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Michigan State Spartans Men's Basketball History
Michigan State University first fielded a men's basketball team in 1898, less than a decade after the sport's invention. By 1957, the school won its first Big Ten title and made its first appearance in the Final Four under coach Forrest "Forddy" Anderson. Michigan State won its first national championship under Jud Heathcote in 1979. Earvin "Magic" Johnson helped lead the Spartans to a 75-64 victory in Salt Lake City against Larry Bird and the Indiana State Sycamores, beginning the legendary decade-long rivalry between the two. In 2000, Mateen Cleaves led the Spartans under Izzo to their second title, defeating the Florida Gators 89-76 in Indianapolis.
Under current coach Tom Izzo, Michigan State has reached new heights in college basketball. The 2018-19 season was especially momentous for the Spartans, with Michigan State winning their sixth conference tournament championship and 15th regular-season conference championship. Coach Izzo won his 600th game on March 15, 2019, defeating Ohio State 77-70 in the Big Ten tournament quarterfinals. Michigan State went on to reach that Final Four.
Michigan State Spartans Team Info
Conference: Big Ten
Team Colors: Green and white
Team Rivals: Michigan Wolverines, Purdue Boilermakers, Wisconsin Badgers
Michigan State Spartans at Breslin Center
East Lansing, Michigan, is home to one of the premiere basketball programs in the Big Ten Conference. The Michigan State Spartans play at the Breslin Student Events Center, which opened in 1989 and seats 15,000. They are coached by Tom Izzo, a former assistant at MSU who replaced Jud Heathcote upon his retirement in 1995. The Spartans have won the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament twice, in 1979 and 2000, were finalists in 2009 and have been to the Final Four 10 times, most recently in 2019.
Michigan State’s 2023–24 regular season kicks off in November at home as the Spartans face off against James Madison. The Spartans play their final game of the regular season in Bloomington, Indiana against the Hoosiers. Here’s a list of key games to keep an eye on:
Tickets for the Spartans' 2023–24 regular season can be purchased on Ticketmaster.
The Michigan State Spartans play their basketball games at the Breslin Student Events Center (or Breslin Center) in East Lansing, Michigan. The seating map for the Breslin Center can be viewed here.
Michigan State University is located in East Lansing, Michigan. It’s approximately 60 miles away from the University of Michigan, which is located in Ann Arbor.
What a great game and great atmosphere. Both teams traveled well, so crowd was involved throughout. Had a great time. Hope it’s a yearly thing.
first time seeing my cats vs duke. even though we lost it was still a great game. and the view was fab!
To start, the arena location was great and a wide variety of foods and beverages were offered compared to other usual college games. Secondly, you cant beat watching these four schools play each other. Especially Duke and UK. Your always guaranteed a great game. The only complaint was the souvenir selection. There weren't enough clothes in each size and they all looked the same. It'd have been nice for some variety there. Also the Georgia Dome is within walking distance of a lot of hotels.
Fantastic and amazing night. I loved all of the quality basketball and the entertainment segments. It was even better since the best team (Duke) won!
Would recommend the event to anyone. tremendous games
I only watched the MSU vs Kansas game the game was great, but the seats were horrible. The Georgia dome was a horrible location for a basketball game. It was too big, and shaped wrong for this event.
My brother and I enjoyed the event. Having four of the top college basketball programs on one stage was a great way to start the season. The staff at the Georgia Dome were cordial and very helpful. A couple of suggestions to enhance the event: 1) More accurate email pushed regarding pre-game events. The email I received did not give address of locations and it took several internet searches to narrow down the locations. 2) Ground transportation was almost non-existent after the game. There were taxi stands connected to the Georgia Dome but no taxis. There were people out in the street trying to flag down taxis.
If you love college basketball this is a must see tournament. It has the atmosohere of March madness..
Had the best time ever, could not have been better.
This event was great. Two great games by 4 great teams.
Great games! Great teams! But the Georgia Dome was not a great venue. On one side the court there weren't many rows of seats ( more like a good high school gym). Unlike in an arena build for basketball some seats in the end zones didn't even directly face the court.
An event to remember. Crowd was small for this type of event. Four great teams. Next year in Chicago will be awesome.
I had good time at the event. Our tickets had and obstructed view because of other seating between our seats and the court. I was not happy about that. This row of tickets probably shouldn't have been sold. The 2 rows of seats in front of us were empty probably because of the obstructed view. We couldn't see a lot at one end of the court.
Four great college basketball programs made for two great games.
Great event to attend if you are a basketball fan!
Duke/Kentucky and MichiganState/Kansas - what a NCAA Basketball doubleheader - it exceeded all expectations!!!! Great games, especially the ending of each game, and from the front row court seats we were aware of everything surrounding the games!!! It was the best time at a Duke victory since our classic game in 1992 against Kentucky, and the hero of that classic (Christian Laetner) was at this game - only a few rows over!!! A very special basketball evening for a Duke alum - even the surrounding Kentucky fans were very cordial after their defeat!!! Text messages from friends with pictures of us at the game sealed the deal in a special way!
The games were great and of course I was very happy and excited that Duke won!
Four awesome teams, two amazing games, a great tourney.
great event! What's not to like; four of the historically powerhouse programs, one dome, one night!
Staff and event were both excellent! Even though UK lost......
