The upcoming college basketball season promises a series of high‑profile nonconference matchups that will draw attention across the Midwest.
Detroit Mercy will travel to East Lansing on November 21 to meet Michigan State, a program that last visited the Spartans in the 1997‑98 season. The game will also feature a rare storyline: Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo will be on the sidelines while his longtime assistant, Mark Montgomery, now in his third year at Detroit Mercy, watches from the bench.
A week later, the Titans will head to Ann Arbor for a December 21 clash with the Wolverines, marking their first meeting with the university since the 1979‑80 campaign. The return to Ann Arbor is notable not only for its historical gap but also for the renewed rivalry that fans on both sides are eager to rekindle.
Holiday Cheer on the Hardwood
Oakland University, meanwhile, opens its season against Michigan on November 3, a rematch of last year’s 121‑78 victory for the Wolverines. The Golden Grizzies will then journey to East Lansing on December 22 to face Michigan State, continuing a tradition that often includes coaches Tom Izzo and Oakland’s Greg Kampe donning festive, intentionally garish Christmas sweaters.
Central Michigan also announced its nonconference slate, which includes road tests at Dayton, Pittsburgh, Notre Dame and Arkansas, adding a blend of mid‑major and power‑conference opponents to the schedule.