Photo: Junfu Han ~ USA TODAY NETWORK
DETROIT, August 12, 2024 ~ Michigan State Men’s Basketball will head to Marquette, Mich. for a preseason exhibition against Northern Michigan on Sunday, Oct. 13 at 1 p.m.
The game will be played at the Superior Dome on NMU’s campus. The stadium opened in 1991 and is the venue for Wildcat football games with a capacity of 8,000. This will be the first ever collegiate basketball game played in the largest free-standing dome in the world, recognized by the 2010 Guinness Book of World Records.
After graduating from NMU in 1977, this will be the first time in his 30-year career as Michigan State Head Coach that Tom Izzo will head back to the Upper Peninsula to coach at his alma mater.
“To say I’m excited about the opportunity to bring my Michigan State team to play at Northern Michigan, my alma mater, would be a pretty big understatement,” Izzo said in a press release. “This is something we’ve wanted to try and do for a while, and I think it’s going to be a pretty special event. We’re excited to bring our team to the UP to play, and it’s going to be very cool to play a game in the Superior Dome, one of the really great venues in college athletics. I think this will mean a great deal to people, not only in East Lansing but especially for the great people in Marquette and the Upper Peninsula.”
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More on our trip to Coach Izzo's alma mater: https://t.co/McED9gKiSn
— Michigan State Men's Basketball (@MSU_Basketball) August 8, 2024
(CONTINUED) The Wildcats have seen MSU six times in preseason exhibition games, most recently in 2018, and have played eight times in the regular season. The Spartans hold a 7-1 record against the Wildcats.
The last two times the teams played, in 1974 and 1975, Northern Michigan’s starting lineup included a guard from Iron Mountain in the U.P., Tom Izzo.
In both games, one being at Jenison Field House and the other being the last time the Spartans visited Northern Michigan, MSU took home victories. On the road in 1975, Izzo scored nine points and at home, he accumulated a team-high six assists.
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