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Michigan State Basketball: Tyson Walker will be breath of fresh air at PG

By Connor Muldowney

CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA - FEBRUARY 17: Tyson Walker #2 of the Northeastern Huskies looks to pass as he drives against Kerwin Walton #24 of the North Carolina Tar Heels during the second half of their game at the Dean Smith Center on February 17, 2021 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. North Carolina won 82-62. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)
CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA - FEBRUARY 17: Tyson Walker #2 of the Northeastern Huskies looks to pass as he drives against Kerwin Walton #24 of the North Carolina Tar Heels during the second half of their game at the Dean Smith Center on February 17, 2021 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. North Carolina won 82-62. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images) /
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Tyson Walker is officially a Spartan.

Tom Izzo saw what happened when he didn’t have a true point guard running the show in 2020-21 as his Michigan State basketball team had major backcourt issues and barely snuck into the NCAA Tournament as a First Four team.

Foster Loyer started the season as the primary ball-handler until it became clearer that he just couldn’t defend at a high level. AJ Hoggard then earned some playing time at the point and Rocket Watts also got some reps at the one. Nothing compared to Cassius Winston’s production and leadership the season before.

Going from Winston to a point-guard-by-committee approach wasn’t exactly ideal and it led to a lot of offensive struggles.

Landing Walker from Northeastern this offseason was exactly what Izzo needed.

He now has a point guard he can trust to run the show.

Walker is going to breathe life back into Michigan State basketball

The 2020-21 season was a nightmare and it seemed like the Spartans were trending in the wrong direction and then bad news struck on the recruiting circuit with Enoch Boakye and Emoni Bates decommitting. And Watts transferred. Suffice to say, Michigan State needed some good news.

Walker was that good news that split up a handful of negative headlines for the Spartans this offseason and he’s going to be better than people realize.

Michigan State now has a true point guard who can handle the ball at all times, create for himself and others, and score from everywhere on the floor. And he didn’t just do this against mediocre competition as he scored 27 points on 8-of-15 shooting at North Carolina in February and was playing well before an injury at Syracuse earlier in the year.

Yes, Walker is battle-tested and he’s going to fit right in.

I’m not promising another Cassius by any means, but we will notice quite the difference at point guard this season and that news couldn’t be better.

Couple Walker with Jaden Akins and AJ Hoggard and you have quite the point guard rotation.

Night and day difference from 2020-21.

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