No. 4 Michigan State Hosts James Madison Monday Night in 2023-24 Season Opener

East Lansing, Mich. – Michigan State's men's basketball team, ranked No. 4 in the Associated Press Preseason poll, opens the 2023-24 regular season on Monday, Nov. 6, hosting James Madison at the Breslin Center (8:30 p.m., BTN).

The game will air live on BTN, with Kevin Kugler and Stephen Bardo 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 133 or 195 on SiriusXM and on the SiriusXM app.
About the Spartans

Michigan State enters 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 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 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.

About James Madison

Fourth-year head coach Mark Byington led JMU to its first 20-win season since 2016 last year, as the Dukes went 21-11 and reached the semifinals of the Sun Belt Conference in their first year in the league.
The Dukes were the preseason pick to win the Sun Belt this year.
Guard Terrence Edwards led the team in scoring in rebounding last year and earned second team All-Sun Belt honors and was named Sixth Man of the Year.
The Dukes also have three transfers expected to play immediate roles – Bryant Randleman (8.7 ppg at High Point), Michael Green III (9.7 ppg, 3.8 apg at Robert Morris, 2020-21 Northeast Conference Rookie of the Year) and T.J. Bickerstaff (5.2 ppg, 5.6 rpg at Boston College)

Against James Madison, the State of Virginia

The game against James Madison will be the first-ever meeting between the teams.
This is the 12th game against a team from the state (Virginia) that has produced more U.S. presidents (by birth) than any other state (8), (including four of the first five presidents): George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, Zachary Taylor and Woodrow Wilson
The Spartans have an all-time record of 8-3 against teams from Virginia – George Mason (2-1), VCU (0-1), Virginia Tech (1-1) and Virginia (5-0).
The last time MSU played a team from Virginia was a 71-66 loss to Virginia Tech on Nov 25, 2019 in the Maui Invitational.

Odds and Ends

When the Spartans host the Dukes on Monday, MSU Head Coach Tom Izzo will see a familiar face on the visiting bench as his nephew, Matt Bucklin, is in his second season as an assistant coach for the Dukes ... Bucklin's mother, Mary, is Izzo's sister.
Bucklin played four seasons at Georgia (2009-12), originally as a walk-on, before earning a scholarship in his final two season, including a 2011 NCAA Tournament appearance. He started his coaching career at Georgia as a graduate assistant and was operations coordinator for two years. Before JMU, he spent four years at Clemson as director of operations.
This is the second time Izzo has seen his nephew on the opposing sideline as Bucklin was on staff at Georgia when the Bulldogs played the Spartans in a charity exhibition game in 2017.
Michigan State is 96-28 all-time in openers, winning 39 of the last 46.
Tom Izzo is 21-7 in season openers.
Michigan State has an all-time record of 150-42 in games played in the month of November ... This includes a 96-3 mark at home.
The last team to beat MSU at home in November was a David Robinson-led Navy squad that bested the Spartans, 91-90, in overtime on Nov. 29, 1986.
Tom Izzo is 74-0 all-time at home in November, 115-38 for the month overall.

No. 4 Michigan State Hosts James Madison Monday Night in 2023-24 Season Opener

Players Mentioned

Jaden Akins

Malik Hall

A.J. Hoggard

Mady Sissoko

Tyson Walker

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