Although stats were the furthest thing from anyone’s mind.

“My life’s complete now,” Cleaves said. “I came here, I won, I was able to win a national championship, (and) I shared the same floor with Steve Smith, Terry Donnelly, Kevin Willis, all the greats.”

There were a number of highlights for the crowd of 6,500 fans, from former player and current assistant coach Dwyane Stephens banking two 3-pointers in off the backboard, to Charlie Bell wincing with a slight smile as he held his back after a breakaway dunk, to Tim Bograkos Sr. and Jr. taking the floor together for the first time.

For Travis Walton, it was being able to open the game by guarding Cleaves, the man he believes to be MSU’s ultimate captain.

“Matteen is, to me, the greatest leader to come to Michigan State,” Walton said. “So for me to be on the same court with him, with some referees and actually really (play) for the crowd — it’s a blessing.”

MSU football coach Mark Dantonio, who coached the White team with former women’s basketball player Lauren Aitch, even struggled to make sure he only had five players on the court at a time, but said he was happy to retire from his basketball coaching career undefeated, “going out on top.”

“Did you see us have the weave out there? That was my move,” Dantonio joked. “When I walked out here and I saw these guys and I listened to them getting announced, it just spoke about the tradition of excellence that they’ve had for years and years.”

It’s a tradition that motivated Willis to return to East Lansing.

The former 21-year NBA veteran said it was an experience he couldn’t pass up and hopes continues in the future.

“It’s always good to come back and be a Spartan, always,” Willis said. “The different generations, the different eras, seeing different players partake in such a historic game like this — incredible.”

For Smith, part of the joy from returning home came from catching up with current MSU basketball players, particularly junior guard Keith Appling and senior center Derrick Nix.

All three attended Pershing High in Detroit, and Smith said the duo both are especially important to him, along with freshman guard Denzel Valentine, who Smith still remembers as the baby of former Spartan Carlton Valentine.

“I was playing with Carlton when (Denzel Valentine) was a baby running around,” Smith said.
“They’re important to me because they keep me going. They keep me proud.”

It was the type of atmosphere men’s basketball coach Tom Izzo had dreamt about, but in typical fashion, Izzo still found an area for improvement.

Izzo couldn’t help but chide Dantonio, a fellow defensive-minded coach, for “letting him down,” by allowing it to become an offensive game.

“I think this is what it’s all about,” Izzo said. “If you work at a place and you get players that want to come back that means they appreciate, they respect, they have a good time, they liked what they had when they were here. All those things are really critical to me. I mean, that’s why you coach. Banners are great, championships are great, but it’s the people and the memories that are so special and these guys mean a lot to me.”