by Michigan State Basketball will play Michigan as scheduled.
The two rivals will meet for the second time as scheduled at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Crisler Center in Ann Arbor. The game comes five days after a campus shootout in East Lansing that killed three students and wounded five others.
The Spartans’ home game against Minnesota, originally scheduled for Wednesday night at the Breslin Center, has been postponed, and a possible catch-up date has not been announced. Just over two weeks remain in the Big Ten men’s basketball regular season.
In a statement, the university said the men’s tennis team will not travel to Virginia Tech and VCU for games but will host Drake at the MSU Indoor Tennis Facility in Lansing at 10 a.m. Saturday.
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After initial disclosure, MSU also canceled two women’s tennis games scheduled for the weekend, at home against Marshall on Friday and at Columbia in New York on Sunday.
The Drake match was one of three sporting events postponed Wednesday after Monday’s shooting, along with the MSU-Minnesota game and a women’s basketball game in Purdue. A women’s gymnastics street meet in Illinois scheduled for Friday has also been postponed.
“The safety and physical and mental well-being of our students and staff is central to Michigan State athletics,” MSU athletic director Alan Haller said in a statement. “In consulting with mental health professionals and speaking to our student athletes, it became clear that a return to training and competing is a crucial part of their recovery. Student-athletes were given an active voice in deciding to return to competition, as well as autonomy to make their own individual decisions about participation.
“Athletics can be a rallying point for a community in need of healing, a fact many of our student-athletes have mentioned to me. The opportunity to represent our entire community has never felt so good. I also recognize that everyone grieves in their own way and there are some who are unwilling to return to sporting events. Those feelings are incredibly valid and as Coach (Tom) Izzo said so eloquently last night, I hope we all focus on looking out for one another.”
While MSU interim president Teresa Woodruff canceled all classes through Monday, some Spartan athletes will return to their normal competitive routines beginning Friday — many of them off-campus:
â–ª Hockey: In Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin (Friday 9pm, Saturday 8pm)
â–ª Women’s Basketball: Maryland at the Breslin Center in East Lansing (Saturday, 3:00 p.m.)
â–ª Wrestling: In Central Michigan at Mount Pleasant (Friday 7:00 p.m.)
â–ª Baseball: Season Opener Weekend in Phoenix, Arizona (6:00 p.m. Friday vs. Michigan; 3:00 p.m. Sunday vs. Fresno State; 8:00 p.m. Sunday vs. Arizona)
â–ª Softball: At the Elon Phoenix Invitational in Elon, North Carolina (2:30 p.m. Friday vs. Elon; 5 p.m. Saturday vs. Saint Francis; Sunday)
â–ª Men’s Tennis: Drake at the MSU Indoor Tennis Facility in Lansing (10 am Saturday).
â–ª Athletics: At the Silverston Invitational hosted by Michigan in Ann Arbor (4pm Friday); At the Alex Wilson Invitational hosted by Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana (10:30 a.m. Saturday)
â–ª Women’s Golf: At the Moon Golf Invitational in Melbourne, Florida (Sunday through Tuesday)
Contact Chris Solari: [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari.
