Now that we're nearing the end of football season, that means just one thing: Michigan State basketball is back and it's going to dictate the happiness of a lot of Spartan fans.
With Jonathan Smith's football team sitting at 4-5 and facing an uphill battle for a bowl berth, the Spartan basketball team is going to have to do a lot of heavy lifting for this fanbase. And that starts on Monday night as the season opener is officially upon us.
Monmouth comes to town after finishing 18-15 a year ago and going 10-8 in conference play. While that record isn't going to impress anyone, it did pull off an upset of West Virginia. That's just prove that the Hawks can pull off upsets against power conference teams.
Michigan State has a Spain trip (three games) and two more exhibition contests under its belt and there's been a mixed bag of results thus far.
The Spartans looked good in Spain outside of one game and they beat Northern Michigan and Ferris State relatively handily in the exhibitions, but the wins weren't as dominant as fans would've liked to see. Some veterans were just not quite living up to expectations and that needs to change now that the season is about to tip off on Monday night.
Here's how you can watch Monday's game:
Date: Monday, Nov. 4
Time: 7 p.m. ET
Location: East Lansing, Mich.
Venue: Breslin Center
TV: None
Live Stream: B1G+
Obviously this isn't the ideal watching scenario because it requires a subscription, but if you still want to take in the game and don't want to pay, you can listen on the Spartan Sports Network app or on 760AM with Will Tieman.
Let's hope the season gets off to a hot start on Monday night.