MADISON SQUARE GARDEN
STARTING
STRONG
The Cats look to avenge last year’s
disasterous start at the Champions
Classic, but Tom Izzo and the top
ranked Spartans stand in the way
By MATTHEW SPARKS / For Th e Daily Independent
Michigan State
K
head coach Tom
Izzo.
entucky will feast on plenty of home cooking to
start the 2019-20 campaign. But fi nding the right
ingredients needed to get back to the Final Four
in Atlanta will be a daunting task as the Wildcats will
have to navigate several seasoned teams along the way.
The start of the season is a mere fi ve days into the
month of November and Kentucky wastes no time
playing a quality opponent. The Wildcats open with the
Champions Classic on Nov. 5. They will meet Michi-
gan State at the World’s Most Famous Arena, Madison
Square Garden.
Kentucky hopes for a better result after Duke put
118 points on the scoreboard and it left Chicago with a
38 | UK Basketball Preview 2019/2020
34-point defeat last year. The Wildcats last met the Spar-
tans at the same venue in 2016 and holds a 13-11 against
their adversaries from East Lansing.
Michigan State is ranked No. 1 in many preseason
publications and features a deep team after reaching the
Final Four last season. The team is led by the talented
backcourt of Cassius Winston and Joshua Langford
along with forward Aaron Henry.
Kentucky will play the next eight games on the hal-
lowed Rupp Arena hardwood and it will not face a true
road game until Jan. 7.
Eastern Kentucky will travel the short distance up
Interstate 75 to face the Wildcats on Nov. 8. That pre-
cedes encounters with Evansville, Utah Valley, Mount
St. Mary’s (the small college in Emmitsburg, Maryland,