No. 9 Tennessee basketball travels to East Lansing, Mich. on Sunday afternoon for a charity exhibition against No. 4 Michigan State at 3:30 p.m. ET on the Big Ten Network. Fans can also watch on FoxSports.com or the Fox Sports app. Connor Onion (play-by-play) and Bill Raftery (analyst) will have the call.
The exhibition between the Volunteers and Spartans will raise money for the Hawai’i Community Foundation Maui Strong Fund, providing financial resources to the relief efforts from the devastating Maui wildfires. Tennessee will play in the Maui Invitational this season and has previously done so three times (2004, 2011, 2016). This will be the sixth time Rick Barnes takes a team to the tournament, including the second at Tennessee.
This is the second straight season UT begins play with a charity exhibition against a top-five team. Last year, No. 11 Tennessee beat No. 2 Gonzaga, 99-80, in the inaugural Legends of Basketball Classic at the Comerica Center in Frisco, Texas, benefitting the McLendon Foundation.
Here are the links that you need to have for Sunday’s exhibition between Tennessee and Michigan State.
TV: Big Ten Network (Click this link to stream online)
Live Stats: (Click here)
Tennessee is 2-5 all-time against Michigan State. The two teams have met just once since 1994, which was a 70-69 win for the Spartans on in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament in St. Louis, Mo.
Michigan State enters Sunday ranked fourth nationally in both preseason polls coming off a 21-13 (11-8 B1G) campaign that included a trip to the Sweet Sixteen. The Spartans were picked second in the Big Ten preseason poll and return five of their top six scorers from last season, including graduate student guard Tyson Walker, who paced the team with 14.8 points per game.
MSU graduate student forward Malik Hall is a alumnus of Sunrise Christian Academy (Kan.), where one of his coaches for two seasons was current Tennessee assistant Rod Clark. Vols’ guard Josiah-Jordan James is the son of Kurt James, a Michigan State forward from 1979-82.
Tennessee will be without fifth-year senior guard Santiago Vescovi, who is at home in Uruguay tending to a family matter.