The Spartans finished the 2023–24 season 20–15, 10–10 in Big Ten play to finish in a three-way tie for sixth place.[1] As the No. 8 seed in the Big Ten tournament, MSU defeated Minnesota in the second round[2] before losing to top-seeded Purdue in the quarterfinals.[3] The Spartans received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament as the No. 9 seed in the West region, extending Izzo's record-setting streak to 26 straight tournament appearances.[4] They defeated Mississippi State in the first round before losing to No. 1-seeded North Carolina.[5] The Spartans were led by Tyson Walker who averaged 18.4 points per game and Malik Hall who averaged 12.7 points and 5.7 rebounds per game.
Offseason
Coaching changes
On April 3, 2024, assistant coach Mark Montgomery was named the head coach at Detroit Mercy.[6] On June 6, Tom Izzo announced that former Michigan assistant coach Saddi Washington had been named an assistant coach with the Spartans.[7] Izzo also announced that assistant coach Doug Wojcik had been promoted associate head coach.[8] Recruiting director Jon Borovich and video coordinator Austin Thornton were elevated to assistant coaches.[7]
Departures
On April 4, senior center Mady Sissoko announced he had entered the transfer portal.[9] On April 29, Sissoko announced he would transfer to California.[10] On April 18, Tom Izzo confirmed that senior point guard A. J. Hoggard would not return for his fifth year at MSU.[11] On May 18, Hoggard announced he would transfer to Vanderbilt.[12]
On April 3, 2023, four-star shooting guard Kur Teng committed to MSU for the 2024 season.[13] On April 20, four-star center Jesse McCulloch announced he too would play for MSU in 2024.[14] On October 15, four-star shooting guard Jase Richardson, son of former MSU star Jason Richardson, announced he would join the Spartans in 2024.[15] Richardson became the first son of a player who played for Izzo as head coach to commit to MSU.[16]
Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight.
In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale.
Sources:
Incoming transfers
On April 23, 2024, Omaha small forward Frankie Fidler announced he would transfer to Michigan State.[17] This marked he first time since 2021 that the Spartans had a transfer join the team – MSU being one of the few schools to not accept many transfers in the new transfer portal era.[18] Fidler averaged 20.1 points and 6.3 rebounds per game with Omaha in the 2023–24 season.[17] On May 14, Longwood center Szymon Zapal announced he will transfer to Michigan State.[19] Zapal spent three years at Utah State before playing at Longwood in the 2023–24 season.[20]
On May 1, 2024, Tom Izzo announced that the Spartans would take 10-day trip to Spain as the team had previously done in 2015. The Spartans will once again participate in the Champions Classic.[21] They will also participate in the Maui Invitational for the fifth time and the first time since 2019.[22] On May 2, the Big Ten announced the conference opponents for the 2024–25 season as the conference expands to 18 teams. Each school will play seven teams at home, seven on the road, and three teams both on the road and at home.[23] The Spartans will face Indiana, Nebraska, Oregon, Penn State, Purdue, Washington, and Wisconsin at home while facing Iowa, Maryland, Northwestern, Ohio State, Rutgers, UCLA, and USC on the road. MSU will play Illinois, Michigan, and Minnesota home and away.[24] On August 8, the school announced the team would play an exhibition game against Tom Izzo's alma mater, Northern Michigan, at the school's football stadium, the Superior Dome on October 13.[25]