Auburn Hills - The event, which features the MSU men's basketball team hosting a different squad for the next five years at The Palace, will kick off Dec. 6 when the Spartans meet Oklahoma.
"We can't start it much better than we're doing it this year," said Tom Wilson, president of Palace Sports and Entertainment. "It's going to be a special day."
The Spartan's initial matchup pits two distinguished coaches and long-time friends against each other. Both MSU head coach Tom Izzo and Sooners head coach Kelvin Sampson were prodigies of former MSU head coach Jud Heathcote.
Izzo boasts a 189-78 record through eight seasons at MSU, a National Championship, three Final Four appearances, four Big Ten titles and three National Coach of the Year recognitions. Sampson has led the Sooners to NCAA Tournament appearances in each of his nine seasons at Oklahoma, including a Sweet 16, an Elite Eight and a Final Four showing. He also has earned National Coach of the Year accolades.
"It's an honor to be involved in this event because it is an honor to be involved with a program like Michigan State," Sampson said. "You always measure your team against certain progress, and MSU is an unbelievable yardstick for us."
The two teams met for the last time Jan. 4 at Ford Center in Oklahoma. A last-second MSU turnover saw the Sooners scrape by with a 60-58 win over MSU behind forward Ebi Ere's 21 points.
"Both teams play awfully hard. We've had some incredible battles," Izzo said. "People are going to see a good basketball game. This event does it in front of a great crowd with an incredible opponent and I'm looking forward to it."
This isn't the only national attention-grabbing event MSU has planned for this year. A week after the Spartans play at The Palace, MSU travels a little farther down I-75 to Ford Field in hopes of setting the world record for attendance at a college basketball game. Home of the Detroit Lions, Ford Field will see MSU and Kentucky battle during the "BasketBowl" on Dec. 13.
"Hopefully, this is a chance for Michigan State to get down to Detroit for our alums and our recruits," Izzo said. "I think this is the start of something great. I couldn't be more proud or more excited to do it against such a great team."
Tickets for the inaugural Spartan Clash go on sale Oct. 10, with the majority of tickets priced from $10 to $28. Tipoff is set for noon Dec. 6.
