Advertisement

Postponed Michigan-Michigan State basketball game remains in limbo

Chris Solari, Detroit Free Press
·4 min read
2

EAST LANSING — The question seemed simple: Will Michigan and Michigan State basketball make up their postponed basketball game from earlier this month?

Of course, the answer is complex or else there would be a makeup date already announced for the Jan. 8 game called off hours before the teams were supposed to play in Ann Arbor.

After No. 10 MSU’s 83-67 victory Saturday afternoon at Breslin Center, Tom Izzo said he believes it will get made up, while the Wolverines’ Juwan Howard borrowed an oft-used phrase from the Spartans’ coach to respond.

Michigan State's head coach Tom Izzo, left, and Michigan head coach Juwan Howard shake hands after the game on Saturday, Jan. 29, 2022, at the Breslin Center in East Lansing.
Michigan State's head coach Tom Izzo, left, and Michigan head coach Juwan Howard shake hands after the game on Saturday, Jan. 29, 2022, at the Breslin Center in East Lansing.

BRING ON THE BOILERMAKERS (AGAIN): Michigan vs. Purdue rescheduled for Feb. 10 at Crisler Center

IZZO SPEAKS: After MSU-Michigan disruption, Tom Izzo pleads for more Big Ten transparency

“I don't know. That's not a question for me. Talk to the Big Ten and ask them that,” Howard said in his postgame news conference. “But we are going to play whoever, whenever, wherever. Got it?”

On Jan. 7, MSU was in the midst of an eventual nine-game win streak. The Spartans went so far as having a shootaround at Crisler Center before the initial game was called off at approximately 10:45 p.m. that night due to COVID-19 issues within the U-M program. The Wolverines, who were mired in a two-game skid and had lost three of their previous four at that point, also had to postpone their next game, scheduled for Jan. 11 at home against Purdue. The game against Purdue has since been rescheduled for Feb. 10.

Michigan lost in its return from its COVID pause at Illinois on Jan. 14 before beating Maryland, Indiana and Northwestern. The Wolverines' three-game win streak was ended by the Spartans on Saturday.

But there remains no official makeup date yet for the MSU-Michigan game, one of the three protected rivalries in the conference — along with Purdue vs. Indiana and Northwestern vs. Illinois — in which the two in-state foes are guaranteed to meet twice each season.

The likeliest date for rescheduling the rivalry is March 1. But there are complications with that, unless the Big Ten opts to move other games around.

Moving it to March 1 would squeeze it into a tough stretch of the Spartans' schedule, in between their Feb. 26 home game against No. 6 Purdue and a March 3 road game at No. 16 Ohio State. MSU also hosts No. 21 Illinois on Feb. 19 and travels to Iowa on Feb. 22 and wraps up the regular season March 6 at home against Maryland.

Michigan State coach Tom Izzo gives instructions during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Michigan, Saturday, Jan. 29, 2022, in East Lansing, Mich. Michigan State won 83-67. (AP Photo/Al Goldis)
Michigan State coach Tom Izzo gives instructions during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Michigan, Saturday, Jan. 29, 2022, in East Lansing, Mich. Michigan State won 83-67. (AP Photo/Al Goldis)

“Well, there's not a lot of times when you can redo it, and I don't know what the efforts are,” Izzo said after Saturday’s game. “(MSU associate athletic director Kevin Pauga) and the Big Ten office is involved in that. But everything I hear it's gonna be late, like in March. Maybe it'll be like last year, when we played four games in seven or eight days or whatever it is. Personally, I don't care. I just want to play all the games.”

For the Wolverines, the rescheduling would give them four straight home games down the stretch — hosting Rutgers on Feb. 23, Illinois on Feb. 27, the Spartans on March 1 and Iowa on March 3 — before their March 6 regular-season finale at Ohio State. The Boilermakers altered their schedule by moving their home game against Illinois up two days to Feb. 8, and the Wolverines now face a stretch of three games in five days —Feb. 8 at Penn State, Feb. 10 vs. Purdue and Feb. 12 vs. Ohio State. U-M also visits the Boilermakers on Feb. 5.

Asked if the Spartans want to play the Wolverines again, MSU’s Marcus Bingham Jr. didn’t hesitate.

“Yeah, for sure. We always want to play Michigan,” he said. “Me as a senior, if we get another chance to play them, I'm looking forward to it always. This game could be my last time playing them. Just having bragging rights and to be able to tell my family I did such and such against this team down the road, it's always good for me as a person.

“But I think as a team, if we do play them again, we're gonna be looking forward to it.”

Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari. Read more on the Michigan State Spartans and sign up for our Spartans newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Postponed Michigan-Michigan State basketball game's makeup in limbo