Tuesday, December 2
East Lansing, Mich.
7 PM
Michigan State University
vs
Iowa
No. 7 Michigan State Opens Big Ten Conference Play on Tuesday Night, Hosting Iowa at the Breslin Center
12/1/2025 4:20:00 PM | Men's Basketball
EAST LANSING, Mich. – Michigan State's men's basketball team returns home to open Big Ten Conference play on Tuesday, Dec. 2, hosting Iowa (7 p.m., Peacock).
The Spartans are coming off a pair of wins in the Fort Myers Tip-Off Beach Division, beating East Carolina, 89-56, on Nov. 25 and posting a 74-58 win over then-No. 18 North Carolina on Thanksgiving Day. It was MSU's third ranked win this year (No. 14 Arkansas, No. 12 Kentucky) and the Spartans are 1 of 2 teams nationally (Arizona) with three ranked wins. This is the first time MSU went undefeated in November since 2015-16.
Tuesday night's game will air live on Peacock, with Paul Burmeister and Nick Bahe 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, Matt Steigenga serving as the color analyst and Zach Surdenik as the studio host. The game can also be heard on channel 85 on SiriusXM or on the SiriusXM app.
About the Spartans
The Spartans are coming off a pair of wins in the Fort Myers Tip-Off Beach Division, beating East Carolina, 89-56, on Nov. 25 and posting a 74-58 win over then-No. 18 North Carolina on Thanksgiving Day. It was MSU's third ranked win this year (No. 14 Arkansas, No. 12 Kentucky) and the Spartans are 1 of 2 teams nationally (Arizona) with three ranked wins. This is the first time MSU went undefeated in November since 2015-16.
Tuesday night's game will air live on Peacock, with Paul Burmeister and Nick Bahe 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, Matt Steigenga serving as the color analyst and Zach Surdenik as the studio host. The game can also be heard on channel 85 on SiriusXM or on the SiriusXM app.
About the Spartans
- Michigan State finished the 2024-25 season with a 30-7 overall record, including a 17-3 mark in the Big Ten Conference, winning the league's regular season title by three games ... It was the 11th time Big Ten regular season title under Head Coach Tom Izzo ... The Spartans were selected to the NCAA Tournament for the 27th-straight season and advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament for the 11th time, finishing the year ranked No. 7 in the Associated Press Top 25.
- Through seven games, the Spartans have four players scoring in double figures, seven averaging at least 6.0 ppg and nine averaging at least 11.0 minutes.
- Senior forward Jaxon Kohler leads the team in scoring with 14.6 ppg and tops the team with 9.7 rpg (4th B1G, #36 nationally) ... Kohler, who has three double-doubles, grabbed 18 rebounds against San Jose State, the most by an MSU player since Miles Bridges had 21 against Savannah State in 2018 ... He had 20 points against Kentucky in the Champions Classic, his first career 20-point game.
- Redshirt sophomore guard Jeremy Fears Jr., who leads the team with 31.3 minutes played, is second on the team with 12.0 ppg and is handing out 9.9 assists per game, leading all of Division I.
- Junior forward Coen Carr, one of the most athletic players in all of college basketball, is third on the team with 10.7 ppg, tied for third on the team with 5.1 rpg and second on the team with 2.1 apg in 29.6 mpg.
- Senior center Carson Cooper is playing a career-high 24.1 minutes, is fourth on the team with 10.6 ppg and second with 6.0 rpg.
- Freshmen forward Cam Ward is fifth on the team with 9.0 ppg and tied for third with 5.1 rpg and classmate Jordan Scott is averaging 2.6 ppg and 2.7 rpg in 13.9 minutes.
- Sophomore guard Kur Teng, who scored a career-high 15 points against Kentucky, is averaging 6.0 points and 1.1 assists, while senior guard Trey Fort is sixth on the team with 6.6 points, while adding 1.9 rebounds and sophomore guard Divine Ugochukwu adds 4.3 points and redshirt freshman Jesse McCulloch is averaging 2.7 ppg and 1.6 rpg.
- The Spartans played a pair of exhibition games ahead of the season opener, beating Bowling Green, 75-66, at home on Oct. 23, before falling to preseason No. 4 UConn, 76-69, on Oct. 28 in Connecticut.
- Redshirt sophomore guard Jeremy Fears Jr. scored 19 points and handed out seven assists to lead four players in double figures as No. 11 Michigan State beat No. 18 North Carolina, 74-58, in the second round of the Fort Myers Tip-Off at Suncoast Credit Union Arena on Thanksgiving Day.
- Fears scored 15 of his career-high 19 points in the second half as MSU out-scored the Tar Heels, 41-30, in the second half and held them to a season-low 58 points.
- Senior forward Jaxon Kohler had his third double-double of the season with 10 points and 11 rebounds, senior center Carson Cooper scored 14 points and had six rebounds and freshman forward Cam Ward added 11 points off the bench.
- Michigan State is 18-12 in Big Ten Conference openers under Head Coach Tom Izzo.
- MSU won last year's opener, 90-72, at Minnesota and returned home to the Breslin Center for an 89-52 win over Nebraska.
- The Spartans have lost their last two Big Ten Conference openers played at home, falling to Wisconsin, 70-57, in 2023 and losing 70-63 to Northwestern in 2022.
- Iowa enters the game on Tuesday night with a 7-0 overall record for its Big Ten Conference opener.
- The Hawkeyes are coming off wins over Ole Miss (74-69) and Grand Canyon (59-46) in the Acrisure Classic last week in California.
- The Hawkeyes also have wins, all at home, against Robert Morris, Western Illinois, Xavier, Southeast Missouri State and Chicago State.
- First-year head coach Ben McCollum, who won 31 games and the Missouri Valley regular season and tournament titles in his first season at Drake, brought six players with him from Drake, while only one scholarship player, redshirt freshman guard Cooper Koch, remained from last year's Iowa team.
- Junior guard Bennett Stirtz, the Missouri Valley Player of the Year and Newcomer of the Year, leads the team in scoring (18.6 ppg) and assists (5.4 apg).
- Michigan State and Iowa meet for the only time this season and for the 139th time in program history in Tuesday night's matchup.
- MSU leads the all-time series with Iowa, 78-60.
- The Spartans won last year's game, 91-84, in Iowa City, clinching the outright Big Ten title in 2025.
- The Spartans are 47-20 at home all-time against the Hawkeyes, including a 22-5 record at the Breslin Center.
- The teams have split the last four games in the series.
- Iowa has won two of the last three games at the Breslin Center.
- Tom Izzo is 36-16 in his career against Iowa.
Players Mentioned
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