Michigan State is already lining up a useful test before the games start counting.
The Spartans announced Thursday morning that they’ll travel to Marquette for an exhibition game on Sunday, Oct. 25, at 1 p.m. ET.
TV details are still to be determined. It’s the second exhibition on MSU’s schedule, and both of them are against Big East teams.
The other is a home exhibition against UConn, with the date still to be announced.
Michigan State and Marquette know each other well, even if most of that history came long before the modern Big Ten era. The Spartans lead the all-time series 33-23, though those meetings all came in games that counted. During the Tom Izzo era, MSU has gone 3-0 against the Golden Eagles, including a 61-49 win in the first round of the 2007 NCAA Tournament, a 79-68 victory in the 2014 Orlando Classic, and a 69-60 upset in the second round of the 2023 NCAA Tournament.
The announcement didn’t say whether Marquette will make a return trip to East Lansing, and the wording makes this sound more like a one-off road deal than a home-and-home arrangement. That’s notable, because exhibition scheduling has started to move in a different direction across college basketball.
Michigan State used to fill these preseason dates with lower-level opponents at home, the kind of matchups that usually meant Division II teams such as Grand Valley State, Ferris State, or Hillsdale. Since COVID, and after MSU played a charity exhibition against Tennessee, the sport seems to have settled into a new idea: use these dates for real competition instead of tune-up walkovers.
That makes sense for Izzo and the Spartans. It gives them a chance to experiment with lineups and combinations against opponents who can actually stress-test them, without any consequences if something looks off. An all-big lineup might overwhelm a Division II team, but Marquette is a much better measuring stick.
It also gives Michigan State an early taste of a road environment, which matters for a team that will already face four of last year’s Elite Eight teams on the schedule: Tennessee, Michigan, Illinois, and Iowa.
In Other News...
Michigan State Still Doesn't Have Clarity On J Batt's Exit
J Batts move to Kentucky is on the calendar, but Michigan State still does not have a clear end date for his run in East Lansing. Batt is set to officially start with the Wildcats on July 28, yet he remains employed by the Spartans for now, leaving the athletic department in an awkward holding pattern as the transition continues to unfold.
The uncertainty matters because Batt was brought to Michigan State on a six-year deal worth more than $12.6 million, and his exit now has to be sorted out while Kentucky prepares to hand him a new role. For the Spartans, the bigger issue is less about the destination than the timing, with no confirmed departure date and no interim athletic director announced as the calendar moves toward late July. [Read more 🡒]
Michigan State Finally Made Its Next Move After The Batt Exit
Michigan State has moved quickly to steady its athletic department after J Batts exit, turning to a familiar internal hand to keep things moving while the school sorts out its long-term plan. Jon Palumbo brings a useful mix of administrative experience and prior athletic-director experience from Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, and his background in the department should help provide continuity at a time when the Spartans have plenty of business to manage beyond the search itself.
University president Kevin Guskiewicz said he has confidence in Palumbo during the transition, and the next phase will be about more than simply filling a chair. With Batt headed to Kentucky and the department now in interim mode, Michigan State can focus on the broader question of what it wants in its next full-time athletic director, a process Guskiewicz said will take shape over the coming weeks and months. [Read more 🡒]
Why Anelu Lafaele Could Change Michigan State's Pass Rush Ceiling
Anelu Lafaeles first year at Michigan State offered just enough of a glimpse to make the Spartans wonder what might come next. After transferring from Wisconsin and sitting out the 2024 season there, he flashed as a pass rusher last fall before a foot injury cut his season short, and even in a limited sample he showed the kind of burst that can matter in a defense searching for more pressure off the edge. In just over four games, he was productive enough to put himself near the top of the teams sack race, which is part of why his return carries real weight for a pass rush that needs more impact plays.
Michigan State does have options at rush end, with Kenny Soares Jr., Isaac Smith, Kekai Burnett and Trey Lisle all in the mix, but Lafaele still stands out because of how quickly he can tilt a snap. The Spartans are likely to use him as a specialist rather than ask him to do everything, and that makes the next step even more interesting: if he can keep building back toward full strength, he could end up changing the ceiling of the entire front without needing a huge workload. [Read more 🡒]