After an MSU men’s basketball practice in mid-February, senior guard Denzel Valentine, like he so often does, found himself surrounded by a slew of the local media.

At some point during the post-practice interviews, Valentine was asked about the improved play this season of MSU senior forward Matt Costello.

“When I throw the ball in it’s pretty much an automatic bucket, and I think he’s one of the best big men in the country,” Valentine said. “Every so often, he comes to me in the game and says, ‘Zel give me the ball’ and I’m fully confident. ... I know if I throw it in there, it’s going to be a bucket, foul or worse comes to worse, he might miss, but he’s shooting such a high field-goal percentage, it’s almost a bucket every time.”

Costello was seated only a few seats away from Valentine, and after his own media crowd dispersed he caught wind of what Valentine was saying about him. So being the goofy guy he is, Costello crawled across the row of seats and mauled Valentine — with a hug.

“You’re so nice,” Costello said. “I love you.”

The media chuckled. Valentine and Costello smiled, while Valentine pushed his teammate off of him.

“Get off of me, bro,” Valentine said. “Oh man. He stinks too.”

It’s been quite the four years for these two MSU seniors. They came to MSU in the fall of 2012 as the two best high school players from the state — Costello, the 2012 Hal Schram Mr. Basketball from Bay City Western High School and Valentine, the two-time state champion from Lansing J.W. Sexton High School.

And in those four years, they’ve grown into one of the best and most accomplished senior duos in the country. Their accolades include 106 victories, a Big Ten tournament championship and Sweet Sixteen, Elite Eight and Final Four runs in the NCAA Tournament.

Costello and Valentine will tell anybody that all their past runs have been nice, but this season has been about more than that. This is the season they will cement their legacies at MSU and make one last run at a national title ­— something MSU head basketball coach Tom Izzo said the two have maybe worked harder at than any other guys he’s ever coached.

“(Costello) and Denzel are kind of a perfect pair,” Izzo said. “They really are best friends. They care about each other. They are kind of opposite ends of the spectrum in some ways. But I’ve never seen two guys start banding together ... to try to accomplish something.”

Perhaps an even greater part of the Costello-Valentine friendship is the level to which they support each other. Each of them is the other’s biggest fan.

When Costello gave a spirited performance on a hobbled ankle during a victory over Maryland, Valentine jumped on Costello’s back for a piggy back ride as the two of them strolled around Breslin Center, high-fiving the Izzone.

Costello is having a career year. He’s averaging a career-high 10.3 points and 8.1 rebounds per game. In addition to his stats, time and time again Costello’s goofy celebrations following big plays have gone viral across the Internet. To Valentine, he knows the amount of work Costello has put in, and loves seeing that side of him come out.

“I like when he plays like that,” Valentine said. “He’s an emotional guy. Sometimes he needs to just let it out. He’s playing well right now, and why not let it out and have fun playing? This could be his last year or our last year, doesn’t matter, but at the end of the day you want to have fun doing what you love to do and I think he’s having fun and he’s bringing joy to us.”

Valentine is really having a season for the ages — as of Tuesday’s game against Ohio State University, he’s averaging 19.6 points, 7.6 rebounds and 7.3 assists per game. Costello said it goes to show how much hard work can pay off.

“It’s been incredible,” Costello said. “Nobody expected anything from him besides a solid role player by his third, fourth year at Michigan State. He’s national player of the year, in my mind, right now. And, hopefully, in all yours, too. It’s incredible to see.”

Costello is referring to the sports world’s consensus that Valentine has been outstanding enough this season to earn a player of the year award.

“If he gets that, I think I would cry for him,” Costello said.

It goes beyond just that, though.

“When you spend enough time with somebody, you get to know the ins and outs of them and you feel super close to them,” Costello said. “I’m honored to have come with him and learned so much from him and, hopefully, taught him a couple things along the way.”

For both Costello and Valentine, while their time at MSU may be coming to an end, they’ve come so far in the past four seasons, from sparingly used freshmen projects to senior leaders having career years for the No. 6 team in the nation.

“This is the kind of year we dreamed of,” Costello said after a victory against Indiana earlier this year. “We’ve put our time in here, into this program, both of us. It just goes to show if you do the right thing long enough, it’ll work out for you.”