New Michigan State basketball non-conference opponent announced

Michigan State basketball has learned of a new non-conference opponent for the 2023-24 season this week. Who is it?

Michigan State basketball now knows another piece to its non-conference puzzle as Southern Indiana will take on the Spartans.

The 2023-24 Michigan State basketball schedule is still yet to be fully released, but we found out another non-conference opponent on Thursday. Anthony Kristensen, writer for the Courier & Press, made this announcement on Twitter.

NEWS: Southern Indiana men’s basketball will travel to East Lansing to face Michigan State on Nov. 9, per the contract obtained through an open records request. The Screaming Eagles now face two presumed top-10 opponents.

Story: https://t.co/9iX6uooHsT

— Anthony Kristensen (@AMFKristensen) August 24, 2023

Michigan State’s second game of the season

Michigan State will face off against Southern Indiana on Nov. 9 at the Breslin Center. This will likely be the second game of the season as the Spartans play host to James Madison on Nov. 6 also in East Lansing.

Southern Indiana will obviously be an easier opponent for MSU, but they are still a quality opponent. The Screaming Eagles (that’s a fun mascot) are coming off a subpar year last season. They finished the season 16-17 and 9-9 in conference play. Southern Indiana did play some high-major opponents last year, and actually held their own against them. They traveled to Missouri and to Notre Dame last season, only losing by six and 12, respectively. In case you forgot, Michigan State got demolished (to put it lightly) by Notre Dame last year, losing 70-52. So the Screaming Eagles actually fared better against our one common opponent last season.

Last year was not the norm for Southern Indiana. The last time they even hovered around a .500 record was all the way back in 2007-08 where they still finished 15-12. Since then, the Screaming Eagles have had 10 seasons where they’ve won at least 20 games. As I said, this will not be a guaranteed win.

Champions Classic preparation

Michigan State basketball will once again be participating in the Champions Classic. This year, MSU will face off against Duke in what likely will be a top-five matchup. In years past, it felt like we went into the Champions Classic straight away, without many games under our belt. This year, however, is different. We will get to play two comfortable games at home, James Madison and Southern Indiana, before our marquee matchup against Duke.

I can’t stress enough how important this is for us. We will have two whole games to figure out the identity of this  team and what works well for them. They’ll have a chance to figure out rotations, see who plays well together and who the leaders of this team are. We also will get an idea what everyone’s role will be and get valuable in-game experience for our incoming freshmen.

We have not had much time in the past to do this before the Champions Classic, so I am very excited for that this season.

What we know about the schedule so far

Michigan State’s 2023-24 complete schedule has not been released yet, but here is what we know so far.

• Nov. 6: James Madison (season opener)
• Nov. 9: Southern Indiana
• Nov. 14: Duke (Champions Classic, Chicago)
• Nov. 17: Butler (Gavitt Games)
• Nov. 23: Arizona (neutral site)
• Dec. 16: Baylor (Detroit, not finalized)
• Dec. 22: Oakland (not finalized)

What game are you most excited for?