Derrick Nix can’t stop smiling.
Garrick Sherman can’t stop toying with his teammates during interviews.
Young centers unfazed by tournament lights
Freshman center Derrick Nix grabs the rebound in the second half of MSU’s first-round NCAA Tournament game Sunday against Maryland at Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena. Nix scored eight points in the Spartans’ 85-83 victory over the Terrapins.
This isn’t the demeanor expected from the MSU men’s basketball team’s two freshman centers who have never played this much basketball in their lives.
Instead of hitting a freshman wall and falling back, the two are enjoying every moment of their first NCAA Tournament and not feeling the big game pressure.
“It’s mental. If you think you can do it, then you can do it,” Nix said. “If you think you can’t, then you can’t.”
Nix said that he has practiced more this season than in his last three years of high school combined. Although he’s gained a little weight back, Nix said he’s feeling great physically.
“For some reason, I still feel the same, even though I gained a few pounds,” Nix said.
“I think it’s just doing this every day, you get used to it, no matter what size you are. It’s better for me to play at a smaller weight so I can go for longer, but right now I can’t focus on that, I have to focus on winning.
“After the season, that’s when I’m going to see what I can do dropping weight, but right now I’m just focused on winning, locking in all of the time.”
Nix played 15 minutes in Sunday’s 85-83 second-round defeat of Maryland, one minute short of his career high, scoring eight points and grabbing four rebounds. But perhaps the most intriguing stat is that Nix is 4-for-6 from the free-throw line in the NCAA Tournament, making two in each game.
Coming into the tournament, the most free throws he had made in a game was one.
“Everybody knows I can make free throws now,” Nix said with a grin. “At the beginning of the season, everybody was like, when I get on the free-throw line, ‘Oh, we don’t know if he’s going to miss it or make it.’ Now, when everybody believes in you, it makes you stronger as a person.”
Sherman hasn’t played as much as Nix — just seven minutes combined — but he has filled in when other Spartans have gotten into foul trouble.
In uncharted territory, the two freshmen, whom Izzo has referred to as “The Odd Couple,” have leaned on each other for support.
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“Me and him definitely stuck together through it and helped each other,” Sherman said. “I feel like we’ve benefited from it.”
The two will have their hands full Friday against Northern Iowa (9:37 p.m., CBS) when they match up with Panthers center Jordan Eglseder, a 7-foot, 280-pound nightmare.
“I’m just going to go at him just like I went at everybody else,” Nix said of Eglseder, the biggest player Nix said he will have ever played against.
“Nothing is personal,” he said. “I don’t know him personally, he doesn’t know me personally, so I’m just going to come out and play as hard as I can for my team.”
This moment is one Izzo always knew would come. Due to injuries, senior forward Raymar Morgan will play a lot of small forward on Friday, putting more pressure on Nix and Sherman.
“I remember our first press conference I said I was going to start one of them and I was going to try to work them in,” Izzo said. “Whether it be 10 or 12 minutes and try to build it up because there would come a time at the end where it might be important and, shazaam, here we are.”
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When asked the highlights of his first NCAA Tournament weekend, playing in a new city or Sunday’s exciting victory would figure to be at the top of Nix’s list.
But they weren’t.
“It was frustrating because I don’t like all the traveling. I get sick of that,” Nix said with a laugh. “We’re just sitting in the hotel just walking through all day. But I’m getting used to it now. I’m ready to go to (Indianapolis).”
