Michigan State, Arkansas MBB schedule home-and-home series beginning Nov. 8 originally appeared on The Sporting News
Michigan State Athletics announced Wednesday the Spartans’ men’s basketball team will host non-conference opponent Arkansas at the Breslin Center Saturday, Nov. 8 in the first game of a two-year home-and-home series. The Razorbacks will host Michigan State in Fayetteville next season.
Advertisement
The East Lansing game will be the third all-time meeting between the programs and second of Spartans’ head coach Tom Izzo’s 30-year career with the program, but the first at either team’s home court. Ticket and broadcasting information has yet to be announced.
Michigan State won both previous contests against Arkansas. The Spartans beat the Razorbacks 86-71 in the 1991 Maui Invitational championship game and again in a 1995 regular season game, 75-72. The 1995 game was the fourth of Izzo’s first season as the Spartans’ head coach.
Though these games will be only the third and fourth meetings between the Razorbacks and Spartans, they will be the sixth and seventh all-time meetings between Izzo and Arkansas head coach John Calipari.
Teams coached by Izzo and Calipari last faced in 2022 at the Champions Classic, when the latter was still at Kentucky. Michigan State beat the Wildcats, 86-77 in double overtime.
Advertisement
Both Izzo and Calipari are vocal critics of the transfer portal.
📲 Follow The Sporting News on WhatsApp
Calipari is one of the main advocates supporting a rule change that would aim to stabilize the portal, something Izzo recently said he would “definitely support.” The Razorbacks’ coach wants players to be able to transfer once without penalty (sitting out) after leaving their original program. Any subsequent transfers would require the athlete to sit out.
ESPN’s most recent early top 25 rankings had Arkansas listed at No. 11, while the unranked Spartans were fifth among the five “Next in line” programs.
