Michigan State basketball to play Colorado in 2024 Maui Invitational

Michigan State basketball now knows who its first-round opponent will be in the 2024 Maui Invitational thanks to Jon Rothstein.

Per multiple sources, the 2024 Maui Invitational first round matchups have been announced. Michigan State basketball will face Colorado as their opening matchup. The full list includes:

NEWS: The bracket for the 2024 Maui Invitational is set, according to multiple sources.

UConn/Memphis
Michigan State/Colorado
Auburn/Iowa State
North Carolina/Daytonhttps://t.co/6Qn0WDbK6L

— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) August 19, 2024

Event history

Michigan State last played in the Maui Invitational in 2019, dropping its first game against Virginia Tech before beating Georgia (with Anthony Edwards) and UCLA to take fifth place. The Spartans have participated in the event six total times including this season, which is seventh among all D1 teams.

The event is held at the Lahaina Civic Center from Nov. 25-27, 2024. The city of Lahaina notably experienced severe damage due to a fire in August 2023. This led to MSU playing Tennessee as a fundraiser at the Breslin Center last offseason.

A loaded field

ESPN’s Way-Too-Early Top 25 notably has four of these teams in the top 15 and three in the top 10:

UConn (No. 3)
Iowa State (No. 7)
North Carolina (No. 10)
Auburn (No. 11)

Quick scout

Michigan State’s opponent, Colorado, earned a No. 10 seed in last year’s NCAA Tournament. However, they are completely retooling their roster. They significantly lost their six best players in terms of minute percentage, and who comprised 90 percent of their scoring.

Three players from last year’s Buffalo squad departed for the NBA. Small forward Cody Williams, a five-star recruit who started as a true freshman, ended up a lottery pick by the Utah Jazz at No. 10. Small forward Tristan de Silva landed at No. 18 to the Orlando Magic. And lastly, point guard K.J. Simpson went to the Charlotte Hornets at No. 42.

Three players also entered in the transfer portal for their lone remaining year of eligibility: J’Vonne Hadley to Louisville, Eddie Lampkin to Syracuse, and Luke O’Brien to Georgia Tech.

As such, we will see a very different Colorado roster trying to fit its pieces together. Their biggest returning contributor is expected to be Julian Hammond III, a veteran point guard. Additionally, they picked up transfers Andrej Jakimovski and Trevor Baskin from Washington State and Colorado Mesa, respectively.

Summary

This will undoubtedly be a good early test for Michigan State to get comfortable with their younger roster.  And if they win against the Buffalos, there is obviously a gauntlet of other potential opponents waiting for them. The Maui Invitational has yet to officially announce the bracket, but once they do you can find the breakdown here on Spartan Shadows.

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