The Spartans, led by 22nd-year head coach Tom Izzo, played their home games at the Breslin Center in East Lansing, Michigan and were members of the Big Ten Conference.

[8] Carter, a 6-foot 9 inch forward, averaged 8.6 points, 6 rebounds and 1.4 blocks in 24 minutes per game prior to a knee injury the previous year.

Sources: On October 3, 2016, it was announced that Ben Carter suffered a knee injury and would miss a significant amount of time.

[14] On October 19, 2016, Michigan State announced the Gavin Schilling had suffered a non-contact knee injury prior the Midnight Madness event.

[18] On October 18, 2016, Eron Harris was named to the watch list for the Jerry West Award, given annually to the top shooting guard in the nation.

[19] Two days later, Miles Bridges was named to the watch list for the Karl Malone Award, given to the top power forward in the nation.

[29] Miles Bridges made some spectacular dunks, played 37 minutes and led the Spartans in scoring with 21, but MSU struggled offensively after its good start allowing Arizona to take the lead at the half.

[29] Michigan State struggled with foul trouble as Cassisus Winston, Eron Harris, Joshua Langford, and Nairn each had three.

Harris led the Spartans with 33 points, but missed two free throws in the waning seconds to give FGCU a chance to win.

On December 1, Tom Izzo announced that Miles Bridges would miss "as least a couple of weeks" due an injured ankle.

[52] On December 10, Tennessee Tech visited Breslin to face the Spartans who were without Bridges for the third straight game, but were also without Matt McQuaid due to a head injury suffered in practice.

[57] In the final non-conference foe of the season for the Spartans, Oakland, having lost to Northeastern the night before, visited the Breslin Center on December 21.

On December 26, Tom Izzo announced that Miles Bridges was unlikely to play in the Big Ten opener versus Minnesota.

[65] Alvin Ellis III added a career-high 20 points as the Spartans and Gophers remained tied at the end of regulation.

After a week off, MSU returned to the road to face Indiana who had just learned they would be without star player OG Anunoby for the remainder of the season.

[102] But, Matt McQuaid, who'd struggled most of the year, hit three big three-pointers and MSU made 73% of its free throws to pull out the tough 70–62 win.

Nebraska, winners of three straight against the Spartans, was coming off a come-from-behind win over Purdue who had defeated MSU the previous week.

[105] Bridges, as usual, led the Spartans with 16 points as MSU's hot shooting behind the arc helped them pull away and lead by as many as 20 in the second half.

[115] Bridges led the Spartans with 15 points and Ward added 13, but MSU's defense struggled allowing Michigan to shoot 75 percent from the field in the first half.

For the first time this season, all four MSU freshmen, Bridges, Joshua Langford, Nick Ward, and Cassius Winson, each scored in double figures.

[118] The Spartan defense held the Big Ten's leading scorer, Peter Jok, to 2-for-11 shooting and limited him to 13 points.

On Valentine's Day, MSU welcomed Ohio State, who had beaten the Spartans a month earlier, to the Breslin Center.

[122] However, led by freshmen Miles Bridges' 14 points in the second half and a ferocious dunk by Joshua Langford, the Spartans were able to answer and hold on to their lead.

[126] Kenny Goins and Nick Ward, MSU's big men, fouled out early in the second half as Purdue rolled.

[140] Izzo had McQuaid travel with the ball with less than five seconds remaining so the crowd could cheer Harris on as he kissed the Spartan logo.

[145] MSU struggled inside as their lack of depth allowed Maverick Morgan to score 14 points, most over Kenny Goins.

[147] The loss knocked the Spartans back into a fifth place tie at 10–7 in conference and left the NCAA Tournament streak still in question at 18–12.

5 seed in the Big Ten tournament, MSU was set to face Penn State in the second round on March 9, 2017.

Looking to keep its streak of appearing in every Big Ten tournament quarterfinals round ever, MSU traveled to Washington, D.C. to take on the Nittany Lions.

The freshmen led the way for the Spartans as Miles Bridges, Nick Ward, Joshua Langford, and Cassius Winston combined for 57 points, 19 rebounds, nine assists, and two turnovers.