Inside MSU Basketball’s 2025-26 Schedule: Unexpected Matchups That Could Make or Break the Season

Though the official 2025-26 Michigan State basketball schedule is still a good few months from dropping, why wait around twiddling our thumbs when we can already start piecing together the juicy tidbits we’ve got on next season’s lineup? Unlike football, where schedules often get locked down far in advance, college basketball likes to keep us guessing, building its slate hot and fresh between seasons — and MSU’s no exception. Sure, the majority of the non-conference matchups are still waiting in the wings, but hey, some real showstoppers have already been locked in. So buckle up as we unpack what’s already shaping up for the Spartans next year — it’s looking like a campaign worth marking your calendar for. LEARN MOREContact/Follow us @The SpartansWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Michigan State news, notes and opinion. You can also follow Robert Bondy on X @RobertBondy5.With what we know now, the Spartans have 24 of the 31 regular season games filled for next year. That means we should expect at least seven more non-conference games to be added to the slate.Unlike football, college basketball schedules are typically built in between seasons with only a few pre-planned games from years before included on the docket. Michigan State is no different with most of its non-conference slate still being constructed, but we do at least know of a few monster matchups on the slate for next year.

Champions Classic

Home and Away:

The official Big Ten schedule will come out over the next few months, but last week we at least got an indication of where Michigan State will play each of its conference games with the official home-road splits announced. Here is an indication of who the Spartans will host at home, play on the road and play both at home and away:In-state foe Oakland is typically on the Spartans’ roster so that should be expected again this year. I’m also anticipating the Spartans to add another marquee matchup in non-conference play to go with the three monsters they already have lined up in Kentucky, North Carolina and Duke.

Fort Myers Tip-Off

The Spartans will take place in a pair of games as part of the Fort Myers Tip-Off event during the week of Thanksgiving. It has already been announced that Michigan State will face North Carolina on Thanksgiving Day, and we are still waiting to see who the Spartans will play in the game before that on Tuesday.The Spartans will play host to the Duke Blue Devils in a non-conference monster matchup from the Breslin Center. This matchup hasn’t been formally announced so the date is still to be determined. But Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports reported last week that it’ll occur in December and will serve as the return trip to East Lansing, Mich. after Duke hosted Michigan State in the Champions Classic during 2020.Home Only:

Home vs. Duke

Dates: November 25 and 27The top 15 teams in the Big Ten qualify for the conference tournament so this is technically not a given that the Spartans will be playing in the event but we can somewhat assume here. The conference tournament will take place at the United Center in Chicago next season.

Big Ten Regular Season

Opponent: KentuckyThe Big Ten slate includes 20 regular season games and typically begins in December with a few games before the holidays break. My assumption is that will continue again this year, with conference games leading all the way through the first week in March.

• Illinois
• Iowa
• Maryland
• Northwestern
• Ohio State
• UCLA
• USC

Date: November 18

• Minnesota
• Nebraska
• Oregon
• Penn State
• Purdue
• Washington
• Wisconsin

Over the next few months we should get a better indication and reports of who else the Spartans have added to its 2025-26 schedule. But as it stands now, it should have plenty of fun and intriguing games on the slate throughout the season.

• Indiana
• Michigan
• Rutgers

The annual Champions Classic will continue next year with the Spartans drawing Kentucky in the early season marquee matchup. The Wildcats are widely considered a preseason top 10 team and the Spartans are in the No. 15 – 20 range depending on the media outlet. So this should be a fun early season test for both of these programs that have aspirations of reaching the 2026 Final Four.

Big Ten Tournament

Away Only:Date: Reportedly sometime in December

Other Notes and Thoughts

With that being said, let’s dive into what we already know about the 2025-26 Michigan State basketball schedule as we begin to look ahead to next year:We are still months away from the official 2025-26 Michigan State basketball schedule coming out but who said we couldn’t start piecing together what we already know about next year’s slate?Dates: March 11 – 15

Opponents: North Carolina and to be determined team