The team held an open practice inside the Breslin Center as participants checked in and began setting up their tents at 3 p.m. With the campout beginning at 6 p.m., students were playing games, dancing to music from the event’s D.J. and participating in events and sponsored giveaways.

Assistant coaches Mark Montgomery and newly-hired Thomas Kelley welcomed the crowd before Head Coach Tom Izzo and the remainder of the team took the stage around 9 p.m. Fans danced alongside team members, followed by a storm of selfies and autographs as the Spartans then made their way off stage. 

“After all the COVID all we’ve been through to have this place hopping like this with students back, it’s a memory making night,” Izzo said. “I love these students, they're great and it’s gonna be a long night."

Izzo has camped out 24 of the 26 years that MSU Athletics has held the campout. 

“I’ve been here when it rains, been here once when it snowed, it's all good to me,” Izzo said."

Freshman guard Trejuan Holloman said the electric atmosphere was unlike anything he’d ever experienced before. He even contemplated finding a tent and camping out himself.

“This is great energy,” Holloman said. “Everybody came out and showed up. I feel blessed right now."

For freshman environmental science and sustainability major Calvin Hyde, this was his first time attending the campout. Hyde showed up to the event on his own, excited to join in on the excitement.

“It’s been a good opportunity to meet new people and branch out a little bit,” Hyde said. “There's plenty of games to meet people and it’s been cool so far."

Each participant earned two lifetime points for attending the campout, along with a retainment of points from previous years for returning fans. Izzone members with the most points select their tickets first, determining if they're seated in the upper or lower bowl of the arena for each game.

For senior kinesiology major Kathryn Sarlund and senior environmental engineering major Sarah Anderson, this was their third and final campout after the 2020 one was canceled.

“We’ve been Izzone members every since freshman year,” Anderson said. “It was inside the Breslin Center ... it was a little bit different because we could leave at midnight, ... sophomore year was Covid and last year we were here but it down poured the whole time. ... This is our last campout, ... we're gonna stay half the time and then head home but we still wanted to partake in the tradition."

This was graduate student forward Joey Hauser’s second campout at MSU.

“I don’t know anywhere else where they do something like this,” Hauser said. “To see all the support it shows you all the history we have here.”

MSU begins its season Nov. 1 with an exhibition game versus Grand Valley State at the Breslin Center.

"The fans show love so like that's all I could ever ask for," Holloman said. "We've got a good schedule so we gotta bring our A-game every time."