Saturday’s scheduled men’s basketball game between No. 10 Michigan State (13-2) and Michigan (7-6) has been postponed due to COVID-19 issues within the Wolverines’ program.

It is the first postponed conference game this season within the Big Ten amongst two conference teams set to play each other. The game will be rescheduled if at all possible in accordance with the Big Ten revised COVID-19 guidelines that were updated on Dec. 28, 2021.

Saturday’s game at Michigan has been postponed due to COVID-19 protocols within the Wolverines program. The programs will coordinate with the Big Ten Conference office to reschedule the game. https://t.co/DthoWPBmpy

— Michigan State Men’s Basketball (@MSU_Basketball) January 8, 2022

The Spartans had already traveled to Ann Arbor on Friday afternoon and conducted a shoot-around session at the Crisler Center on Friday evening. If the game cannot be rescheduled, it will be declared a “no contest.”

The Wolverines, who were down forwards Brandon Johns Jr., Jaron Faulds and Terrance Williams, as well as guard Frankie Collins due to COVID-19 in Tuesday’s 75-67 road loss to Rutgers, fell below the Big Ten requirement of having at least seven healthy scholarship players to play after Friday night testing, according to the University.

It is the first postponed game that the Spartans have faced this season and the second for Michigan; the Wolverines were forced to cancel their scheduled matchup with Purdue-Fort Wayne on Dec. 21 after the Mastodons had COVID-19 issues. 

Michigan’s next scheduled game is next Tuesday at No. 3 Purdue.

MSU will now turn its attention to Minnesota, who it will host next Wednesday at 7 p.m. The Spartans previously knocked off the Golden Gophers 75-67 in Minneapolis on Dec. 8.