Skip to main content

Tom Izzo #3 Michigan State Coach Talks Maui Classic!

Tom Izzo #3 Michigan State Coach Talks Maui Classic!

The #3 Michigan State Spartans got their third win of their season tonight to improve to 3-1 on the season. They destroyed Charleston Southern 94-46, and it wasn’t that close.

The Spartans return to the court tonight (November 25) in Maui, Hawaii against the Virginia Tech Hokies. That game can be seen on ESPN at 5PM. Spartan Nation was there was there when PF Xavier Tillman talked about this tournament and you can watch that entire press conference above.

Here are five quick points about tonight’s game courtesy of Mex Carey, the MSU men’s basketball SID:

1. Spartans to Play in the Maui Jim Maui Invitational No. 3 Michigan State will play Virginia Tech in the first round of the Maui Jim Maui Invitational on Monday, Nov. 25 ... The game will air live from the Lahaina Civic Center on ESPN2 at noon Hawaii time (5 p.m. ET) ... The winner of the Virginia Tech-Michigan State game will play the winner of a game between Dayton and Georgia on Tuesday, Nov. 26 on ESPN (3 p.m./8 p.m. ET) ... Games on the other side of the bracket include Kansas against Chaminade and UCLA against Brigham Young ... The championship game will be played on Wednesday, Nov. 27, airing live on ESPN (noon/5 p.m. ET).

2. MSU in Maui This will be Michigan State’s fifth time participating in the Maui Invitational (1991, 1995, 2005, 2010) ... The Spartans captured the championship in their inaugural trip in 1991, defeating Lamar, Rice and No. 2 Arkansas in the championship game, 86-71 ... Redshirt freshman Shawn Respert averaged 19.0 points, while Mark Montgomery averaged 7.3 assists ... Tom Izzo made his head coaching debut at the 1995 Maui Invitational, defeating Chaminade, before falling to North Carolina and Santa Clara ... In the 2005 tournament, MSU defeated Chaminade before falling to Gonzaga in one of the greatest games in the history of the Maui Invitational, losing 109-106 in triple overtime ... Maurice Ager scored 36 points, including 27 in the last 7:09 of regulation and the overtime periods ... MSU bounced back the next day with a 74-71 overtime win vs. Arizona ... Ager earned a spot on the All-Tournament Team, averaging 26.3 points in three games ... In 2010, the Spartans finished in third place, beating Chaminade in the opening round (82-74), losing to UConn in the semifinals (70-67) and beating Washington (76-71). Kailin Lucas was named to the all-tournament team, averaging a team-best 22.3 points per game.

3. Spartans in Preseason Tournaments Michigan State has had success in preseason tournaments in recent years ... Last year, MSU won the Las Vegas Invitational, beating UCLA in the opening round and then posting a 78-68 win over Texas in the title game ... In 2017-18, MSU won the Victory Bracket of the PK80 Invitational in Portland, Ore., beating North Carolina, 81-63, in the title game ... It was the fourth time in the last five years that MSU had advanced to the championship game of a preseason tournament ... MSU has won the 2013 Coaches vs. Cancer Classic in Brooklyn and the 2015 Wooden Legacy in California, while finishing second in the 2014 Orlando Classic.

4. Series History This will be just the second ever meeting between Michigan State and Virginia Tech. The Spartans beat the Hokies, 96-77, in a semifinal of the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. on Nov. 23, 2013.

5. Winston Earns National Accolades Michigan State senior guard Cassius Winston has earned a slew of preseason awards entering the 2019-20 season ... Winston was selected as a Preseason First Team All-American by the Associated Press and was also tabbed a Preseason First Team All-American by the Sporting News ... He was also named the Big Ten Preseason Player of the Year, was one of three unanimous selections to the All-Big Ten Team and was selected to the watch list for the Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year Award.

The Duke Blue Devils will be in East Lansing to take on the Spartans on Tuesday, December 3rd in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. That game can be seen on ESPN and it tips off at 9:30 PM

Want the latest breaking MSU news delivered straight to your email for FREE? Sign up for the DAILY Spartan Nation newsletter when you CLICK THE MAGAZINE ICON at the top left of the page or the FOLLOW button back on the main page. Don’t miss any of the latest up to the second updates on Michigan State Sports when you follow on Twitter @HondoCarpenter