk doing the same just a few years prior. That team performance was by far the best of the four-game series, Kentucky holding Michigan State to just 48 points while forcing 20 turnovers compared to nine assists, Izzo’s group shooting 32.7 percent from the field and 19.2 percent from three. No Spartan hit the double-figure scoring mark in the dominant performance for the blue and white.

Monk had one of those days against his first name-brand opponent, scoring 23 points on 8-17 shooting while adding six rebounds, followed by Isaiah Briscoe with 21 points and four rebounds and Fox with 12 points, six assists and four rebounds to wrap up double-figure scorers. The Cats shot, meanwhile, assisted on 17 of 23 total field goals.

Only seven UK bench points — and six for Bam Adebayo, surprisingly. That’s because it was the coming-out party for one of the most iconic backcourts in recent memory for the Wildcats.

2013 – Michigan State 78, Kentucky 74 – Chicago

Ah, the day 40-0 died. There had never been an offseason with more hype, Kentucky building the greatest recruiting class in history on paper with five top-10 prospects signed on and six in the top 20 — the bounce-back coming off a disappointing finish in 2012-13. It was No. 1 vs. No. 2, the Wildcats ready to back up all of the noise pushing for the NCAA to go on and ship the championship trophy to Lexington.

Keith Appling and Gary Harris had other ideas, though, combining for 42 points with the former adding eight rebounds, eight assists and four steals and the latter adding three steals, two rebounds and an assist.

Julius Randle tried his best to will UK to victory, finishing with 27 points and 13 rebounds — albeit with eight turnovers — while James Young added 19 points and Andrew Harrison went for 11. For the most part, it was a seven-man rotation for Coach Cal that night, the other four not giving the Cats enough in Chicago. They dominated on the glass (44-32), but the 8-17 vs. 17-7 assist-to-turnover difference for Kentucky was glaring.

It was the start of a magical run no one saw coming, the Cats turning a 10-loss regular season into an iconic postseason run to the title game with game-winners against Louisville, Michigan and Wisconsin.

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How will the Wildcats respond this go-round, again in New York City? We’re about to find out.