Michigan State Basketball Big Ten Home and Road Draws Announced

Michigan State basketball has had their conference opponents announced. On Monday, the Big Ten conference revealed the upcoming slates for the 2026-2027 season, and the Spartans are among the teams with the toughest draws.

Michigan State Basketball has a Brutal Draw

In the most predictable fashion ever, Michigan State basketball will be squaring off against a hard slate. To begin, the three teams that MSU drew to play twice are Michigan (as is expected, with a rivalry), Nebraska, and Maryland.

You read that correct. The top two seeds in the Big Ten last season will be facing off against the three seed in the conference from last year for four of MSU’s matchups. While Maryland was not exactly setting records last season, they are expected to be much improved.

The Big Ten might be leaning into Izzo’s banter about Maryland that he quipped at Cam Ward, where the coach told Ward that if he wanted to play soft, he could go back home to the Terrapins and Buzz Williams.

As expected, the Spartans will head to USC and UCLA for their road slate, with those games nearly assured to be back-to-back contests to keep travel costs down.

The Spartans will also travel out to Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Northwestern, and Ohio State in their only matchups against those schools during the season.

Meanwhile, the Breslin Center and Izzone will be the unfriendly confines for Minnesota, Oregon, Purdue, Penn State, Rutgers, Washington, and Wisconsin.

The good news on the conference slate is that Tom Izzo’s team avoids Mackey Arena (Purdue) and Madison Square Garden (where most MSU-Rutgers matchups are held), but there are not much favors done beyond that.

Who Else Will Michigan State Basketball Play in 2026-2027?

The full out-of-conference slate is yet to be announced, but the Spartans do have a few games already planned as of May 12 at 2 p.m. EST.

Michigan State basketball is slated to host UConn for an exhibition match to begin the season. Additionally, they will play Arkansas at Little Caesar’s Arena on Thanksgiving. In another out-of-conference neutral site game, they will travel to California and play Gonzaga.

Additionally, they travel to Tennessee to take on the Volunteers this year, and have their traditional Oakland matchup. In the final announced scheduling news, the Spartans will be playing Duke in the Champions Classic.

There are three announced dates for Spartan basketball next season. They are as follows.

• MSU vs. Duke—November 10 (United Center in Chicago, Ill., Champion’s Classic)
• MSU vs. Arkansas—November 26 (Little Caesar’s Arena in Detroit, Mich.)
• MSU vs. Gonzaga—December 19 (Acrisure Arena in Palm Desert, Cali.)

When more of the dates are revealed, they will be posted on the site.