Breslin Center to Host Some of Spartans' Familiar Foes Tomorrow
On Tuesday, the Breslin Center, home of Michigan State basketball, will host an exhibition game between the NBA's Detroit Pistons and Phoenix Suns.
The Suns are owned by Michigan State basketball alum Mat Ishbia, who was a member of Coach Tom Izzo's 2000 national title team and has become a generous donor to Michigan State athletics.
This will be the first time the Pistons have played at the Breslin since 2018 when they faced the Cleveland Cavaliers in an exhibition game.
Sunday's game will be a great opportunity for fans of the in-state Pistons to watch their team in a different venue at a decent price.
It will also be somewhat of a homecoming for Suns star Devin Booker, who grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Booker grew up a fan of the Spartans and has admitted he nearly went to Michigan State before choosing Kentucky.
The Suns also have a few other players who were college standouts -- Kevin Durant, Grayson Allen, Tyus Jones and Frank Kaminsky -- each of whom the Spartans are very familiar with.
Durant played Michigan State in just the third game of his collegiate career when he posted 21 points and nine rebounds as No. 9 Michigan State upset the No. 4-ranked Longhorns in the 2007 Dick's Sporting Goods Spartan Clash at the Palace of Auburn Hills.
Allen and his Duke Blue Devils faced Michigan State twice in his freshman year -- once in the 2014 State Farms Champions Classic and then again in the 2015 Final Four. Duke won both matchups.
The Spartans saw Allen again at Cameron Indoor in 2016, another contest where the Blue Devils came out on top. The following year, Michigan State played Allen for the final time in the 2017 State Farm Champions Classic when he dropped 37 points en route to the Blue Devils' 88-81 victory.
Jones was also on that 2015 national title team that beat Michigan State in the Final Four. He scored 17 points in the win against the Spartans in the State Farm Champions Classic and 9 in that Final Four meeting.
Kaminsky was a conference foe of the Spartans for his four years at Wisconsin. The 2014-15 AP Player of the Year faced Michigan State seven times in his carer with the Badgers, including three in the Big Ten Tournament. Kaminsky turned in a 28-point outing when they met in the 2014 Big Ten Tournament and a 19-point display when the Badgers downed the Spartans in the 2015 Big Ten Tournament Championship game.
Meanwhile, the Pistons have a couple players who the Spartans know all too well -- guards Jaden Ivey and Tim Hardaway Jr. Ivey was a thorn in Michigan State's side in his second of two years at Purdue, most notably when he scored 22 points, grabbed nine board and dished out five assists against the Spartans in the 2022 Big Ten Tournament.
Hardaway, of course, was a key member of Michigan State's biggest rival, Michigan. He had some epic battles with the Spartans during his time with the Wolverines, including one during his freshman season when he dropped 20 points in a narrow 70-63 win for the Wolverines in what was the final game of the 2010-11 regular season for each team.
So, Spartan fans, if you plan on attending Tuesday's exhibition game, allow yourself to be engulfed by nostalgia, consisting of memories both bad and good, as you watch players who played key roles in some of Michigan State's most iconic games.
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