MARQUETTE, Mich. - The Superior Dome Showdown presented by Acrisure between the Michigan State Spartans and the Northern Michigan Wildcats is set for Sunday, October 13 at 1 p.m. in the Superior Dome. 

This historic, one-time event, will see an expected capacity of over 11,000, which would make it one of the largest attended sporting events in the history of the Upper Peninsula. 

The game will be televised on Big Ten Network, with announcing icons Bill Raftery and Lisa Byington on the call. 


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Sunday, October 13 - vs. Michigan State (Superior Dome) at 1 p.m.
Watch on Big Ten Network  |  Live Stats  |  Listen  |  Game Notes


A Word from Matt Majkrzak
"One of the benefits of having a mature group that's been through some things is to not downplay this because it's so awesome…but the NCAA Tournament is really nerve-wracking with a lot of pressure and expectations. Let's really enjoy the weekend, let's have as much fun as possible, but let's have as much fun as possible, and for the two and a half hours of gameday, let's really lock in and try to play basketball at the highest level that we possibly can."



Izzo's Return to NMU
This is the first visit for 30th-year Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo to his alma mater to coach a game. Izzo was a 1977 graduate of Northern Michigan. 

Izzo has coached against his alma mater six times in preseason exhibition games, most recently on Oct. 30, 2018, a 93-47 win for MSU at the Breslin Center.

The Wildcats and Spartans have played eight times in regular season play, with MSU leading the all-time series, 7-1. The last two times the teams played, in 1974 and 1975, Northern Michigan's starting lineup included a guard from Iron Mountain in the Upper Peninsula, Tom Izzo.

On Dec. 16, 1975 at Jenison Field House, the Spartans posted an 81-65 win over the Wildcats, with Izzo playing 32 minutes and scoring 9 points, with 2 assists, 1 rebound, 1 block, and 1 steal. The last time the Spartans visited Northern Michigan was on Dec. 16, 1974. MSU posted a 91-59 win, with Izzo playing 26 minutes, handing out a team-high 6 assists and grabbing 5 rebounds.


Retiring #10
Northern Michigan has retired Tom Izzo's #10 Wildcat jersey. Izzo's jersey joins Ted Rose and Gene Summers in the rafters of Vandament Arena. 

Known as the best ball-handling guard in the country, Izzo was a three-year starter for NMU from 1974-76. Playing under Glenn Brown, who won 300 games in 18 seasons at the helm of the program, Izzo was a two-time team captain and helped lead the Wildcats to a 57-47 record throughout his career.

The Iron Mountain, Michigan native set two career-highs during his junior year in 1976. He scored 16 points at UW-Green Bay and dished out 14 assists in a clash with Hillsdale, a mark that is currently tied for 5th best in program history.  

Izzo's senior campaign was his best donning the Green and Gold threads, as he was named a National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Third Team All-American, All-GLIAC Second Team member, and team MVP. He logged over 930 minutes, a single-season NMU record that held for over 10 years.

His storied collegiate coaching career began at Northern, where he served as an assistant under Brown from 1979-83 before joining Michigan State as a part-time assistant in 1983. 

Tom was inducted into the Northern Michigan Sports Hall of Fame in 1990.

 
Production Notes
The Superior Dome Showdown will be televised on Big Ten Network, with announcing icons Bill Raftery and Lisa Byington on the call.

Raftery has served as an analyst and color commentator for CBS Sports' college basketball coverage since 1983. 

His trademark quotes include:

"Onions!" (when a shot is made late in a close game)
"Send it in big fella!" (when a post player makes a slam dunk)
"With a little kiss!" (when a shot banks in, usually in a nonstandard way)
"A little nickel-dimer!" (when a soft foul is called)

A Portage, Michigan native, Byington has broadcast games for Fox Sports, FS1, Big Ten Network, CBS, Turner Sports, Pac-12 Network, ESPN, and the SEC Network.

In 2017, Byington became the first female play-by-play to call a college football game for the Big Ten Network. In 2021, she joined the Milwaukee Bucks, becoming the first woman play-by-play announcer for a professional men's team.


Back-to-Back NCAA Tournament Appearances
The Wildcats have earned a spot in back-to-back NCAA Tournaments and will look to make it three straight in 2024-25. The last two seasons have been two of the best in program history. In 2022-23, Northern captured its first GLIAC Tournament title since 2000 with a 79-66 triumph over rival Michigan Tech in the title game. The Wildcats went 25-8 that year, the most wins in program history, and made it to the Round of 32. 

Last year, the Green and Gold followed it up with a 22-11 season that saw them win the GLIAC regular season title for the first time since the 1992-93 season with a regular season conference record of 14-4. 


Head Coach Matt Majkrzak
Matt Majkrzak is the reigning GLIAC Coach of the Year. In five seasons, NMU went 86-56 (.606) including a 47-19 (.712) mark over the last two. 

Last year, Majkrzak and the Wildcats hosted the GLIAC Tournament for the first time since 1992-93. He is only the second leader of the program to be named conference Coach of the Year, joining Dean Ellis in 1993. 

For a team that dealt with injuries all season long, Majkrzak continued to make it work for the Green and Gold, plugging and playing different lineups with seemingly no interruptions. The Wildcats also tied the longest winning streak in program history last year at 13 games, originally set in 1984-85. 


Twice is Nice
Redshirt junior Dylan Kuehl has been a key player for Northern's recent success. He was named to the All-GLIAC First Team and All-Defensive Team in each of his two seasons, as well as earning a spot on the NABC All-District Second Team last year.

In his career, Kuehl is averaging 14.3 points/game. He is closing in on the 1,000 career point milestone with 929 points. The Iron Ridge, Wisconsin native is also averaging 6.4 rebounds, 1.8 assists, and 1.1 blocks over his two seasons while shooting 52.2% from the floor. Last year, he finished first in the GLIAC with 161 made field goals and fourth on the glass with 163 total rebounds.


In the Backcourt
NMU added a quartet of guards in Julien Smith (Missouri S&T), Gerald Gittens (Mary), Derek Merwick (Midland), and Biggie Luster (Clarke) in the transfer portal. Smith has scored 1,623 career points (15.9 ppg) over his four seasons at Missouri S&T while Gittens averaged 13.8 ppg last year at the University of Mary.

In the backcourt, Smith and Gittens will slot in with senior Brian Parzych, who has averaged 10.6 points/game and over the last two seasons and 3 assists/game over his career, as the three guards that are expected to lead the way in the backcourt. 


About the Spartans
MSU finished the 2023-24 season with a 20-15 overall record, including a 10-10 mark in the Big Ten Conference to finish tied for 6th in the league. The Spartans were selected for the NCAA Tournament for the 26th-straight season, the longest streak in Big Ten Conference history, the third-longest in NCAA history and officially recognized by the NCAA as the longest active streak. MSU beat Mississippi State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament before falling to North Carolina in the second round.

The Spartans will replace four starters who accounted for 61.7 percent of the team's scoring last year, 48.6 percent of the team's rebounds and 64.2 percent of the team's assists, led by guard Tyson Walker (All-Big Ten Second Team).

MSU returns three players who started games last year, led by senior guard Jaden Akins, who finished fourth on the team in scoring with 10.4 points per game while adding 3.9 rebounds, 1.2 assists and tying for the team lead in 3-pointers made (64). He was the only player to start all 35 games last year. Michigan State also returns seven letterwinners, and welcomes five newcomers, two transfers and three freshmen.

Junior guard Tre Holloman emerged as a key player in the rotation as a sophomore, averaging 19.7 minutes per game while contributing 5.7 ppg, finishing second on the team with 2.4 apg and leading the team in 3-point field goal percentage (42.5%). Another junior, center Carson Cooper, started the final four games and averaged 3.4 points and 4.4 rebounds overall.

MSU welcomes in a pair of transfers in senior forward Frankie Fidler (Omaha) and senior center Szymon Zapala (Longwood/Utah State).

Fidler, a 6-7, 217-pound forward, spent three years at Omaha was named First Team All-Summit Conference in 2023-24 after averaging 20.1 points per game, 6.3 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game. Fidler started all 33 games for the Mavericks, connecting on 45.2 percent of his field goals, 35.6 percent of his 3-point attempts and a team-best 85.4 percent of his free throws (216-of-253).

Zapala comes to Michigan State after one season at Longwood University in Virginia, helping guide the team to a 21-14 record as the Lancers won the Big South Championship and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. A 7-0, 240-pound center who hails from Poland, Zapala averaged 9.8 points and 5.6 rebounds per game in 16.7 minutes, connecting on 62.9 percent of his shots from the floor and starting in 23 of 35 games.

The Spartans' recruiting class has been recognized nationally as one of the top-20 in the country (No. 16 by 247 Sports and No. 19 by ON3 Sports) and includes guards Jase Richardson and Kur Teng, along with forward Jesse McCulloch.

More on Izzo
Tom Izzo enters his 30th season at the helm of the program he has been with for more than 40 years, including his time as an assistant coach. He won his 700th career game last season, becoming the first Big Ten Conference head coach to win 700 games at the same school and the 38th Division I coach to reach 700 career wins.

In addition to leading the Spartans to a record 26-straight NCAA Tournament appearances, Izzo has guided MSU to eight Final Four appearances, 10 Big Ten regular season championships and six Big Ten Tournament titles.