FAYETTEVILLE — The Arkansas men’s basketball team will play against Michigan State on Thanksgiving at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Spartans coach Tom Izzo said Tuesday on the “Staudt on Sports” radio show in Michigan.
Izzo said the game would follow the the annual home Thanksgiving game for the Detroit Lions. The NFL has yet to announce which team the Lions will play this year on Thanksgiving, which falls on Nov. 26. The Lions traditionally play an early afternoon game that day.
Little Caesars Arena is located near the Lions' Ford Field.
“That will be a big game,” Izzo said. “It'd be a pretty big happening in Detroit. I think the tipoff is going to be right after the [NFL] game, an hour later or something.”
The Arkansas-Michigan State game in Detroit has not been officially announced. Izzo mentioned it alongside planned games against Duke in Chicago and Gonzaga in California.
“I’m trying to please our fans,” Izzo said. “I’m trying to get best teams in here. It’s not as easy as you think.”
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Arkansas and Michigan State have both played in front of large TV audiences on Thanksgiving in recent years thanks to the NFL lead-in to their games.
The Razorbacks' 80-71 loss to Duke in Chicago on Nov. 27 averaged 6.81 million viewers on CBS, which was the largest TV audience for a regular-season college basketball game in 32 years.
Michigan State's 74-58 victory over North Carolina in Fort Myers, Florida, on the same day averaged 5.49 million viewers on FOX.
In 2023, the Spartans' 74-68 loss to Arizona in Palm Springs, California, averaged 5.18 million viewers on FOX. In 2024, Arkansas lost 91-77 to Illinois in Kansas City in front of an announced audience of 5.17 million on CBS.
The 2023 Michigan State-Arizona and 2024 Arkansas-Illinois games were the most-watched regular-season college basketball games since 2008 until last year's Thanksgiving numbers exceeded those figures.
Michigan State defeated Arkansas 69-66 on Nov. 8, 2025, in East Lansing, Michigan. That game, played on a Saturday night opposite college football on other networks, drew a competitive audience of 1.67 million on FOX.
Izzo at Michigan State and Arkansas coach John Calipari are draws as two of the game's most notable figures. Both have been inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and have won 1,669 games with 2 national championships and 14 Final Four appearances between them.
Both coaches won their 60th and 61st NCAA Tournament games this year. They are tied for the fifth-most NCAA postseason victories behind Mike Krzyzewski (101), Roy Williams (79), Dean Smith (65) and Jim Boeheim (62).
The November 2025 game between Arkansas and Michigan State was supposed to be the front end of an agreement that would bring the Spartans to Fayetteville in 2026-27. It is unclear whether Michigan State would make a return visit to Arkansas in a different season if they play in Detroit later this year.
Last year's game in East Lansing was the third between the programs and the first since Izzo's first team defeated the Nolan Richardson-coached Razorbacks 75-72 at the Great Eight Tournament in the Detroit suburb of Auburn Hills in 1995-96. That game was played at The Palace of Auburn Hills, which was home to the NBA's Detroit Pistons until Little Caesars Arena opened in 2017.
Little Caesars Arena is also home to the Detroit Red Wings of the NHL.
The Spartans and Razorbacks both advanced to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 this year. Michigan State was eliminated 67-63 by Connecticut on March 27, and Arkansas lost 109-88 to Arizona on March 26.
Arizona and UConn have since advanced to the Final Four.