REPORT: MSU Basketball to play at Duke in Champions Classic

For the first time ever, the Champions Classic will take place in two different venues, with one of the games being played on a team’s home floor. And Spartan fans aren’t going to be happy about it.

Michigan State will head to Cameron Indoor Stadium to battle the Duke Blue Devils as part of this year’s Champions Classic, Matt Norlander of CBS Sports reported on Friday. The game will take place on Dec. 1, and as I said before, will be the first true road game to take place in this annual event.

Kansas and Kentucky will square off at a neutral site (Indianapolis) as the second game of this year’s Champions Classic. Tip-off times haven’t been determined yet, according to Norlander.

News: Duke vs. Michigan State’s Champions Classic game will be held at Cameron Indoor Stadium this year, on Dec. 1, source confirms to @CBSSports. @AdamZagoria had it first. Kansas vs. Kentucky is going to be in Indianapolis. Tip-off times not yet decided.

— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) November 6, 2020

Norlander followed up his first tweet by stating there will be no fans in attendance at Cameron, and that the decision to not host both games in Indy was because of the different COVID protocols in place between the Big Ten/ACC and Big 12/SEC.

Duke will have no fans for this game. "This is done," source says. The reason the Champions Classic is not going to be in the same building is due to differing COVID-19 protocols between Big 12/SEC and ACC/Big Ten. This makes it a lot easier and doesn't threaten more messiness.

— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) November 6, 2020

Last week, we found out about a handful of MSU basketball match-ups, including a potential season-opening tilt against Notre Dame and the ACC-Big Ten Challenge against Virginia. We are still waiting on the rest of the Spartans’ schedule, but here’s what we know as of right now:

• Nov. 28 – Notre Dame (home non-conference game)
• Dec. 1 – at Duke (part of Champions Classic)
• Dec. 9 – at Virginia (part of ACC-Big Ten Challenge)

Hopefully, we will have the rest of the Spartans’ schedule soon but for now, it appears MSU will have at least three tough non-conference match-ups.