Saturday, November 8
East Lansing, Mich.
7 PM
Michigan State University
vs
Arkansas
Photo by: Matthew Mitchell Photography
No. 22 Michigan State Hosts No. 14 Arkansas on Saturday Night at the Breslin Center
11/7/2025 3:36:00 PM | Men's Basketball
East Lansing, Mich. – Michigan State's men's basketball team plays its second-straight home game to open the 2025-26 regular season, hosting no. 14/14 Arkansas at the Breslin Center on Saturday, Nov. 8 (7 p.m., FOX).
The matchup with Arkansas is the highest ranked matchup at the Breslin Center in the first month of the season since 2018, when No. 3 Michigan State hosted then No. 5 Notre Dame (Nov. 30).
The game will be streamed on FOX, with Brandon Gaudin and Bill Raftery 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 channels 137 or 196 on SiriusXM or on the SiriusXM app.
About the Spartans
The matchup with Arkansas is the highest ranked matchup at the Breslin Center in the first month of the season since 2018, when No. 3 Michigan State hosted then No. 5 Notre Dame (Nov. 30).
The game will be streamed on FOX, with Brandon Gaudin and Bill Raftery 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 channels 137 or 196 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.
- MSU Head Coach Tom Izzo enters his 31st season at the helm of the program he has been with for more than 40 years, including his time as an assistant coach.
- The Spartans will look to replace three starters and four letterwinners who accounted for 63.5 percent of the team's scoring last year, 41.8 percent of the team's rebounds and 52.3 percent of the team's assists … Notable losses included guards Jaden Akins (All-Big Ten Third Team, All-Defensive Team) and Jase Richardson (All-Big Ten Third Team, All-Freshman Team).
- The cupboard is not bare, by any stretch, as the team welcomes back senior forward Jaxon Kohler and redshirt sophomore point guard Jeremy Fears Jr., as well as a talented group of returning players and newcomers.
- Kohler started 34 of 37 games last year, averaging 7.8 ppg and was among the top-10 in rebounding in the Big Ten (7.5 rpg), while Fears started 36 times, averaging 7.2 ppg, was third in the Big Ten in assists (5.4 apg) and was No. 8 nationally in assist rate (38.9%).
- The Spartans also welcome back junior forward Coen Carr, one of the most athletic players in all of college basketball … He averaged 8.1 ppg and 3.6 rpg last year, along with senior center Carson Cooper, who added 5.0 ppg and 5.2 rpg.
- Sophomore guard Kur Teng and redshirt freshman forward Jesse McCulloch are expected to play significant minutes in the rotation this coming year.
- Teng appeared in 19 games last year as a freshman, averaging 3.1 minutes per contest, while McCulloch was a key part of MSU's scout team during the run to the Elite Eight.
- The Spartans played a pair of exhibition games ahead of the 2025-26 season, beating Bowling Green, 75-66, at the Breslin Center on October 23, and then falling to preseason No. 4 UConn, 76-69, at PeoplesBank Arena in Hartford last Tuesday (Oct. 28).
- Four players scored in double figures and No. 22 Michigan State used a run late in the second half to open a 14-point lead and went on to an 80-69 win over Colgate in the season opener for both schools at the Breslin Center Monday night ... Senior forward Jaxon Kohler led Michigan State with a double-double, scoring 16 points and grabbing 15 rebounds, while redshirt sophomore guard Jeremy Fears Jr. had a double-double with 14 points and tying his career-high with 10 assists while setting a career-best with five steals ... Junior forward Coen Carr finished with 12 points and four rebounds and senior center Carson Cooper added 10 points and six rebounds.
- While the game with Arkansas features a pair of Top 25 teams, patrolling the sidelines will be two of the all-time winningest coaches in Division I basketball ... John Calipari is third all-time among active coaches in wins (836) and Tom Izzo is ninth (738) ... The two have combined for 1,574 wins.
- The game against Arkansas on Saturday will be the seventh head-to-head meeting between teams coached by Tom Izzo and John Calipari.
- Izzo and Calipari each have three wins in their head-to-head series.
- All six previous meetings have been played on neutral floors and five of the six were played in November, including four games from 2013-22 in the Champions Classic when Calipari coached Kentucky.
- Arkansas closed the 2024-25 season with a 22-14 overall record, including an 8-10 mark in the SEC, and reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.
- The Razorbacks, who opened the season with a 109-77 win over Southern University and beat Cincinnati (89-61) and Memphis (99-75) in exhibition play, are ranked No. 14 in the Associated Press preseason poll.
- Arkansas was picked to finish in fifth place in the SEC this year and had three players earn preseason honors from the media and coaches.
- Junior guard D.J. Wagner, a third team All-SEC preseason pick by the league's media and coaches, averaged 11.2 points and 3.6 assists last year and sophomore forward Karter Knox, also a third team preseason pick, averaged 8.3 ppg and 3.3 rpg in 2024-25.
- Freshman guard Darius Acuff Jr., a Detroit native who was a third team preseason pick by the league's coaches, had 22 points and four rebounds in the season opener.
- Saturday's game with Arkansas is the first of a two-year, home-and-home series with the Razorbacks.
- Michigan State and Arkansas have met two times, with the Spartans winning both games ... This will be the first meeting in East Lansing and the first meeting between the teams at a non-neutral floor.
- The Spartans won the first meeting between the teams, 86-71, in the championship game of the Maui Invitational on Nov. 27, 1991.
- MSU won the second meeting, 75-72, topping then-No. 25 Arkansas in the Great Eight in Auburn Hills during Tom Izzo's first season as Head Coach at Michigan State.
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