The Toledo Rockets get their biggest stage of the young season tonight — a road trip to East Lansing to face the No. 6 team in the country, live on national television.

Toledo visits Michigan State tonight, Thursday, Nov. 5, at 8 p.m. ET at the Breslin Center. The game airs on NBCSN and streams on Peacock (also available on Fubo). It is the highest-ranked opponent the Rockets have faced since meeting No. 2 Kansas in 2017.

The Rockets (0-1) opened the season Monday with a heartbreaker, falling 71-70 at Arkansas State. Michigan State (1-0) opened with a 96-59 rout of Quinnipiac. The Spartans are roughly 26-point favorites, and they won last season’s meeting 92-69.

So why watch? Because this is exactly the kind of game that defines a season. Toledo has talked about being a MAC contender with NCAA Tournament ambitions, and nothing measures a team faster than 40 minutes against a top-10 program in one of college basketball’s loudest buildings. A competitive night — let alone a stunner — would announce the Rockets nationally. A blowout loss still tells head coach Tod Kowalczyk plenty about where his team stands before conference play.

How to watch: tipoff is 8 p.m. ET on NBCSN, streaming on Peacock. NBCSN is available through Xfinity, YouTube TV and Fubo; if you don’t get NBCSN through your provider, Peacock is the simplest way in.

The Rockets will need their best shooting night of the young season and a clean game on the glass to hang with a Spartan team that bullied Quinnipiac in the opener. Either way, Toledo basketball is on the national stage tonight — and for a program chasing March, that’s the whole point.

Breslin Center — via Wikimedia Commons

Sources: NBC Sports | Detroit Free Press