East Lansing, Mich. - Playing on Christmas resonates with every basketball player that grows up dreaming of playing in the NBA.

That being the case, a top 15 match-up with No. 9 Wisconsin on Christmas is a fitting gift for Michigan State players.

“It is exciting because nobody has played on Christmas and a lot of NBA games are played on Christmas,” senior wing Aaron Henry said. “Having this opportunity, I’m fortunate and blessed because a lot of people don’t get that opportunity. It’s an opportunity to go 1-1 in the Big Ten and with Wisconsin coming, we’ve got to be focused.”

When the Big Ten began drafting a schedule for conference games, Christmas Day and the days before and after were designated as an off-day by the NCAA. And if that schedule had gone ahead as drafted, players would have been sitting around their apartments on Christmas due to travel restrictions in place to keep them safe.

Concerned about the mental health of his players, Izzo spoke up.

“The NCAA wanted to make it a three-day deal where you couldn’t practice or play a game,” Izzo explained. “I said that would be a shame. I couldn’t picture my guys sitting in their apartments, not getting a chance to play basketball and couldn’t be around us, and still had to be up here.”

Izzo reached out to Michigan coach Juwan Howard, who played in the NBA for nearly two decades, to get his take on playing a Christmas game.

“I talked to him about what it was like playing on Christmas in the NBA, and he said its one of the biggest days of the year for the NBA players,” Izzo said. “So, I thought we could capture it, and then two weeks later the NBA decided they are coming back earlier than January, and we still captured some of it. I think the players are excited."

Izzo understands that some people are going to be critical of Michigan State for playing a game on Christmas.

“We thought that the safest best place for them was here," Izzo said. "If they are going be here, let’s do what they love to do. Let’s help the mental health of everybody and do what they really love to do, and play. For the people that are upset about it, I understand it, but we tried to do the best that we could do with the cards that we were dealt and I wasn’t going to leave my players in their apartments not able to do anything so we fought like hell, so we could do something special.”

Izzo hopes Michigan State fans and alumni will get as big a kick out of watching the Spartans play on Christmas as his team does playing on Christmas.

“I’m hoping that there is 500,000 living alums out there that are going to open up all of their presents on Christmas morning and turn on the tube and watch the Spartans,” Izzo said. “What is better than that?”

Michigan State is allowing parents of players to come up for the Wisconsin game. Those parents will be tested ahead of time.

“Some parents are going to be there,” Izzo said. “It won’t be all of them, and we are trying to work out some testing things so we can all be comfortable. The university has done an incredible job with that, and the parents have been so understanding. There are more than a few parents that we think are coming, and I think it’s great.”

Having parents at a game is something new for Michigan State this season.

“How those kids respond to that stuff, I don’t know?" Izzo said. “It’s going to be different. Are they going to be excited? Are they going to be over-excited? I don’t know. That’s why every day and every game of a season in something like this, there is no blue print of what to do. You just adjust and advance and that’s what we are going to try and do.”

During Wednesday's Zoom call, Izzo fondly recalled his favorite Christmas gift as a kid, a Green Bay Packer’s uniform, including the jersey of NFL Hall of Fame safety Willie Wood.

“I got the whole thing,” Izzo said. “I went out in the grass and played football outside. Had my helmet, had my pants, dragged my pants in the grass so I could have grass stains like the Packers did. Then when it started snowing, I felt like I was in the frozen tundra. By far, bar none, my favorite one was the Green Bay Packers pants, shoulder pads, and uniform I got. Willie Wood was one of my favorite guys.”

Izzo has brought up the possibility of bringing junior forward Thomas Kithier off the bench on a handful of occasions this season. Recently, he even brought the topic up in a discussion with associate head coach Dwayne Stephens.

“I think (Stephens) would agree with this statement,” Izzo said. “Kithier does every little thing right, stepping up on ball screens, communicating. What I’d like to see is him scoring a little bit more, and to do that we have to get the ball into the post a little bit more. I think we didn’t feel like our posts could score it as well as they can. He doesn’t make any mistakes, which is the best thing I see out of him.”

For Izzo and his assistants, Kithier’s lack of scoring is minor inconvenience when he is surrounded by other scoring options like Aaron Henry, Josh Langford, Joey Hauser, Rocket Watts, or Gabe Brown among others.

“He’s kind of like a Matt Costello, except that he’s got to score it more like Matt did,” Izzo said. “He sets the right picks, he knows the offense, and he understands what we are trying to do defensively. There were times we talked about taking him out of the starting lineup and I was vetoed by my assistants because of the situations and all of the things that he does. He’s got to rebound better, but in a lot of games he was just playing 10 minutes a game. He just give you more than the naked eye can see.”

Joey Hauser suffered a minor knee injury at Northwestern, and Izzo acknowledged that his leading scorer has been slowed some as a result.

“He practiced today, but did not practice yesterday,” Izzo said. “Most of it is precautionary. It’s been MRI’d, IMI’d, and X-rayed and everything else that they do now. There’s nothing there, but there was a sprain and sprains are different for every guy.”