MBB Preview: Arkansas at Michigan State

November 7, 2025

Who: #14/15 Arkansas Razorbacks (1-0, 0-0 SEC) vs #22/21 Michigan State Spartans (1-0, 0-0 Big Ten)
What: Hall of Fame coaches square off; Acuff returns to his home state
When: Saturday – Nov. 8 – 7:00 pm (ET)/6:00 pm (CT)
Where: East Lansing, Mich. • Jack Breslin Student Events Center (15,000)
How (to follow):
– TV/Stream: FOX/Watch FOX Sports (Brandon Gaudin and Bill Raftery)
– Radio: Learfield Razorback Sports Network (Chuck Barrett and Matt Zimmerman)
– Sirius/XM: Sirius: 138 || XM: 191 || SXM App/Online Channel 961

– Live Stats
– Razorback Gameday App

– Arkansas Game Notes
– Michigan State Notes
– SEC Men’s Basketball Release/Stats

FAYETTEVILLE – Arkansas, led by 2015 Naismith Hall of Fame inductee John Calipari, and Michigan State, led by 2016 Naismith Hall of Fame inductee Tom Izzo, are set to square off in a top-25 matchup as the #14/15 Razorbacks travel to the Breslin Center to face the #22/21 Spartans on Saturday (Nov. 8). Tipoff is set for 7 pm (ET)/6 pm (CT) and the game will be televised on FOX.

Arkansas and Michigan State have met on two previous occasions – both on neutral courts – with the Spartans winning both. MSU upset #2 Arkansas in Maui early in the 1991-92 season and upset #25 Arkansas in Auburn Hills, Mich., early in the 1995-96 season.

While Arkansas and Michigan State’s history is limited, the teams’ head coaches have played in several high-profile match-ups — all on neutral courts — with Calipari holding a slight 3-2 advantage over Izzo. Coach Cal was 1-0 at Memphis and 2-2 at Kentucky versus Izzo’s Spartans. While at Kentucky, Calipari’s four meetings with Izzo and his Spartans were all played in November as part of the Champions Classic. While Cal was in Memphis, the Tigers beat MSU in the 2008 Sweet 16.

Razorback freshman Darius Acuff Jr. won the Michigan Division I state championship that was played in the Breslin Center in 2023. It was his sophomore year at Detroit’s Cass Tech. Cass Tech beat Muskegon, 78-63, and Acuff scored 19 in the win.

NOTES:

John Calipari is 22 wins shy of 900 Division I, on-court wins. He is one on-court win shy of Dean Smith’s 879, which ranks sixth on the all-time on-court NCAA Division I wins list.
Calipari and Izzo have each amassed 59 NCAA Tournament wins, which are the most by active coaches and tied for fifth-most all time.
Calipari, who reached the 2025 Sweet 16, and Izzo, who advanced to the 2025 Elite 8, have each made 16 NCAA Sweet 16 appearances, also tying for fifth-most all time.
Starting with the Michigan State game, Arkansas will make history when it becomes the first team (on record) to play all the teams that advanced to the NCAA Elite 8 the previous year, four SEC opponents and four non-conference opponents. In addition to Michigan State, Arkansas will play Duke in Chicago, Texas Tech in Dallas and Houston in Newark. Among the SEC teams, Arkansas will play Tennessee in Fayetteville, Florida in Gainesville, Auburn (home and away) and Alabama in Tuscaloosa.
Trevon Brazile is coming off a career game in the season-opening win over Southern. He scored a career-high 25 points, going a career-best 8-of-10 at the free throw line. He added 11 rebounds for his 11th career double-double. Over the last eight games dating back to last year, Brazile has five double-doubles.
Arkansas’ Darius Acuff Jr. and Meleek Thomas had one of the best debuts in Razorback and accomplished something no other freshman duos across the country managed in the season-opening games.
First, Acuff scored 22 points, the second-most by a Razorback rookie in an opener, but scored 20 points in the first half, a school record by a Hog rookie in an opener.
Thomas scored 21 points with a team-best seven assists, six rebounds and a team-best three steals. Thomas is THE ONLY Razorback PERIOD to get 21+ points, 7+ assists, 6+ rebounds and 3+ steals in a game since at least 1996-97 (as far back as steals are fully accounted for).
Acuff’s 22 points and Thomas’ 21 rank second and third among Razorback rookies in an opener as Patrick Beverley scored 29 in his collegiate debut.
In the opening games across the country, only 20 freshmen scored 20-plus points in their debuts. Among those were Darius Acuff Jr. with 22 pts (T-7th-most among freshmen) and Meleek Thomas with 21 pts (T-11th-most). No other school had two freshmen score 20-plus in their debuts. In fact, Arkansas was the only school to have two freshmen score at least 18.

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