Michigan State basketball eyeing Northeastern PG transfer Tyson Walker

Michigan State basketball is showing some interest in Northeastern point guard transfer Tyson Walker who just entered the portal.

Michigan State is officially in the NCAA Tournament as on Sunday night but the Spartans are in one of the four play-in games, earning a matchup with UCLA to see who gets to play BYU in the first round on Saturday night.

The reasons Michigan State had to sweat out an NCAA Tournament bid and participate in a play-in game are obvious: a slow start to Big Ten play, minimal post production and no true point guard.

Losing Cassius Winston hurt a ton, as expected, and the transition to Rocket Watts and Foster Loyer didn’t go over as smoothly as many had hoped. In fact, Aaron Henry and Joshua Langford were even playing a little point at the end of the season.

The lack of a true floor general who can run the offense so the wings can play in their natural positions has plagued Tom Izzo and he wants to make sure that never happens again.

Izzo has four-star point guard Jaden Akins coming in with the 2021 class who should immediately help matters and potentially take over that starting job, but the Hall of Fame head coach knows he’ll need more than just a freshman and AJ Hoggard (and potentially Loyer if he’s healthy).

The transfer portal could be utilized by Izzo and he’s already getting in touch with one of the best point guards on the market from Northeastern.

Tyson Walker already has a plethora of potential suitors as he named almost two dozen schools who have reached out to him since he hit the portal. Michigan State should be in there until the end, especially if Izzo feels he might be losing someone to the transfer portal or if Loyer isn’t medically cleared.

Walker is just a sophomore so he’d have two more years of eligibility (three since this year technically doesn’t count toward eligibility for players who want to utilize that COVID-19 season) and he had a breakout season with Northeastern. He averaged 18.8 points, 4.8 assists and 2.4 steals while shooting 44 percent from the field and 35 percent from deep.

The sophomore made the CAA All-Rookie team a year ago and is an All-CAA player from this season, more than likely.

Although his normal competition isn’t stellar, he still played against the likes of West Virginia, Syracuse, Georgia and North Carolina this season. In those games, he averaged 15.8 points, 3.5 assists and 1.0 steals. He also shot 46 percent from the floor and 53 percent from 3-point range in those games against power conference teams.

This kid can play and he would be a welcomed addition to take some pressure off Akins, Hoggard and let Watts play his natural two-guard position.