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— Michigan State coach Tom Izzo gazed into the crowd, tears welling in his eyes, moments before his team played its first home game since a mass shooting on campus killed three students and hospitalized five students.
“It was one of those moments where I just said, I’m a lucky guy,’” Izzo recalled as his voice cracked with emotion. “I said to myself, I hope we can come through for you.’”
The Spartans did.
Tyson Walker shook off a slow start to score 23 points and lifted Michigan State to an 80-65 win over No. 17 Indiana on Tuesday night, eight days after a mass shooting ended lives, endangered others and frightened an entire community.
“It was definitely a emotional,” Walker said. “Everybody was involved in some way because everybody’s on campus. So, it was definitely good to go out there and play well for everybody.”
The Spartans (17-10, 9-7 Big Ten) surged into the lead late in the first half after Walker started making 3-pointers following an 0-for-4 start from the field and were ahead by double digits for much of the second half.
