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It was reported this afternoon by Tom Noie of the South Bend Tribune that the Notre Dame Fighting Irish will be making a visit to the Breslin Center on Nov. 28 to take on the Michigan State Spartans. This will be Notre Dame’s first regular-season scheduled game — outside of interconference challenges — against the Spartans since 1975. The two rivals in football have faced off just three times since that game in 1975. One of those games was in the NCAA tournament in 1979, and they have also played twice in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge in 2014 and 2017. MSU traveled to South Bend for the game in 2014, and ND traveled to East Lansing in 2017.
How does @NDmbb adding Michigan State to the schedule sound? Sounds good to Mike Brey. Here: https://t.co/r2Kxa93vqG
— Tom Noie (@tnoieNDI) October 30, 2020
The scheduling news comes in the wake of Michigan State’s original plans to participate in the Orlando Invitational being called off after the event was canceled earlier this week. MSU is reportedly looking at holding its own tournament (or “multi-team event,” MTE for short, as it is referred to in NCAA rules and so popularly used by media the media this fall) in East Lansing. The goal would be to host local teams in the event, of which there are many MSU can consider. Notre Dame was one name mentioned, along with Western Michigan, Eastern Michigan, and Central Michigan as well specifically noted by Coach Tom Izzo in his press conference earlier this week. Notre Dame is also reportedly scheduled to play Western Michigan in South Bend on Dec. 2.
Notre Dame leads the basketball series 60-36 and Notre Dame holds a 25-23 record when games are played in East Lansing. MSU is riding a three-game winning streak in the series, with Notre Dame’s last win coming in Jenison Fieldhouse in 1974.
MSU will be one of three teams in the Big Ten that Notre Dame is scheduled to play. The Irish host Ohio State in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, and play Purdue on Dec. 19 in Indianapolis in the annual Crossroads Classic.
Presuming Michigan State will still play Duke in the Champions Classic, as is the goal according to Coach Izzo, this leaves four non-conference games left to fill on the schedule. MSU will play Virginia in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge on Dec. 9.