Michigan State Tips Off Season with Hillsdale College Exhibition on Wednesday Night

East Lansing, Mich. – Michigan State's men's basketball team will host Hillsdale College on Wednesday, Oct. 25 in the first of two exhibition games to start the 2023-24 season. The Spartans and Chargers will tip off at 7 p.m. at the Breslin Center.

The game will air live on B1G+, with Zach Surdeink, Raphael Davis and Owen Oszust calling all of the action. The Spartan Media Network radio call can be heard state-wide and on the web at MSUSpartans.com, with Will Tieman handling the play-by-play and Matt Steigenga serving as the color analyst and Blake Froling is the studio host.

About the Spartans

Michigan State enters the 2023-24 season ranked No. 4 in the Associated Press Preseason Top 25 poll, the highest the team has been ranked entering a season since being No. 1 prior to the 2019-20 season.
The Spartans return four starters and 11 letterwinners and welcome in a recruiting class that has been rated among the top-five in the country to a team that went 21-13 last year and reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.
This year, the Spartans return 74.9 percent of the team's scoring (1,805 of 2,411 points), 66.9 percent of the team's rebounds (606 of 906), 85.1 percent of the team's assists (423 of 497) and 75.9 percent of the team's minutes played (5,234 of 6,900).
The Spartans expected starting lineup – guards Tyson Walker, A.J. Hoggard and Jaden Akins and forwards Malik Hall and Mady Sissoko – have combined to start 489 games (248 starts) in their college careers ... Walker leads the way with 120 games played (110 starts), while Hall has played in 118 games.
The Spartans expect to be led by a backcourt that could rank among the best in the country.
Walker and Hoggard were selected to the Preseason All-Big Ten Team.
Walker, who was a Second Team Preseason All-American by FOX Sports, led the team in scoring (14.8 ppg), ranked No. 11 in the Big Ten in scoring and field goal percentage (45.9%) and 10th in minutes played (34.0).
Hoggard was third on the team in scoring (12.9 ppg) and led the team, ranked third in the Big Ten and No. 9 nationally, with 5.9 assists per game.
Junior Jaden Akins was fourth on the team in scoring (9.8 ppg) while adding 4.0 rebounds, 1.2 assists and shooting 42.2 percent from 3-point land.
Graduate forward Malik Hall returns for his fifth year at MSU and was fifth on the team last year with 8.9 ppg and third on the team with 4.3 rpg despite missing 11 games with an injury.
Senior forward Mady Sissoko moved into the starting lineup last year and responded with 5.1 ppg and 6.1 rpg while blocking 28 shots.

About the Chargers

Hillsdale College, under the direction of first-year head coach Kevin Bradley, went 23-7 last year, including a 15-5 mark in the G-MAC.
Hillsdale must replace four starters from 2022-23, including First Team All-Great-Midwest Athletic Conference honorees Peter Kalthoff, now playing in Europe, and Jack Gohlke, who transferred to Oakland University after graduating from Hillsdale.
The Chargers still return a solid core in second-team All-G-MAC forward Joe Reuter, who averaged 12.5 points and 6 rebounds per game in 2022-23, as well as three of their four top bench players from 2022-23 -- point guard Ashton Janowski, wing Charles Woodhams and center Eric Radisevic -- to build around.
The Chargers are currently on a historic run of success as a program that's reached levels not seen since the Chargers were in the NAIA in the late 1970s and early 80s.
In the last six seasons, Hillsdale has won 20 or more games four times, won two G-MAC titles, and reached the NCAA DII Tournament four times, including a program record three times in a row in the last three seasons.

Against Hillsdale

Michigan State has played in-state exhibition games against seven teams and will play Hillsdale College, a Division II school, for the third time.
The teams played in 2017, a 75-44 MSU win, and in 2011, when the Spartans posted an 80-58 win.

Michigan State Tips Off Season with Hillsdale College Exhibition on Wednesday Night

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Jaden Akins

Malik Hall

A.J. Hoggard

Mady Sissoko

Tyson Walker

Michigan State Tips Off Season with Hillsdale College Exhibition on Wednesday Night

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Jaden Akins

Malik Hall

A.J. Hoggard

Mady Sissoko

Tyson Walker

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