MARQUETTE – The Northern Michigan University men’s basketball team will face two of its biggest opponents in years during the next week starting tonight.

The Wildcats suit up in East Lansing against NMU alumnus Tom Izzo and his Michigan State Spartans at 7 p.m. today. Then on Friday, Nov. 13, NMU will take on the Michigan Wolverines in Ann Arbor.

Both are considered exhibitions and don’t count on any of the teams’ records.

NMU head coach Bill Sall says that the games have been in the works for a while and they’ll benefit the Northern program.

“I’ve talked with Coach Izzo for awhile now and tried to get a date set,” Sall said. “He was able to do that and I had contacted Coach (John) Beilein (of Michigan) a couple of times.

“It worked out well with their schedule. In fact, it’s their season opener. So it doesn’t happen often that you’re playing two high-quality programs at the start of the season and I think that’s just great for us.

“A good word of mouth also gets a good opportunity to get our guys out there against some competition and see where we’re at. It’s absolutely a great way to market the program.”

The Wildcats opened their season with an exhibition game against Finlandia on Thursday at Lakeview Memorial Gymnasium in Negaunee. NMU defeated the Lions 90-82 with freshman guard Naba Echols leading Northern with 21 points.

With two Big Ten opponents on the docket this year, fans might want this to happen again soon, and Sall would like that, too, but he’s just glad that his squad gets to play them this year.

“That’d be wonderful, but one year at a time,” he said. “The big thing is we’ve got the chance this year and we couldn’t be happier to do it.”

Tonight’s game is listed on the Michigan State University website as being televised on the Big Ten Network Plus, a paid subscription service, and also on the radio on the Spartan Sports Network. The game is also on the radio locally on NMU’s flagship station, WUPT 100.3 FM.

Ryan Stieg can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 246. His email address is rstieg@miningjournal.net.