East Lansing, Mich. – Michigan State’s men’s basketball team, ranked No. 4 in the Associated Press Preseason poll, plays the second of two exhibition games on Sunday, Oct. 29, hosting Tennessee at the Breslin Center (3:30 p.m., BTN).

The Volunteers are ranked No. 9 in the AP Preseason poll. Tennessee is the highest-ranked non-conference team to visit the Breslin Center since 2017 (then-No. 5 Notre Dame).

All proceeds raised from this game will be donated to the Hawai’i Community Foundation Maui Strong Fund, providing financial resources to the relief efforts from the devastating Maui wildfires in August.

The game will air live on BTN, with Connor Onion and Bill Raftery calling all of the action. The Spartan Media Network radio call can be heard state-wide and on the web at MSUSpartans.com, with Will Tieman handling the play-by-play and Matt Steigenga serving as the color analyst and Blake Froling is the studio host.

About the Spartans

• Michigan State enters the 2023-24 season ranked No. 4 in the Associated Press Preseason Top 25 poll, the highest the team has been ranked entering a season since being No. 1 prior to the 2019-20 season.
• The Spartans return four starters and 11 letterwinners and welcome in a recruiting class that has been rated among the top-five in the country to a team that went 21-13 last year and reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.
• This year, the Spartans return 74.9 percent of the team’s scoring (1,805 of 2,411 points), 66.9 percent of the team’s rebounds (606 of 906), 85.1 percent of the team’s assists (423 of 497) and 75.9 percent of the team’s minutes played (5,234 of 6,900).
• The Spartans expected starting lineup – guards Tyson Walker, A.J. Hoggard and Jaden Akins and forwards Malik Hall and Mady Sissoko – have combined to start 489 games (248 starts) in their college careers … Walker leads the way with 120 games played (110 starts), while Hall has played in 118 games.
• The Spartans expect to be led by a backcourt that could rank among the best in the country.
• Walker and Hoggard were selected to the Preseason All-Big Ten Team.
• Walker, who was a Second Team Preseason All-American by FOX Sports, led the team in scoring (14.8 ppg), ranked No. 11 in the Big Ten in scoring and field goal percentage (45.9%) and 10th in minutes played (34.0).
• Hoggard was third on the team in scoring (12.9 ppg) and led the team, ranked third in the Big Ten and No. 9 nationally, with 5.9 assists per game.
• Junior Jaden Akins was fourth on the team in scoring (9.8 ppg) while adding 4.0 rebounds, 1.2 assists and shooting 42.2 percent from 3-point land.
• Graduate forward Malik Hall returns for his fifth year at MSU and was fifth on the team last year with 8.9 ppg and third on the team with 4.3 rpg despite missing 11 games with an injury.
• Senior forward Mady Sissoko moved into the starting lineup last year and responded with 5.1 ppg and 6.1 rpg while blocking 28 shots.

About the Volunteers

• Tennessee returns two starters and seven letterwinners from last year’s team that went 25-11 overall (11-7 in the Southeastern Conference) and advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.
• The Volunteers, who finished the season ranked No. 20 in the Associated Press Top 25, are ranked No. 4 in the AP Preseason Poll and the ESPN Coaches poll.
• Junior guard Zakai Zeigler is one of two returning starters for the Vols … Zeigler averaged 10.7 points and 5.4 assists per game before an injury resulted in him missing the final six games of the season.
• Tennessee fifth year guard Santiago Vescovi, who averaged 12.5 points, 4.6 rebounds and shot 37.0 percent from 3-point land last year, will be not be with the team this weekend as he attends to a family matter in his native Uruguay.
• Graduate forward Josiah-Jordan James, who played in 24 games and started 14 times, averaged 10.0 points and 4.7 rebounds per game.
• Up front, Tennessee returns sophomore forward Tobe Awaka (6-8, 250) and junior center Jonas Aidoo (6-11, 241).
• Tennessee finished the 2022-23 season ranked No. 1 in the country in Adjusted defensive efficiency by KenPom.

Against Tennessee

• The game against Tennessee is the eighth meeting between the teams.
• Michigan State leads the all-time series, 5-2, including a 2-0 mark at home.
• The Spartans won a pair of games at home, first a 29-20 decision in 1940, and then a 79-68 decision at the Breslin Center in 1994.
• The last time the teams played, Michigan State posted a 70-69 win in the Elite Eight of the 2010 NCAA Tournament in St. Louis to reach the Final Four.

Barnes & Izzo Meet Again

• Michigan State and Tennessee played a closed scrimmage in Knoxville last year ahead of the start of the 2022-23 season and the teams planned to play another one this year in East Lansing.
• The scrimmage became a charity exhibition game to benefit the Maui Strong Fund following the devastating wildfires in August.
• Though the game will not count in the record books, this will be the 10th all-time meeting between Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo and Tennessee Head Coach Rick Barnes.
• Barnes and Izzo went head-to-head nine times while the former was the head coach at Texas, with the Spartans carrying a 5-4 record in those games.
• The last time Barnes visited the Breslin Center was in December 2012, a 67-56 MSU win over Texas.