Anyone, any time, any place. Tom Izzo's scheduling mantra has struck again. The legendary Michigan State basketball coach has been known to build a murderer's row of opponents in non-conference play, and he just signed up to face one of the best teams in the country in exhibition play.
According to Michigan State's official X account, the Spartans have scheduled an exhibition home-and-home with UConn this season as Michigan State will head to Storrs on Oct. 28.
Taking on the Huskies in Exhibition action this fall 🗓️ pic.twitter.com/WyvqmTNnQv
— Michigan State Men's Basketball (@MSU_Basketball) July 24, 2025
UConn just becomes the latest elite team to join the Spartans' 2025-26 schedule, but fortunately, this won't count towards the win/loss column because winning in Storrs these days is not easy. Dan Hurley is building a juggernaut at UConn with back-to-back NCAA titles in 2023 and 2024.
Along with UConn, Michigan State will face Duke in December as part of a home-and-home series, it'll take on Kentucky in the Champions Classic, it'll also see North Carolina in the Fort Myers Tip-Off, and Arkansas, too, will be on that non-conference slate.
Not only will the Spartans face Duke, UConn, Kentucky, and North Carolina, but the Spartans have also scheduled East Carolina in non-conference action. This has to be set up as the toughest non-conference schedule in the nation, including exhibition play.
This preseason battle could legitimately be a Final Four preview. The Huskies had a bit of a down season in 2024-25 but they've still won two of the past three titles. Michigan State made it to the Elite Eight and fell short against Auburn. The Spartans lost a ton of talent this offseason but they've also added guys like Divine Ugochukwu, Cam Ward, Jordan Scott, and Trey Fort.
Michigan State will be more than battle-tested come March.