EAST LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – It was a great showing against no. 2 Gonzaga University in buzzer-beater loss, 64-63, that has put Michigan State back into the limelight of the college basketball world. After a sub-par 2021-22 season and a so-so recruiting class, it looked as though it may be an average year for the Spartans. A game on a ship changed all of that.

Playing on the USS Abraham Lincoln on Friday evening in San Diego, Calif., MSU’s buzzer beating shot came up short of the upset over Gonzaga. Mady Sissoko led the team with a career-high 14 points while both A.J. Hoggard and Tyson Walker added 12 points each and Malik Hall 11 points. MSU led by as many as 12 points in the second half and were two lead changes and three ties in the final minutes of the game.

The Spartans start a six-game stretch with five games on the road over the next two weeks which is the toughest November schedule in NCAA Division I. Six of the first eight games played in the season are against ranked teams that were in the AP preseason poll. They start on Tuesday night with the Champions Classic in Indianapolis, Ind. against no. 4 Kentucky. They will then be home on Nov. 18 to face Villanova in the Gavitt Tipoff Games. From Nov. 24-27 they travel to Portland, Ore., for the Phil Knight Invitational starting off with Alabama and playing three games total there. The road trip ends on Nov. 30 in South Bend, Ind., in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge against Notre Dame.

Tuesday night’s game will be on ESPN with Dan Shulman, Dick Vitale, and Holly Rowe. MSU has played Kentucky 25 times and is 11-14 vs. the Wildcats but hold a 2-1 lead in the Champions Classic. Kentucky has won the last two meetings but MSU has an all-time record of 42-27 vs. SEC teams.

MSU earned a national ranking of 25th in the week two ESPN Coaches Poll with 62 points and was just outside the AP Top 25 poll. At 1-1, the Spartans will see if that ranking will hold up in their next six games.