Michigan State Men’s Basketball: 2022-2023 Schedule released

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    The Michigan State men’s basketball team has released the long-awaited 2022-2023 season schedule in full today. MSU will face 11 non-conference opponents, with five of those matchups being played at the Breslin Center. The 20-game conference schedule will feature 10 home games and 10 away games with seven opponents being played in both home and away settings.

    Among the top conference games is a visit from Michigan scheduled for Jan. 7. Mysteriously, that matchup is set for the weekend before students return to campus. A brutal stretch follows that game with trips to Wisconsin and Illinois followed by visits from Purdue at Rutgers.

    The tough stretch continues with a trip to Indiana and Purdue with a visit by Iowa in between. A game against Rutgers is next up, but curiously it is listed as “versus” rather than “at” on the Big Ten’s schedule release with the location “to be determined.” According to rumors reported by On The Banks, the venue will be Madison Square Garden for this one.

    The schedule eases up a little bit from there, but still has plenty of tough games down the final stretch. A visit to Michigan comes on Feb. 18 and Ohio State will close out the regular season in East Lansing on March 4. You can find the full schedule, including the non-conference, below.

    Michigan State’s season opener will welcome the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks to East Lansing on Monday, Nov. 7. The matchup will mark the first time the Spartans will face off against the Big Sky team from Flagstaff, Arizona. However, NAU did hire former MSU grad assistant Chris Fowler as an assistant coach back in July 2020 where he remained on staff until joining new Western Michigan head coach Dwayne Stephens’ staff ahead of the 2022-2023 season.

    Following the season opener, Michigan State will head out west to take on the Gonzaga Bulldogs on Friday, Nov. 11. The Veterans Day matchup was previously announced and is scheduled to be played on the deck of the Nimitz-Class U.S. Navy aircraft carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72), which will be docked alongside its pier in San Diego Bay.

    Another neutral court matchup will follow the game in San Diego with Michigan State facing off against the Kentucky Wildcats in Indianapolis in the annual Champions Classic. The event at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Nov. 15 will see MSU-UK take the court first, and will be followed by Duke versus Kansas in the second game of the night.

    In a rare occurrence for the Spartans, back-to-back matchups against the same mascot will occur this season. That is because the Villanova Wildcats will visit East Lansing on Nov. 18 as part of the Gavitt Tipoff Games. Villanova is 3-1 against Michigan State all-time, but the programs have not played one another since Nov. 29, 2002.

    It is then back to the road after that for MSU, as the Spartans head out west to Portland, Oregon, to participate in the Phil Knight Invitational (PK85). The bracket was released in late July and Michigan State will open the PK85 tournament against the Alabama Crimson Tide on Nov. 24. MSU will face either the UConn Huskies or Oregon Ducks in the second game on Nov. 25. A third game will wrap up the PK85 for Michigan State against a to-be-determined opponent on Nov. 27. Villanova is also in the field, so MSU could see VU twice.

    The only true road game of the non-conference schedule follows the PK85 tournament. The Spartans will head to South Bend as part of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge for a matchup against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Nov. 30. The trip will mark the first visit to South Bend by Michigan State since a 79-78 overtime loss by the Spartans in 2014 that was also part of the annual ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

    Michigan State closes out the non-conference season with three home matchups. The first comes against the Brown Bears on Dec. 10. The matchup will mark just the second time the two programs have played one another, with Michigan State holding the 1-0 edge in the series thanks to a 45-34 victory in East Lansing on Nov. 8, 2006. Current MSU assistant coach Doug Wojcik’s son, Paxton Wojcik, is a senior guard on the Brown team.

    The annual intrastate clash against the Oakland Grizzlies will be played at the Breslin Center on Dec. 21 with a unique twist this season. Former Michigan State guard Rocket Watts will be on the Oakland roster facing off against his former team. The non-conference will wrap up with a visit by the Buffalo Bulls on Dec. 30.

    The men’s basketball team will also be joining the women’s team in welcoming fans back for “Michigan State Madness.” The event used to be held annually, but hasn’t occurred since 2019 as a result of COVID-19.

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