Tom Izzo has experienced some of the biggest basketball games in college history.
But one of his most memorable moments in the last 11 years happened when he took his team to the World Trade Center site in New York City for the 2001 Preseason NIT tournament.
"It ranks right up there with some of the most unbelievable things I've ever witnessed," the MSU head coach said Tuesday. "You're standing on the podium looking out. There was a lot of steel and cement still there — in some places two- to three-stories high — yet some spots, it was down to the ground."
Now Izzo has taken his team back to the Big Apple for the 2K College Sports Hoops Classic, hoping to give his players the same kind of experience he had five years ago.
"I remember watching players, people come to tears, just looking at it. They can't even imagine what it would have been like to be in there," Izzo said.
The MSU men's basketball team will be in New York City for the weekend, and even if the Spartans don't leave the venue, Izzo said seeing the city alone will be an experience for the team.
"I listen to (assistant coach) Jimmy (Boylen) telling me that the pros still love it," Izzo said. "It's right there in Times Square. It's a media mecca. It's where basketball lives. I'm going to take advantage of this opportunity."
Drew Naymick knows how crucial these early big games can be for the rest of the schedule. He said the games will be a "trial by fire" for this young team and that New York is more of a "business trip. We have to go in there and get the job done."
"It could be a turning point because this is our first real test against our top-ranked competition," he said.
In 2003, during the junior center's first season at MSU, he had to play in a big game, much like Thursday's game against Texas.
"I remember being in that situation my freshman year down in Kansas, playing in a hostile environment against a great team," he said. "Some of the guys got in foul trouble, and I had to go in there and play. We have to go out there and keep our defensive principles in mind and play hard and we'll be all right."
With that attitude, Naymick and the players could possibly ride on the momentum of a successful weekend into the next two weeks of games against Vermont and Oakland, leading up to the big game at No. 14 Boston College on Nov. 29.
"I'm not going to say whether this is going to make or break our season. That's not the case," Naymick said. "But at the same time, they're kind of pivotal."
