Izzo, Calipari: Michigan State-Arkansas on Thanksgiving in Detroit
· Yahoo Sports
Tom Izzo talked about it earlier this week, even though Michigan State basketball has yet to finalize a contract.
Now John Calipari is confirming on social media that Michigan State basketball vs. Arkansas will be happening on Thanksgiving Day in Detroit.
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The Razorbacks coach posted that the Razorbacks and Spartans have agreed to push back next year’s nonconference game originally scheduled to be played in Fayetteville so the two programs and Hall of Fame coaches can meet in a neutral-site game Nov. 26 at Little Caesars Arena. Calipari wrote on Thursday, April 2, that it was “an opportunity” for his program because the game will be televised nationally on CBS.
“We have been one of the most watched college basketball teams and want to build on that!” Calipari wrote. “Michigan State WILL return the home game to Bud Walton Arena and we are working on a date.”
MSU defeated Arkansas, 69-66, on Nov. 8 at Breslin Center in East Lansing on Fox. That two-game, home-and-home deal was announced in August 2025 and originally was supposed to be completed this fall.
Izzo and Calipari are 3-3 against each other in six previous meetings, while MSU owns a 3-0 record all-time against Arkansas. One of those was a Nov. 28, 1995, victory in Izzo’s first season at the Great Eight at the Palace of Auburn Hills.
Despite the two coaches’ public comments, a contract is not yet finalized, a source with knowledge of the situation said after Calipari’s tweet. Izzo on Tuesday first told WVFN-AM (730) in Lansing that the game will be happening.
“That’ll be a big game,” Izzo said, pointing to playing on Thanksgiving in two of the past three years and generating strong TV ratings. “I think it’s scheduled right after the Lions game. … I think the tipoff is gonna be right after the game, an hour later or something. So it’ll be a pretty big happening in Detroit.”
Like the Arkansas game, those Thanksgiving Day broadcasts Izzo referred to were scheduled marquee matchups and not holiday-week tournaments with uncertain opponents. On Thanksgiving 2025, MSU defeated North Carolina in the Fort Myers Tip-Off, a four-team prescheduled event which had the two bluebloods facing each other. On Thanksgiving Day in 2023, the Spartans lost to Arizona in the single-game Acrisure Classic in Palm Desert, California. The Spartans went to the Maui Invitational in 2024 and did not play on Thanksgiving Day in the multiteam tournament.
MSU will face Duke in the Champions Classic on Nov. 10 at United Center in Chicago. Izzo added that his team plans to play Gonzaga in California, but that game also does not yet have a finalized contract according to the source familiar with the situation.
The Spartans also are planning to host a return exhibition game this fall against Connecticut, which eliminated MSU from the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16 on March 27 in Washington. The Huskies, who are in the Final Four in Indianapolis this weekend, won a neutral site exhibition over Izzo’s team on Oct. 28 in Hartford, Connecticut.
“The one thing I’ve still stayed stupid on is my scheduling,” Izzo said Tuesday. “But I’m always trying to bring good teams here.”
Contact Chris Solari: [email protected]. Follow him @chrissolari.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State basketball to play Arkansas on Thanksgiving in Detroit