On Oct. 13, the Michigan State men's basketball program will visit Northern Michigan for a preseason road exhibition game ahead of the 2024-2025 regular season
Northern Michigan is a Division II basketball program, led by head coach Matt Majkrzak.
The game will be played in Marquette, Michigan in the state's Upper Peninsula in the Superior Dome, an 8,000-seat wooden dome used by the Northern Michigan football team. The game will tip off at 1 p.m. Eastern Time.
Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo hails from Iron Mountain in the Upper Peninsula and was a 1977 graduate of Northern Michigan. However, he has never made his way back up to Marquette for a game yet, despite being the head coach of Michigan State for 30 years.
Back in 2021, while at Big Ten Media Days, Izzo talked about his remaining bucket list as the head coach at MSU and mentioned that playing a game in the Upper Peninsula was something he still wanted to accomplish.
“I think I want to take a game to the U.P. (Upper Peninsula),” he said. “Maybe somebody will play me up at Northern Michigan. Maybe Michigan wants to go up there. We could take a couple of sleds up there and really get after it.”
Now, Izzo will get that opportunity in an exhibition contest for the 2024-2025 campaign, and he is looking forward to it.
"To say I'm excited about the opportunity to bring my Michigan State team to play at Northern Michigan, my alma mater, would be a pretty big understatement," Izzo said in a statement on Thursday. "This is something we've wanted to try and do for a while, and I think it's going to be a pretty special event. We're excited to bring our team to the U.P. to play, and it's going to be very cool to play a game in the Superior Dome, one of the really great venues in college athletics. I think this will mean a great deal to people, not only in East Lansing but especially for the great people in Marquette and the Upper Peninsula."
Izzo has always had an emphasis on making great memories with his players, and has included many unique trips for the Michigan State players during his tenure as a head coach.
"I've always said that I want my players to have moments that are memory-makers for them," Izzo said. "From playing on an aircraft carrier or in the Champions Classic and getting the chance to play in the NCAA Tournament. I know they're excited about going to play at a place that is really special for me, and I think this is going to be a memory-maker for all of us."
The last time NMU and MSU met in the regular season action was back on Dec. 16, 1975, where the Northern Michigan starting point guard was Izzo. The Spartans went on to win that game in East Lansing, 81-65. The last time Michigan State traveled to Northern Michigan was on Dec. 16, 1974 and Izzo also played in that contest, which MSU won by a final score of 91-59.
The Spartans and the Wildcats have played on eight different occasions in regular season games, and Michigan State leads the all-time series, 7-1.
While the two programs have not played in the regular season since the 1970s, Izzo has coached against his alma mater six dfferent times in preseason exhibition games. Most recently, the Spartans defeated the Wildcats by a final score of 93-47 on Oct. 30. 2018 at the Breslin Center.
Last season, Northern Michigan finished 22-11 overall, and 14-4 in the GLIAC conference of NCAA Division II. NMU's only common opponent to some degree with Michigan State last season was Hillsdale, where the Spartans won 85-43 in an exhibition game, and the Wildcats won 74-68 in non-conference play in the regular season.
Prior to exhibition or regular season play, Michigan State will embark on a 10-day trip to Spain beginning on Aug. 13 and will play three games overseas.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Join the discussion on this article in our premium forums by clicking here.
You can also follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Threads, TikTok, and Instagram.
For video content, including our Red Cedar Radar podcast, find us on YouTube and consider subscribing.
