Michigan State basketball: Complete 2023-24 Big Ten schedule revealed

Reactions to the 2023-24 schedule

• December Games

Michigan State will kick off their conference schedule in the beginning of December, as has become the norm in the Big Ten. Before they take a break for Finals Week, Michigan State will play Wisconsin at home in its Big Ten opener and then travel to Nebraska. If we want to win the Big Ten, it is crucial we get off to a fast start by winning both of these games. Wisconsin is typically one of the better Big Ten teams so that will be no easy task. Nebraska, on the other hand, is slowly on the come-up. Two wins here are extremely important.

• Michigan

Michigan State once again plays Michigan twice this year. The first meeting is in East Lansing on Jan. 30 with the return trip to Ann Arbor on Feb. 17. Michigan has been on a downward trajectory the past few years, yet we have been unable to sweep the regular season series. Winning these two games would be huge to help us win the conference and assert our dominance in this rivalry once again.

• Tough four-game mid-season stretch

Arguably the toughest stretch in our schedule comes right in the middle as January comes to an end. Michigan State basketball will travel to Maryland on Jan. 21 and then to Wisconsin on Jan. 26. Then it will play Michigan and Maryland again at home on Jan. 3 and Feb. 3, respectively. Maryland and Wisconsin will be two of the better teams in the conference this year. Coming out of this stretch of games 3-1 would be amazing, but we need to be 2-2 at minimum.

Other notable games

The three other teams likely to compete for the Big Ten title are Illinois, Indiana, and Purdue. Fortunately for MSU, it only plays this group four times. Illinois is the team the Spartans face twice. Michigan State will travel to Illinois on Jan. 11 and then the Illini make the return trip to East Lansing on Feb. 10.

MSU fortunately only plays Indiana and Purdue once each, but they are both road games. Strangely enough, both matchups come at the very end of the season. The Spartans travel to Purdue on March 2 which is the third-to-last game, then finish the regular season at Indiana on March 10. Those two games will have massive Big Ten title implications, and MSU may need to win both if it expects to win the conference.

Tom Izzo and Michigan State have their work cut out for them. Thankfully we have enough firepower to handle the tough Big Ten slate and compete for the regular season crown. Can we win the conference for the first time since 2020? I think we will as we dethrone Purdue and win the conference outright.