The 2020–21 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team represented Michigan State University in the 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Spartans were led by 26th-year head coach Tom Izzo, and played their home games at Breslin Center in East Lansing, Michigan as members of the Big Ten Conference.

The Spartans finished the regular season 15–13, 9–11 in Big Ten play to finish in a tie for eighth place. The 9–11 finish marked the first time the Spartans had finished with a record under .500 in conference play under Izzo. As the No. 9 seed in the Big Ten tournament, they lost to No. 8-seeded Maryland, marking the first time the Spartans did not play in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament in the tournament's history. The Spartans received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament as the No. 11 seed in the East region. The selection marked the school's 23rd straight tournament appearance. In their First Four matchup, they were defeated by UCLA.

With Duke failing to make the NCAA tournament, Izzo took over the streak for the longest consecutive appearances in the tournament by a coach, with 23.

Previous season The Spartans finished the 2019–20 season 22–9, 14–6 in Big Ten play to earn a share of their third straight Big Ten regular season championship. Their season ended following the cancellation of postseason tournaments due to the coronavirus pandemic. MSU was led by Cassius Winston, who averaged 18.6 points and 5.9 assists per game, and Xavier Tillman, who averaged 13.7 points and 10.3 rebounds per game.

COVID-19 issues On November 9, it was announced that Tom Izzo had tested positive for COVID-19 and would quarantine for 14 days. He returned to the team on November 23.

On January 13, 2021, the school announced that Izzo's son, walk-on Stephen Izzo, had tested positive for the virus. Freshman center Mady Sissoko also tested positive. Both players were required to quarantine and sit out for 17 days. That same day, a third player for Michigan State tested positive, leading to the postponement of the Iowa game on January 14. The next day, the school postponed its January 17 game against Indiana. On January 18, the school announced that three more members of the MSU program, including walk-on Davis Smith, had tested positive the day before, and that the game against Illinois on January 23 would also be postponed.

Shortly before returning to play on January 28, the school announced that Gabe Brown and assistant coach Dane Fife had tested positive and would miss further time due to COVID-19 protocols.

Offseason

Departures MSU lost consensus All-American point guard and all-time Big Ten leader in assists, Cassius Winston, to graduation. He scored 1,969 points and dished out 890 assists in his four-year career at MSU. He was picked with the 53rd overall pick in the NBA draft by the Oklahoma City Thunder. He was then traded to the Washington Wizards.

Reserve guard Kyle Ahrens and forward Conner George also graduated from MSU.

Junior forward Xavier Tillman announced on March 24, 2020, that he would explore the NBA draft process, but would not sign with an agent, leaving the possibility he could return to play in the 2020–21 season. On August 2, he announced he would stay in the NBA draft, thereby ending his collegiate career. Tillman was selected with the 35th overall pick in the NBA draft by the Sacramento Kings. He was then traded to the Memphis Grizzlies.

Sophomore guard Aaron Henry announced he would enter the NBA draft, but would also leave open the ability to return to school. On August 2, he announced he was withdrawing from the NBA draft and would return to Michigan State.

Walk-on red-shirt junior center Braden Burke entered his name in the transfer portal on April 10, and announced he was transferring to Central Michigan on April 25.

Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Notes0G/F6'6"210RS SRVersailles, OHGraduated40C7'0"245RS JRStevensville, MITransferred to Central Michigan41G6'4"205RS SROkemos, MIGraduated23F6'8"245JRGrand Rapids, MINBA draft5G6'1"185SRDetroit, MIGraduated/NBA draft

Recruiting classes

2020 recruiting class On April 2, 2019, days after the Spartans advanced to the Final Four, four-start point guard Jalen Terry announced he would sign to play with the Spartans in 2020. However, on October 15, he announced he would reopen his recruiting, and decommitted from MSU. On September 9, four-star center Mady Sissoko committed to MSU. On October 6, four-star point guard A. J. Hoggard announced he intended to play with MSU in 2020.

Incoming transfers On May 28, 2019, Marquette forward Joey Hauser announced he would transfer to MSU. Due to NCAA transfer rules, he had to sit out the 2019–20 season, but would have at least two years of eligibility left beginning in the 2020–21 season.

Early offseason rankings In April 2020, most early pollsters listed Michigan State as a preseason top-15 team for the 2020–21 season. These included ESPN (No. 8), Sports Illustrated (No. 11), Yahoo! Sports (No. 13), USA Today (No. 19), NBC Sports (No. 5), and CBS Sports (No. 12).

Preseason

Preseason rankings MSU was ranked No. 13 in the preseason AP Poll. The Spartans were ranked 12th in the preseason Coaches Poll.

Preseason Big Ten polls Aaron Henry was the lone Spartan representative on the preseason Big Ten poll chosen by a panel of conference media members.

CBS Sports picked MSU to finish fourth in the conference.

Prior to the start of the season, unofficial awards and a poll were chosen by a panel of 28 writers, two for each team in the conference. Michigan State was picked to finish in fourth.

Injuries On November 9, 2020, Tom Izzo announced that freshman AJ Hoggard underwent knee surgery, but was not expected to miss any games.

Regular season

Non-conference games

Eastern Michigan MSU began their 2020–21 season on November 25 at home in front of no fans at the Breslin Center against Eastern Michigan. Foster Loyer got the start for the Spartans and scored a career-high 20 points on six three-pointers. The Eagles kept it close throughout the first half, but the Spartans pulled away for a 16-point advantage at half time. The Eagles never threatened again, as MSU held on for the 83–67 win. Joey Hauser scored 15 points and grabbed nine rebounds. Joshua Langford, in his first gameplay in almost two years, added 10 points on two of seven shooting from three. The win gave the Spartans a 1–0 record to begin the season.

Notre Dame Two days after Thanksgiving, MSU welcomed Notre Dame to Breslin. In a similar story to the EMU game, Notre Dame kept the game close before MSU closed the first half on a 17–0 run to take a 13-point halftime lead. MSU kept up the strong defense in the second half, scoring the first nine points in the half to push the lead to 22 points over the Fighting Irish. Aaron Henry led the Spartans with 14 points and added three assists. Joey Hauser notched 16 rebounds and 10 points as MSU pushed the lead to nearly 30 before relaxing and substituting heavily. Rocket Watts also played well, scoring 13 points and handing out a game-high six assists as the Spartans won 80–70. The win pushed MSU to 2–0 on the young season.

Duke As part of the re-worked Champions Classic, MSU traveled to Duke to face the Blue Devils on December 1. Once again, MSU trailed early falling behind by 10 points in the first 10 minutes. However, the Spartans again turned up the defensive pressure and the offense came alive, led by Julius Marble who scored a career-high 12 points in 12 minutes of action. The Spartans went to the half leading by four and pushed the lead to as many as 16 in the second half as Aaron Henry scored 14 points and notched five assists while Rocket Watts scored 20. Malik Hall and Joey Hauser each had a double-double as the Spartans won easily 75–69. The win marked MSU's first-ever victory at Cameron Indoor Stadium and was only the third time an Izzo-led squad defeated Duke. The win moved MSU to 3–0 on the season.

Detroit Mercy The Spartans returned home to play Detroit Mercy for the first time since 1997 on December 4. Despite being a heavy favorite, the Spartans could never pull away from the Titans and the game was tied at 35 at the half. Rocket Watts took over in the second half, scoring a team-high 23, many of which came late in the game as the Spartans were able to hold off Detroit Mercy for the 83–76 win. Gabe Brown started in the place of Josh Langford who sat out the game due to a sore knee which Tom Izzo said was a mere precaution. Brown scored 16 points while Aaron Henry added 12 points. The win moved MSU to 4–0 on the season.

Western Michigan Two days later, Western Michigan came to Breslin for their Second game of the season after spending a week off due to COVID-19 cancellations. The Broncos also gave the Spartans hard time, keeping the game within 10 points until less than 10 minutes remained. Joey Hauser notched a career-high 24 points on six of 10 shooting from three. Gabe Brown again got the start, this time starting in place of Aaron Henry who had arrived late to a film session earlier. The Spartans were finally able to take control of the game in the final 10 minutes, winning by 18, 79–61. The win moved the Spartans to 5–0 on the season.

Oakland After traveling to Virginia for a game that was postponed the night before it was scheduled to take place, the Spartans returned home without playing a game. On December 13, the No. 4-ranked Spartans returned to play against Oakland whom the Spartans were 18–0 all-time against. The Spartans started well, taking an early lead, but could not put much distance between themselves and the Golden Grizzlies. MSU led by only four at the half and struggled defensively throughout, eventually allowing Oakland to score 91 points. MSU did pull away early in the second half with a 13–0 run and outscored Oakland by 14 in the half. Led by Gabe Brown's career-high 20 points, Aaron Henry added 15 points while seven Spartans scored in double figures. The 109–91 win moved MSU to 6–0 on the season.

Conference games

Northwestern After a week off for finals, the Spartans opened Big Ten play with a trip to Northwestern. MSU, as it had done the majority of the season, quickly fell behind to the Wildcats. Having last lost to Northwestern in 2012, the Spartans trailed by 13 at the half. MSU's defense struggled mightily, allowing Northwestern to shoot 52.9% from the field and 47.6% from three. Meanwhile, the Spartan offense was even worse. MSU made only eight of 31 three-point attempts and shot under 39% from the field in the game. Northwestern pushed their lead to as many as 21 in the second half and answered every push MSU made, keeping MSU trailing by double digits through most of the second half. Aaron Henry led the Spartans with 11 points while Gabe Brown added 10. However, Rocket Watts and Joey Hauser could only manage five points each. As a result, MSU lost 79–65, marking their first loss on the season and dropping them to 6–1 and 0–1 in conference play. Tom Izzo commented, "That was one of the more inept performances of my 26 years."

Wisconsin After dropping to No. 12 in the polls, the Spartans returned home to faced No. 9-ranked Wisconsin. The game stayed close throughout the first half as both offenses played well, scoring 42 points each in the first half. In the second half, the Spartans took a nine-point lead and looked to pull away, but the Badgers quickly rallied. MSU made eight of 11 three-pointers in the game including three for Joey Hauser, but their defense continued to struggle. MSU allowed the Badgers to shoot over 50% from the field as Wisconsin retook the lead and pulled away for a nine-point victory, 85–76. Hauser scored 27 points for MSU while Henry scored 12, but no other Spartan managed more than eight points in the second straight loss. The loss moved the Spartans to 6–2 on the season and 0–2 in conference play.

Minnesota