Michigan State to Host Butler in Gavitt Tipoff Games

East Lansing, Mich. – Michigan State's men's basketball team will host Butler in the 2023 Gavitt Tipoff Games, matchups between teams from the Big Ten Conference and the Big East Conference.

The Butler at Michigan State game is one of eight to be held this year in the eighth edition of the Gavitt Games, named in honor of Dave Gavitt, the founder of the Big East Conference and a basketball visionary.

The Gavitt Tipoff Games are played on consecutive days in the first full week of the college basketball season.

This will be the 26th all-time meeting between the schools, with the Spartans leading the head-to-head series, 14-11. It will be the second time in the last three years the teams have played in the Gavitt Games, with Michigan State posting a 73-52 win at Hinkle Fieldhouse on Nov. 17, 2021.

It will be just the third time Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo will face Butler. Prior to the game in 2021, the previous meeting between the teams was in the 2010 NCAA National Semifinals in Indianapolis, a 52-50 Bulldog win.

The teams first met in 1972 and played 23 times at home and away until 1971. Michigan State is 9-2 at home against Butler. The last win in East Lansing for the Bulldogs was a 24-21 decision in 1936.

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