Michigan State basketball, led by Hall of Fame head coach Tom Izzo, arrived in New York City on Tuesday ahead of its Sweet 16 game against Kansas State in the NCAA Tournament.
Izzo along with senior forward Malik Hall, graduate forward Joey Hauser, junior guard A.J. Hoggard and senior guard Tyson Walker spoke to the media after the team’s open practice at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday.
“What a privilege it is,” Izzo said to the media. “First of all, it's great to be in the Sweet 16, but to have it in New York, Madison Square Garden, where we all know is the Mecca of basketball ... college, pro, anything, it's been a big thrill for us.”
Izzo is happy after what his team accomplished this past weekend in Columbus, Ohio. However, there is a happy medium between being thrilled about what happened and knowing that there are more great accomplishments still on the table.
“Proud of my team and what they've accomplished so far, and yet have great respect for (Kansas State head coach) Jerome (Tang) and what he's done at Kansas State and their basketball team,” Izzo said.
Kansas State is the No. 3-seed in the East Region. The Wildcats plays in the Big 12, arguably the best conference in America this season. Kansas State finished with an 11-7 conference record, which was good enough for third place behind Kansas and Texas.
“We know that we're going to play a good team in Kansas State,” Izzo said.
The Spartan players know that they are going up against a tough test as well. Every team playing in the second weekend has won at least two-straight games and is playing good basketball.
“First impression is just a really great team,” Hall said about Kansas State. “They've had a heck of a year, played very hard, won a lot of very big games, so definitely a very capable team.”
Hauser echoed Hall’s sentiment about how talented the Wildcats are and how good they’ve been this season.
“Yeah, I would say extremely talented,” Hauser said when asked about what his initial impressions of Kansas State are. “They played in arguably the best conference in America this year, so they've seen it all. They've seen really good opponents. But definitely really talented and got some really good playmakers.”
Kansas State head coach Jerome Tang is in his first season in charge of the Wildcats. He coaches a team full of transfers.
“He's used the transfer portal well, and it's worked pretty well for him,” Izzo said about Tang.
Speaking of transfers, there is a common thread between Walker and Kansas State guard Markquis Nowell. Both are senior guards from New York coming back home to play in a high-stakes game at the World’s Most Famous Arena. Also, both are transfer portal products from mid-major schools. Walker came to East Lansing from Northeastern and Nowell went from Little Rock to the “Little Apple” or Manhattan, Kansas.
In fact, Walker and Nowell played each other back in their high school catholic league days.
“Yeah, we played a couple times, sophomore and junior year,” Walker said. “Catholic league is good. A lot of talented people. There was a lot of big names playing in that game, some in the pros. It's a good league. Still is a good league.”
Nowell is only 5-foot-8, but he lives by the mantra of “heart over height.”
“It's a slogan that I live by,” Nowell said to the media. “You don't determine somebody's, I guess, destiny because of their height. You determine it by their heart and their passion. That's something that I live by and that I play my game after.”
MSU’s guards — Jaden Akins, Hoggard and Walker (—will have to try to shut down another star point guard on Thursday. In Columbus, MSU contained USC’s top guards Boogie Ellis and Drew Peterson, and shut down Marquette’s top guard Tyler Kolek.
Containing Nowell, who is incredibly shifty, fast and smart on the court, will be no easy task. Nowell posted 27 points and nine assists in Kansas State’s last game against Kentucky.
“I determine how the game is going to go,” Nowell said. “I'm not really focused on what they did in the past versus other good point guards. I played in the toughest league in the country, which is the Big 12. You have all types of Hall of Fame coaches that scouted me and tried to stop me, so I don't think that's going to be an issue.”
Michigan State and Kansas State will meet on Thursday night at 6:30 p.m. from Madison Square Garden in New York City. The game will be broadcasted on TBS.
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