Gonzaga and Michigan State finalizing deal to revamp Carrier Classic

The Bulldogs will face off against the Spartans for the first time since 2011 while the Carrier Classic hasn't happened since 2012

Draymond Green finished the Zags off in the Kennel in 2011 with a 34-point, three steal performance (Dan Pelle/Spokesman Review)

Gonzaga men’s basketball has the chance to get its revenge against Michigan State on Nov. 11, Veteran’s Day, on an aircraft carrier nonetheless. The plans for Gonzaga to take on the Spartans in San Diego are being finalized as of Tuesday and at the moment would be the Zags second game of the year on the team’s 2022-23 schedule.

The Zags and Spartans are familiar with one another, but it’s been a while. All time, Gonzaga is 1-3 against Michigan State, most recently having played the Spartans in 2011 at home in a 67-74 loss. That game, four-time NBA champion Draymond Green dropped a game-high 34 points for a Spartan team that would end up finishing No. 5 in the nation that year.

That same Michigan State squad played in the first ever college basketball game on an aircraft carrier earlier that season in the inaugural Carrier Classic in San Diego. On the U.S.S. Carl Vinson with U.S. President Barack Obama in attendance, the Spartans fell to North Carolina 67-55.

In 2012, four games were scheduled to take place on aircraft carriers throughout the country, one women’s game and one men’s game in San Diego, and two other games were scheduled on carriers in Charleston, South Carolina and Jacksonville, Florida. 

While both games in San Diego went off without a hitch, Ohio State vs Marquette was canceled because of condensation on the court assembled on the USS Yorktown, and Georgetown vs. Florida got through one half of play before subsequently being canceled for similar condensation issues.

The Zags now have nine games scheduled outside of their 16 conference matchups for next season. The team looks to be opening the season at home against North Florida University on Nov. 7 before meeting up with Michigan State in San Diego.

Then to finish up the home-and-home against the University of Texas, Gonzaga will travel to Austin on Nov. 16. To complete another home-and-home, the Zags are scheduled to travel to the University of Alabama on Dec. 17 in another potential revenge game after falling to the Crimson Tide in the Battle in Seattle last season.

Before that, however, the Zags will be participating in the PK85 Tournament on Thanksgiving weekend from Nov. 24-27, where they have three guaranteed games against any of Duke, Florida, Oregon State, Purdue, Portland State, Xavier or West Virginia. They then get to play the 2020-21 champions Baylor in Sioux Falls, Iowa on Dec. 2 and then make up the team’s contest against the University of Washington Huskies that was voided last season due to COVID-19 concerns.

If all those games tentatively scheduled at the moment all come to fruition, that leaves a maximum of seven contests left for Head Coach Mark Few to schedule outside of conference play to reach the maximum of 32 regular season games.