MSU basketball gets UCLA in first round of Vegas Invitational

East Lansing — Michigan State’s 2018-19 basketball schedule is starting to come together as the matchups for the Las Vegas Invitational were released on Thursday.

Michigan State will take on UCLA at 10 p.m. on Nov. 22 from Orleans Arena in the second game of the 18th annual event. North Carolina and Texas will tip off at 7:30 p.m. in the first game. The winners will square off at 6:30 p.m. on Nov. 23, following the third-place game that starts at 4 p.m.

This is the first time Michigan State is playing in the Las Vegas Invitational. It will be the ninth all-time meeting with UCLA. The meeting between was a 78-76 UCLA victory in the first round of the 2011 NCAA Tournament in Tampa, Fla.

While Michigan State’s full schedule has not been released, several non-conference games are already official. The Spartans will take on Kansas in the Champions Classic Nov. 6 from Indianapolis, will travel to Louisville for the ACC/Big Ten Challenge on Nov. 27 and head to Florida on Dec. 8. They also have home games with Green Bay (Dec. 16), Oakland (Dec. 21) and Northern Illinois (Dec. 29).

mcharboneau@detroitnews.com

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