MAUI, Hawaii — Penny Hardaway and his Memphis basketball team will face Michigan State, with a shot at the Maui Invitational title game on the line.
The Tigers (5-0) and Spartans (5-1) will meet Tuesday (5 p.m. CT, ESPN) at the Lahaina Civic Center. Memphis advanced Monday with a 99-97 upset win in overtime over No. 2 UConn, while Tom Izzo’s Michigan State handled Colorado 72-56.
It will be the third all-time meeting between Memphis and Michigan State. The first two matchups came in the NCAA Tournament. The Tigers won in 2008, while the Spartans won in 2013.
“We’ve got our work cut out for us tomorrow,” Izzo said.
Following Monday’s win over UConn, Hardaway gave credit to the players for realizing the importance of games like these.
“We’re riding them really tough because we have to get it right right now,” he said. “We don’t have the time to wait until conference starts because we have to do all our heavy lifting early and I put a ton of pressure on them to be better than where they should be quite now because they’re still getting acclimated and getting to know each other.”
Watch Memphis basketball vs Michigan State live on ESPN+ (subscribe today)
This section will be updated when the game begins.
TV channel: ESPN (Dan Shulman, play-by-play; Jay Bilas, color analyst)
Streaming: ESPN+
Radio: 98.9-FM The Roar (Dave Woloshin, play-by-play; Matt Dillon, color analyst)
Memphis vs. Michigan State will be live streamed on ESPN+.
The Tigers will have had slightly more rest than the Spartans at tipoff Tuesday. But Penny Hardaway’s team needed overtime to beat No. 2 UConn, while Michigan State had a relatively low-stress win over Colorado. Still, who can bet against Memphis right now? The Tigers will advance to the Maui Invitational championship.
Game lines and odds from BetMGM as of Tuesday:
Tigers guard Tyrese Hunter has been dealing with a knee injury. It has not kept him from playing, but there have been days-long breaks between every game until now. When asked Monday how his knee was doing after the game, Hunter said: “Just working with the training staff.”
Tipoff times not yet set (unless otherwise noted)
All times central
Reach sports writer Jason Munz at jason.munz@commercialappeal.com or follow him @munzly on X, the social media app formerly known as Twitter.
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