Michigan State men's basketball fans gained yet another piece of the team's non-conference schedule for the 2024-2025 season on Tuesday. This puzzle piece falls on Nov. 19 when Samford will visit East Lansing to take on the Spartans.
The Bulldogs visit to the Breslin Center this fall will mark the first-ever meeting between the programs according to both Samford and MSU's respective team websites. The matchup was first reported by Rocco Miller of bracketeer.org, and the date was later confirmed by CBS's Jon Rothstein.
Last season was a historic benchmark for Samford. The program finished 29-6 overall, it's most wins in program history, and 15-3 in conference play, claiming the Southern Conference regular season title for a second-straight year. The Bulldogs went on to their first-ever SoCon Tournament title, defeating Eastern Tennessee 76-69 in the final.
Samford earned a bid to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2000, proving a tough challenge to No. 4 seed Kansas in the First Round. The Bulldogs almost overcame a 22-point second-half deficit before bowing out of the tournament following a 93-89 loss.
The Bulldogs are led by Bucky McMillan, who enters his fifth season at the helm this year. A native of Birmingham, Ala., McMillan played for Birmingham-Southern in college from 2002-2006 and was a head coach at Mountain Brook High School from 2008-2020 before being hired by Samford. He's been named the SoCon coach of the year for three straight seasons and was named the National High School Coaches Association Coach of the Year in 2018. McMillan has tallied a 77-41 record with the Bulldogs, including a 42-23 league record.
One other interesting note on Samford is that MSU's Szymon Zapala played with Rylan Jones, the Bulldog's leading scorer that returns this season, at Utah State for two seasons (2021-2023). The Bulldogs lost their four leading scorers from last season's roster, but Jones averaged 26 minutes last season, scoring 9.4 points per game while shooting 37.7% from 3-point range, grabbed 1.8 rebounds, dished 3.8 assists, and notched 1.6 steals per game last year.
In other non-conference action, MSU will have a quick turnaround to start the season when it begins play against Monmouth on Nov. 4 before then hosting Niagara on Nov. 7. Next up the Spartans will also once again compete in the annual State Farm Champions Classic. This year’s event is in Atlanta on Tuesday, Nov. 12 at State Farm Arena where MSU will take on the Kansas Jayhawks in the early tipoff ahead of Duke versus North Carolina. Soon thereafter, the Spartans are reportedly hosting Bowling Green.
MSU will play in the 2024 Maui Invitational in the tournament’s return to the island of Maui after the wildfires resulted in the 2023 edition being moved to Honolulu on Oahu. Michigan State will play three games from Nov. 25 through Nov. 27. The bracket was recently released and the Spartans face off against Colorado to start. Then it will be either Memphis or Connecticut. The remainder of the field includes Auburn, Dayton, Iowa State, and North Carolina.
December will see MSU take on Greg Kampe and Oakland on Tuesday, Dec. 17, at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit shortly before hosting Florida Atlantic in East Lansing on Dec. 21.
As far as Big Ten play goes, the matchups for the 20-game conference season were announced in May. The schedule is set to be released at a later date.
As for the men's basketball team, it recently returned from a trip to Spain where the Spartans finished 2-1 during a trip to the Iberian Peninsula.
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