MSU men’s basketball head coach Tom Izzo said the travel of their looming schedule will be difficult, but it rears a plethora of positives.
Starting the season Friday against the No. 10 Arizona Wildcats in Honolulu, Hawaii, the Spartans will have to travel back across the country to New York City to play against the No. 2 Kentucky Wildcats just four days later. Travel will continue as the team will play in the Bahamas later in November.
Out of the 13,600 miles, the team will have a lot of flight time to bond and get to know each other, Izzo said.
“I love the chemistry of the team, I love the togetherness,” Izzo said. “It has been a little problem keeping everybody focused and I say that because that’s a young guy’s problem most of the time. The old guys are usually going to help. What we’re missing most right now is (Matt) Costello, Colby (Wollenman), Bryn (Forbes) and Denzel (Valentine) were fourth and fifth-year guys that had been through the wars that really helped the younger kids.”
With the fresh new faces of guard Cassius Winston, forward Miles Bridges, forward Nick Ward and guard Joshua Langford, Izzo said it will be on guard Lourawls “Tum Tum” Nairn Jr. to help pilot the team.
“Tum is kind of on an island,” Izzo said. “He’s got Eron (Harris), who’s trying to find himself, he’s got Alvin (Ellis), who didn’t play much, and he’s got Gavin (Schilling), that’s not there right now. That’s his senior class. His junior class is more or less him, so he’s got a lot on his plate, too.”
While the freshmen will gain new experiences quickly, Izzo said he is impressed with their composure and eagerness.
“Miles (Bridges) is one of the best players I’ve had that has humility and cares about the other guys on the team, and I think Tum does a lot for that,” Izzo said. “There will be a million distractions, and I think young kids have to learn to deal with distractions more than anything.”
Although the travel and competition will be at its peak, Izzo said the experiences they gain early will help carry them throughout the season.
“You are going to be able to look at things and say, `We haven’t had tougher travel. Nobody has played against better teams.’’” Izzo said. “If you lose, you need to make sure the ship doesn’t go under.”
The tests during the stretch will give room for new leaders to form. Besides No. 2 Kentucky, the Spartans will face No. 1 Duke as well.
“We don’t have that (leadership) luxury this year, we have Tum and a bunch of guys that are all trying to learn,” Izzo said. “But we have a lot of guys that want to learn, and I think that is a big key. I’m concerned about the travel, but can’t do anything about it so I’m not going to lose sleep over it.”
Though the main focus is on the game against Arizona, the team will get to partake in a few events around the island, Izzo said.
“We are going to get some camaraderie,” Izzo said. “It’s going to be a great memory-making experience for us, both on the base, the USS Arizona and the (Pearl Harbor) Memorial, just learning how to stay focused when there is a lot of things going around with us on this trip.”
