Tom Izzo’s path to another Big Ten record in his 31st season is set.
Michigan State basketball’s Big Ten schedule was released on Thursday, Sept. 18, as the Spartans prepare to start their quest for back-to-back league titles. It includes the Spartans’ annual home-and-home rivalry games against Michigan, on Jan. 30, in East Lansing and to close the regular season on March 8.
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In between, MSU will be chasing what would be Izzo’s tiebreaking 12th Big Ten title after going 17-3 in league play to win it in 2025 by three games. The Spartans finished 30-7 and advanced to an 11th Elite Eight under 70-year-old Izzo, who tied Indiana’s Bob Knight and Purdue’s Ward “Piggy” Lambert for the most regular-season titles and also passed Knight for the most conference victories all-time.
Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo watches a play against Bryant during the second half of the first round of the NCAA tournament at Rocket Arena in Cleveland, Ohio on Friday, March 21, 2025.
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Practice for college basketball officially begins Monday, Sept. 22. The Spartans’ nonconference schedule was released earlier this month.
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Izzo has made MSU a repeat Big Ten champion before, winning four in a row from 1998-2001, three in a row from 2018-20 and back-to-back in 2009 and 2010.
The Spartans open league play with two December games, on Dec. 2 at home against Iowa and on the road at Penn State on Dec. 13. They resume after Christmas break on Jan. 2 Nebraska.
See the complete schedule below.
Michigan State basketball’s schedule 2025-26
*Nonconference game.
*Oct. 23: Bowling Green (exhibition)
*Oct. 28: at Connecticut (exhibition)
*Nov. 3: Colgate
*Nov. 8: Arkansas
*Nov. 13: San Jose State
*Nov. 18: vs. Kentucky (Champions Classic, New York)
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*Nov. 21: Detroit
*Nov. 25: East Carolina (Fort Myers Tip-Off in Fort Myers, Florida)
*Nov. 27: North Carolina (Fort Myers Tip-Off in Fort Myers, Florida)
Dec. 2: Iowa
*Dec. 6: Duke
Dec. 13: at Penn State
*Dec. 16: Toledo
*Dec. 20: vs. Oakland (Little Caesars Arena, Detroit)
*Dec. 29: Cornell
Jan. 2: at Nebraska
Jan. 5: USC
Jan. 8: Northwestern
Jan. 13: Indiana
Jan. 17: at Washington
Jan. 20: at Oregon
Jan. 24: Maryland
Jan. 27: at Rutgers
Jan. 30: Michigan
Feb. 4: at Minnesota
Feb. 7: Illinois
Feb. 13: at Wisconsin
Feb. 17: UCLA
Feb. 22: Ohio State
Feb. 26: at Purdue
March 1: at Indiana
March 5: Rutgers
March 8: at Michigan
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March 11-15: Big Ten tournament, Chicago.
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State basketball schedule: Here’s 2025-26 Big Ten slate
