No. 18 Michigan State Hosts Butler on Friday Night in Gavitt Tipoff Games

East Lansing, Mich. – Michigan State's men's basketball team, ranked No. 18 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll and No. 19 in the ESPN Coaches poll, returns back to the Breslin Center on Friday, Nov. 17, hosting Butler (6:30 p.m., FS1) in a Gavitt Tipoff Games matchup.

The game will air live on FS1, with Kevin Kugler and Robbie Hummel 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. The game can also be heard on channels 137 or 195 on SiriusXM and on the SiriusXM app.

About the Spartans

The Spartans, No. 18 in the Associated Press poll and No. 19 in the Coaches poll, opened the season splitting a pair of games at home.
MSU lost in the season opener last Monday to James Madison, 79-76, in overtime, with graduate guard Tyson Walker scoring 35 points, a Michigan State career high and one point shy of tying his personal best.
On Thursday night, Walker scored 14 points to lead four players in double figures as the Spartans bounced back to beat Southern Indiana, 74-51.
The Spartans are coming off a 74-65 loss to No. 9 Duke in the Champions Classic on Tuesday night at United Center in Chicago.
MSU is back home for a pair of games, hosting Alcorn State on Sunday evening, and plays eight of their next nine games at the Breslin Center before the start of the new year.
Michigan State entered the 2023-24 season ranked No. 4 in the Associated Press Preseason Top 25 poll and the ESPN Coaches Poll … It is the highest the team has been ranked entering a season in the AP poll 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 Walker, A.J. Hoggard and Jaden Akins and forwards Malik Hall and Mady Sissoko – have combined to start 499 games (258 starts) in their college careers ... Walker leads the way with 122 games played (112 starts), while Hall has played in 120 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 named to the Watch List for Division I Player of the Year by the National Association of Basketball Coaches, 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 … He had a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds on Thursday against Southern Indiana.

About Butler

Butler enters the game on Friday with a 3-0 record, posting wins at home over Eastern Michigan (94-55), Southeast Missouri State (91-56) and East Tennessee State University (81-47).
Second-year Head Coach Thad Matta, who coached at Ohio State, adds six transfers and four freshmen to this year's team.
Four players are scoring in double figures, led by St. John's transfer Posh Alexander, who is scoring 13.7 points per game.
The Butler roster also includes former Michigan State guard Pierre Brooks II, who is third on the team with 13.3 ppg and 4.0 rpg.

Against Butler

Michigan State and Butler meet for the 26th time in program history on Friday night at the Breslin Center.
The Spartans lead the all-time series, 14-11, and have won six of the last 10 meetings, including a 73-52 decision in 2021 at Butler in the Gavitt Tipoff Games.
The teams first met in 1927 and played 23 times at home and away until 1971.
MSU is 9-2 all-time at home against Butler ... The last time the teams played at Michigan State was on Dec. 20, 1971, a 77-71 Spartan win.
This is Butler's first trip to the Breslin Center.
This is just the third meeting between the teams under MSU Head Coach Tom Izzo ... The team's met in the 2010 NCAA National Semifinals in Indianapolis, a 52-50 Bulldogs win.

MSU in the Gavitt Tipoff Games

Michigan State's game against Butler on Friday night marks its fourth appearance in the Gavitt Tipoff Games/
The Spartans are 3-0 in the series, with a win at Seton Hall in 2019, a win at Butler in 2021 and a win at home against Villanova last year.
The Gavitt Tipoff Games are an annual early-season series of eight games played between the Big Ten and BIG EAST Conferences and named in honor of BIG EAST founder and basketball visionary Dave Gavitt ... Gavitt had a profound and lasting influence on the sport of basketball on the collegiate, professional and Olympic levels ... He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006.

No. 18 Michigan State Hosts Butler on Friday Night in Gavitt Tipoff Games

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Players Mentioned

Jaden Akins

Pierre Brooks II

Malik Hall

A.J. Hoggard

Mady Sissoko

Tyson Walker

No. 18 Michigan State Hosts Butler on Friday Night in Gavitt Tipoff Games

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Next Event

Players Mentioned

Jaden Akins

Pierre Brooks II

Malik Hall

A.J. Hoggard

Mady Sissoko

Tyson Walker

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