Michigan State basketball to play at Tennessee in 2026-27 schedule

East Lansing — Add another heavy hitter to Michigan State men's basketball's schedule this coming season.

Michigan State will play Tennessee in Knoxville during the 2026-27 season, Volunteers coach Rick Barnes told reporters and a Michigan State spokesperson confirmed Wednesday. Details of the arrangement are being finalized.

The game will be Michigan State's first appearance at Tennessee with Tom Izzo as head coach. The last came Dec. 21, 1993, with Jud Heathcote as head coach and Izzo as an assistant. Michigan State won that game 69-60 and owns a 5-2 all-time record against the Volunteers with the last official meeting a 70-69 win in the Elite Eight of the 2010 NCAA Tournament.

Tom Izzo is 6-4 all-time against Rick Barnes, 1-0 since Barnes joined Tennessee and 5-4 when Barnes coached Texas. MSU and Texas faced off seven times in the eight seasons between 2006-07 and 2013-14, and Michigan State won five of those meetings.

Michigan State coach Tom Izzo and guard Jeremy Fears Jr. during a break in the action against Connecticut in the second half of the Sweet Sixteen at Capital One Arena in Washington D.C, on March 28, 2026.

The teams played a charity exhibition Oct. 29, 2023, at Breslin Center, that raised money to support victims of the Maui wildfires that summer. Tennessee won that meeting, 89-88.

Fresh off an Elite Eight appearance in which it lost to eventual national champion Michigan in Chicago, Tennessee went 25-12 to finish fourth in the SEC. Rick Barnes, the 2019 Naismith Coach of the Year, is 257–121 (.680) in 11 seasons leading the Volunteers with four straight Sweet 16s and three straight runs to the Elite Eight.

Barnes is 861-435 (.664) all-time including a 402–180 record in 17 seasons at Texas before he joined Tennessee in 2015. Michigan State coach Tom Izzo is 764-310 (.711) in 31 seasons leading Michigan State, including a 27-8 record last season that ended at the hands of national championship runner-up UConn in the Sweet 16 in Washington, D.C.

Duke and Arkansas are also on Michigan State's schedule. The Spartans will see the Blue Devils at Chicago's United Center for the Champion's Classic on Nov. 10 and the Razorbacks at Little Caesars Arena on Thanksgiving.