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Live Updates: No. 9 Tennessee basketball's exhibition at No. 4 Michigan State

IMG_3593by: Grant Ramey10/29/23GrantRamey
NCAA Basketball: Iowa at Michigan State
Feb 25, 2020; East Lansing, Michigan, USA; General view of basketball on court during the first half a game between the Michigan State Spartans and the Iowa Hawkeyes at the Breslin Center. Mandatory Credit: Mike Carter-USA TODAY Sports

EAST LANSING, Mich. — No. 9 Tennessee unofficially starts the 2023-24 season with Sunday afternoon’s charity exhibition game against No. 4 Michigan State at the Breslin Center. Follow along with Volquest for live updates before, during and after today’s game.

Live Updates on The General’s Quarter: No. 9 Tennessee at No. 4 Michigan State

Today’s exhibition is the second in a two-year deal between the two programs, with Tennessee hosting the Spartans in a closed scrimmage at Thompson-Boling Arena last October. Proceeds from the open exhibition will go toward the Maui wildfire relief efforts.

The Vols are ranked No. 9 in the Associated Press Preseason Top 25 and Michigan State is ranked No. 4. Tennessee has a 2-5 all-time record against the Spartans but have played only once since 1994, a 70-69 loss in the 2010 NCAA Tournament in the Elite Eight in St. Louis.

Tennessee at Michigan State: How To Watch

Start Time: 3:30 p.m. ET

Location: Breslin Center (14,759)

TV: Big Ten Network

Injury Report

Tennessee fifth-year senior guard Santiago Vescovi will not be with the Vols for today’s game after traveling home to Uruguay to be with his family and his ailing grandmother.

Zakai Zeigler, who is continuing the rehab of the torn ACL he suffered in February, is not expected to play in the scrimmage. The junior point guard has been going through preseason practices with the Vols this month, though.

Tennessee’s game notes project the five starters for the Vols to be junior guard Jordan Gainey, junior guard Jahmai Mashack, fifth-year senior wing Dalton Knecht, fifth-year senior wing Josiah-Jordan James and junior forward Jonas Aidoo.

Injuries slowed Tennessee during preseason workouts, with both sophomore forward Tobe Awaka and freshman guard Cameron Carr missing time while in concussion protocol and freshman forward JP Estrella sidelined earlier this month with a fractured finger. Awaka, Carr and Estrella are all available for the exhibition.

Quotables: Rick Barnes and Tom Izzo

Tom Izzo: “Not to be one of those coaches that just is trying to motivate his team, but if we play like we did last night, we’ll get our butts kicked. I mean this team is the deepest, best team I’ve seen in a while. Deepest. I mean, like 12 deep. And we played them last year, so we know about them.”

Rick Barnes: “I think we’re all ready to play outside competition, but hoping to see that we can do some of the things that do a lot of things that we practice. But we’ll play hard because we know Michigan State’s gonna play hard. “

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