Tyson Walker celebrates a three-pointer against Purdue. Michigan State guard Tyson Walker celebrates a 3-point basket against Purdue during the first half at the Breslin Center in East Lansing on Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022. (Junfu Han/Detroit Free Press, via USA Today Sports.)

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.

Here’s how Will Tieman called this on the Spartan Radio Network:

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:

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]

About Andrew Bucholtz

Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.