Michigan State basketball’s week filled with preseason hoops, playoff baseball and pasties

EAST LANSING — Tom Izzo wants his Michigan State basketball team to know what it takes.

To be professionals. To learn how to win.

On Tuesday night, the Spartans planned to watch the Detroit Pistons and Phoenix Suns play an exhibition game at Breslin Center. On Wednesday, Izzo expects to take his players to Comerica Park to take in some playoff baseball between the Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Guardians.

On Sunday, MSU opens its exhibition season in Marquette at Izzo’s alma mater, Northern Michigan.

“I think the one thing that’s been really important for me my whole career is to do things where there’s memory-makers. … It’ll be an exciting time for for all of us,” Izzo said Tuesday morning. “And I’m definitely looking forward to it.”

It starts with the game between the Pistons and Suns, two teams that are owned by MSU alums in Tom Gores and Mat Ishbia, a 2003 graduate who was a walk-on guard for Izzo from 1999-2002.

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Izzo joked that he planned to “turn the cold showers on for” Phoenix players Devin Booker and Tyus Jones, who had MSU as finalists during their recruitments before picking Kentucky and Duke, respectively. Izzo also said he got to meet and spend time with Suns forward Kevin Durant after Ishbia purchased the team and traded for the superstar in early 2023.

“I love the way Mat has taken the approach he’s taken,” Izzo said. “You know there’s always curves in the road. I think they made a couple of acquisitions that are gonna be really good.”

Izzo also recruited and coached against several players on Detroit’s roster. Gores graduated from MSU in 1986 and has been instrumental in working with his alma mater and Henry Ford Health Systems to revitalize the New Center neighborhood in Detroit.

“I’ve become a Pistons fan. I want them to win. I believe anybody in our state that wins helps our state,” Izzo said, before briefly pausing to consider his rivals in Ann Arbor. “Mmm, almost anybody.”

Comerica Park will be the next stop for Izzo and the Spartans. Izzo said he connected with an alum with access to a box for Game 3 of the ALDS, two days after the Tigers’ dramatic 3-0 victory in Cleveland. Though it is an off day for his team, Izzo said he is not forcing players to go. Although Izzo admits he is not an avid baseball fan, he understands the memory-making aspect of taking it in.

“If it’s illegal, I don’t give a damn, how’s that?” Izzo joked. “But it’s our day off, and we always try to find some things. One of my theories in life is … playoffs are playoffs. And learning how to win and learning how to be around people and seeing the atmosphere.

“I mean, can you imagine what it’s going to be like down there?”

The Spartans are scheduled to fly Friday to the U.P., where Izzo plans to show them around his former college stomping grounds and potentially take the 80-mile drive to his hometown, Iron Mountain. Plenty of pasties are expected to be consumed before Sunday’s game.

MSU and the Wildcats will play at the Superior Dome, NMU’s football stadium that will have a special basketball court brought in for the sold-out exhibition game. It will be MSU’s first visit since Izzo’s 1974-75 team lost to Gus Ganakas’ Spartans, 91-59, on Dec. 16, 1974. That was Izzo’s sophomore year — and happened to also be his first collegiate start.

“We just decided we’re going to, as I said, make it a little bit historic. … It’s going to be an exciting time and just being around some people,” said Izzo, a 1977 Northern Michigan alumnus. “And you know what? As a Division II athlete, and I’m making my first start against Michigan State in my entire career, that hits home a little bit, too.

“It’s going to be the Super Bowl for them. This is their chance. They don’t get to do this, and not many people give them a chance, especially at home. And so, yeah, this is my way of giving me back to them.”

Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Tom Izzo’s week filled with preseason hoops, playoff baseball, pasties