Legendary college hoops coaches John Calipari of Arkansas basketball and Tom Izzo of Michigan State basketball will be facing off not once but twice over the next two years, as announced by the Razorbacks.
“Arkansas and @MSU_Basketball announce two-year series with game one set for Nov. 8 in East Lansing. The Spartans are scheduled to visit Bud Walton Arena next season,” Arkansas men's basketball shared in a social media post on X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday.
Just based on the star power of the men running the show on the sidelines for both programs, this non-conference showdown should attract a ton of attention, regardless of either team's record. Calipari and Izzo are both NCAA title-winning coaches.
The now-Arkansas basketball mentor steered the Kentucky Wildcats to the top of the 2012 edition of March Madness, where Anthony Davis and company defeated the Kansas Jayhawks of Bill Self in the national title game. Twelve years earlier, Izzo helped the Spartans win it all in the 2000 edition of the Big Dance, which ended with Michigan State taking down Billy Donovan's Florida Gators.
Arkansas, which is affiliated with the SEC, and Michigan State of the Big Ten rarely cross paths in the NCAA. The first time the Razorbacks and the Spartans locked horns was back in the 1991 Maui Classic championship game. They shared the court again in 1995 during the Great Eight Tournament, when Izzo was just in his first year at the helm of Michigan State.
As for their individual head-to-head matchup, Calipari, who is entering his second year as Arkansas basketball's bench boss, has the slight edge over Izzo.
Calipari teams are 3-2 all-time against Izzo-run Spartans squads. Calipari's Memphis Tigers beat Izzo and the Spartans in the Sweet 16 Round of the 2008 NCAA National Tournament.
Izzo got his payback in 2013, when the Spartans defeated Calipari's Wildcats in the Champions Classic. Calipari and the Wildcats defeated Michigan State in the next two meetings in 2016 and 2019. In the most recent showdown between Calipari and Izzo, the latter got the better of the former, as Michigan State triumphed over Kentucky in the 2022 Champions Classic.
In the 2024-25 campaign, Arkansas basketball went 22-14 overall, while Michigan State came up with a 30-7 record.
