Spartans Tip Off Maui Invitational on Monday Against Colorado

East Lansing, Mich. – Michigan State's men's basketball team plays Colorado on Monday, Nov. 25 in the first round of the Maui Invitational (5 p.m., ESPN2). The MSU-CU winner plays the winner of a game between No. 2 UConn and Memphis on Tuesday, Nov. 26.

The game will air live on ESPN2, with Dan Shulman and Jay Bilas 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 Zach Surdenik is the studio host. The game can also be heard on channel 385 on SiriusXM and on the SiriusXM app.

About the Spartans

Michigan State enters Monday's game with a 4-1 overall record.
MSU is ranked No. 45 per KenPom.com and No. 27 in the ESPN BPI
The Spartans are coming off an 83-75 win over Samford last Tuesday at home, with senior guard Jaden Akins scoring a career-high 25 points.
MSU has three players scoring in double figures, nine averaging at least 5.0 ppg and 10 scoring at least 4.0 ppg.
Akins leads the team in scoring with 14.6 points per game, with senior forward Frankie Fidler averaging 11.8 ppg and junior forward Jaxon Kohler scoring 10.2 ppg.
Kohler leads the team with 8.0 rebounds per game, eighth in the Big Ten, while Akins is second on the team with 6.2 rpg.
Redshirt freshman guard Jeremy Fears Jr. is averaging 6.2 points and a team-leading 6.2 assists per game, which ranks fourth in the Big Ten.
MSU is averaging 25.6 FT attempts per game after going to the line 17.2 times per game in 2023-24.
The Spartans also rank No. 17 in the country in bench points per game (39.0 ppg) and are No. 4 in the country in fast break points per game (24.4 ppg).

MSU in Maui

This will be Michigan State's sixth time participating in the Maui Invitational (1991, 1995, 2005, 2010 and 2019).
Head Coach Tom Izzo is making his fifth appearance in Maui, tied for the sixth-most by a coach.
Izzo made his head coaching debut at the 1995 Maui Invitational, defeating Chaminade, before falling to North Carolina and Santa Clara.
The Spartans captured the championship in their inaugural trip in 1991, defeating Lamar, Rice and No. 2 Arkansas in the championship game, 86-71 … Redshirt freshman Shawn Respert averaged 19.0 points, while Mark Montgomery averaged 7.3 assists.
In the 2005 tournament, MSU defeated Chaminade before falling to Gonzaga in one of the greatest games in the history of the Maui Invitational, losing 109-106 in triple overtime ... Maurice Ager scored 36 points, including 27 in the last 7:09 of regulation and the overtime periods ... MSU bounced back the next day with a 74-71 overtime win vs. Arizona ... Ager earned a spot on the All-Tournament Team, averaging 26.3 points in three games.
In 2010, the Spartans finished in third place, beating Chaminade in the opening round (82-74), losing to UConn in the semifinals (70-67) and beating Washington (76-71). Kailin Lucas was named to the all-tournament team, averaging a team-best 22.3 points per game.
MSU finished in fifth place in Maui in 2019, losing to Virginia Tech in the opening round before bouncing back with wins over Georgia and UCLA.

About the Buffaloes

Colorado enters the Maui Invitational with a 4-0 record following an 88-66 win over Harvard last Sunday.
This week will be the first test this season away from home for the Buffaloes, who have opened the season at home with wins over Eastern Washington (76-56), Northern Colorado (90-88, 2ot) and Cal State Fullerton (83-53).
Head Coach Tad Boyle, in his 15th year at the helm, lost seven players, including three NBA Draft picks, from last year's team that won 29 games and advanced to the NCAA Tournament.
Guard Julian Hammond III started five games last year and was fifth on the team in scoring while Javon Ruffin appeared in 18 games.
The Buffaloes added Washington State transfer Andrej Jakimovski, as well as forward Elijah Malone – the NAIA Player of the Year and Bevo Francis winner for top player in small college basketball – and Trevor Baskin, a Division II standout who was the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Player of the Year.

Against Colorado

This will be the fifth all-time meeting between Michigan State and Colorado, with the Spartans leading the series, 3-1.
The teams have not played for 21 years, with MSU winning the last meeting, 79-64, on March 21, 2003 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Tampa, Fla.
The Spartans are 2-1 on neutral floors against Colorado.
The Buffaloes won the first-ever meeting between the schools, 90-87, on Dec. 28, 1956 in the Big Seven Classic in Kansas City, Mo. ... That year, MSU Head Coach Forrest Anderson guided the Spartans to their first Big Ten Championship and the program's first Final Four appearance.

Spartans Tip Off Maui Invitational on Monday Against Colorado

Players Mentioned

Jaden Akins

Jeremy Fears Jr.

Frankie Fidler

Jaxon Kohler

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