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Michigan State to make 5th visit to high-profile early-season tournament

Keith Farner

By Keith Farner

Published:

Tom Izzo is comfortable making an early-season trip to Maui and now the Michigan State coach is set for his 5th visit in the high-profile event.

After all, Izzo made his head coaching debut at the 1995 Maui Invitational, as his team beat Chaminade, before falling to North Carolina and Santa Clara.

Along with Michigan State, the 2024 Maui Jim Maui Invitational field includes Auburn, Colorado, Dayton, Iowa State, Memphis, North Carolina and UConn, the event announced on Tuesday. The 41st annual tournament will be held from Nov. 25-27 at the historic Lahaina Civic Center in Maui, Hawaii.

The Spartans, Dayton and UConn are each making their 5th appearance, while North Carolina holds the most previous trips at 8. Memphis will be making its sixth trip, and first since 2011.

Michigan State’s long history in Maui dates to 1991, 1995, 2005, 2010 and 2019 as the Spartans captured the championship in their inaugural trip in 1991, defeating Lamar, Rice and No. 2 Arkansas in the championship game, 86-71. Redshirt freshman Shawn Respert averaged 19.0 points, while Mark Montgomery averaged 7.3 assists.

Keith Farner

Keith Farner has written about college football for newspapers and web sites since 2005.