Graduate student guard Tyson Walker (2) cheers after scoring a three pointer during the Champions Classic at the United Center on Nov. 14, 2023. The Spartans fell to the Blue Devils with a score of 74-65.
Since graduate student guard Tyson Walker transferred to Michigan State from Northeastern University a little over two years ago, the Spartans have benefitted immensely from his presence.
Walker is a crafty guard who rarely struggles to get shots to fall from anywhere on the floor. This season, the New York native has been averaging 20.1 points a game and has been a pretty consistent bright sport even when the green and white has been struggling early on.
In the Monday night 79-62 home victory over the Oakland Golden Grizzlies, Tyson Walker logged his 1,000th career point with the Spartans—the 24th fastest to do so in just 80 games.
What started as a slow night offensively, battling off the Golden Grizzlies’ zone defense, ended in a solid second half for the graduate student having logged a team-high 14 points on the night.
“It's a treat to have a kid who hardly got a shot early—didn't let it get to him, didn't bother him at halftime,” head coach Tom Izzo said. “Second half, we told him we gotta go to you more. We set up that first play for him, A.J. (Hoggard) did a great job running it, and once he started hitting some shots, then, he was harder to guard and he has been everything and more than I thought he was defensively ever since the injury and the illness.”
After the game, Izzo reflected on how Walker has evolved as a player since he joined the Spartan squad his junior year, and he said that it was nice to get to watch him live his dream and continue getting better.
“Special guy, you know, reminds me of Gary Harris back in the day — plays both ends, hard as hell and we've been needing more than we did Gary offensively,” Izzo said. “So hats off to Tyson — proud of him, happy for him, and I think all the players were, and yet, he was pretty humble in the locker room.”
The thousandth point for Walker Monday night came on a highly contested jumper with a little over eight minutes left in the game.
1️⃣0️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ points for Tyson Walker at @MSU_Basketball. 👏 pic.twitter.com/RI1UeY8eNh
— Big Ten Men's Basketball (@B1GMBBall) December 19, 2023
That shot for those two points is the kind of shot that has a lot of fans wondering how the ball even found the basket, but those kinds of shots are not that uncommon for the experienced shooter.
When it was announced at the Breslin Center that Walker had hit his thousandth point, the crowd was immediately on its feet giving him a standing ovation for his achievement. After the game, Walker said that even though he’s not an emotional person, the cheers from the crowd were nice, but the high-scoring guard already has another milestone on his mind.
“Now it’s time to get 2,000,” Walker said.
The Spartans will once again be at home to take on Stony Brook Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at the Breslin Center.
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