One of the more remarkable college basketball finishes Saturday came from the #4 Purdue Boilermakers‘ road clash against the Michigan State Spartans. There, with the score tied at 65 in the final seconds, Spartans’ junior guard Tyson Walker calmly dribbled, then launched an opposed three-pointer with 3.8 seconds left, which went through the hoop with 1.1 seconds remaining and set Michigan State up for a 68-65 win.
TYSON WALKER WITH ONE SECOND LEFT‼️
Michigan State knocks off No. 4 Purdue. pic.twitter.com/dC4s7n1nQb
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) February 26, 2022
Here’s how Will Tieman called this on the Spartan Radio Network:
As called on Michigan State radio & heard on the @varsity app: pic.twitter.com/WxqmPKHeTi
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) February 26, 2022
Walker (shown at top celebrating a first-half three-pointer) transferred to Michigan State last April from Northeastern, and drew strong reviews from head coach Tom Izzo then: “He’s a guy who can get his teammates open looks, he can get into the lane and he’s a crafty finisher because of his speed.” Through Friday, he had played in 27 games for the Spartans so far this season, averaging 8.1 points and 4.3 assists in 22.4 minutes of play per game. He had eight points and four assists in 19 minutes in this game.
Walker has been a very good threat from deep this year, making 28 of 49 three-point attempts (57.1 percent, much higher than the 35.0 and 35.4 percent numbers he posted at Northeastern), and he sure hit a big shot from three in this one. And that helped make some history for Izzo:
662.
Coach Izzo is now tied with Indiana Coach Bob Knight for MOST OVERALL WINS AT A BIG TEN SCHOOL. pic.twitter.com/xAOrYMBKQY
— Michigan State Men's Basketball (@MSU_Basketball) February 26, 2022
So it looks like recruiting Walker to come over as a transfer has paid off pretty well for Izzo, particularly with the finish to this game.
[@SportsCenter and Timothy Burke on Twitter; photo from Junfu Han/The Detroit Free Press via USA Today Sports]