Michigan State releases non-conference schedule

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Michigan State basketball’s non-conference schedule has been finalized.

The Spartans on Tuesday released their full out-of-conference slate, which includes two exhibition games, four neutral site contests and 11 regular season matchups in total. It also features four regular season games against teams that made last year’s NCAA Tournament.

Including Michigan State’s 10 Big Ten home games, the Spartans will host 12 power conference teams for the first time in the Tom Izzo era.

Izzo’s team will begin its exhibition season by hosting Bowling Green on Oct. 23. It will mark the second time in as many seasons that the Spartans and Falcons have met in East Lansing. Michigan State defeated Bowling Green, 86-72, last year.

Todd Simon’s team finished the year with a 14-18 record (8-10 in the Mid-American Conference). Former Michigan State guard Tum Tum Nairn Jr. is entering his third season as Simon’s associate head coach.

Michigan State will wrap up its exhibition schedule with a trip to Storrs, Conn., to face Dan Hurley’s Connecticut Huskies on Oct. 28.

The Spartans will begin the regular season by hosting Colgate on Nov. 3. The Raiders qualified for the NCAA Tournament as recently as the 2023-24 season, but they failed to make the Big Dance last year.

Matt Langel’s team finished last season with a 14-19 (10-8)record. They’ll look to get back to the NCAA Tournament after bowing out to American in the semifinals of last year’s Patriot League Tournament.

Michigan State will then host Arkansas on Nov. 8, and San Jose State on Nov. 13. Former Nebraska coach Tim Miles led San Jose State to a 15-20 (7-13) finish last season, his fourth year in charge of the Spartan program.

San Jose State fell to New Mexico in the quarterfinals of the 2025 Mountain West Tournament before ending its season with a loss to Loyola Chicago in the first round of the NIT.

After three home games in a row, Michigan State will travel to Madison Square Garden to face Kentucky in the Champions Classic on Nov. 18. The Spartans and Wildcats last faced off as part of the annual event in November 2022. Michigan State beat Kentucky, 86-77, in double-overtime that year.

Michigan State will return to the Breslin Center to face former Izzo assistant Mark Montgomery and the Detroit Mercy Titans on Nov. 21 before heading down to Florida to take part in the Fort Myers Tip-Off. The Spartans will face East Carolina on Nov. 25 and North Carolina on Nov. 27 as part of the event.

The month of December begins with a matchup against Duke at the Breslin Center on Dec. 6. The game will serve as the return leg of a home-and-home series that began with a Champions Classic matchup in Durham in 2020.

Michigan State will then host Toledo on Dec. 16. The Rockets finished 18-15 overall and 10-8 in the Mid-American Conference last year. Their season ended with a loss to Akron in the semifinals of their conference tournament.

After that, the Spartans will head down to Detroit to play Oakland at Little Caesars Arena on Dec. 20. Michigan State beat Greg Kampe’s team, 77-58, last season at the home of the Detroit Pistons. The Spartans and Golden Grizzlies agreed to a new three-year extension of their annual series on Tuesday, according to a report from Tony Paul of the Detroit News.

Michigan State and Oakland will meet at the Breslin Center in 2026 and 2027, according to the report.

The Spartans’ non-conference schedule will conclude with a game against Cornell on Dec. 29 at the Breslin Center. Jon Jaques led the Big Red to an 18-11 (9-5) finish last season, his first year as the program’s head coach.

Cornell fell to Yale, 90-84, in the Ivy League Tournament championship game. The Big Red finished second in the conference during the regular season.