Jaren Jackson Jr. reminds us of Michigan State’s elite culture
Michigan State basketball has many former players that are currently making a name for themself in the NBA. One of the former Spartan stars that has become one of the most known names throughout the league is Jaren Jackson Jr.
Jackson was a star on the MSU basketball team for one season in 2017-18 before heading to the NBA. He was selected fourth overall in the 2018 draft by the Memphis Grizzlies where he has spent his entire career.
The nice thing about being an MSU fan in Michigan is that we have the Detroit Pistons. So even if you aren’t a big NBA fan, you have a chance still to go to their games and watch former Spartans play whenever their team comes to town. That’s exactly what happened to Jackson and Memphis as they played in Detroit on Monday.
After the game, Jaren took to X and shared this message to Spartan fans.
heard a lot of go green in the crowd last night it runs deep 💚
— JJJ (@jarenjacksonjr) April 2, 2024
How often do you hear of fans of a player’s former college team taking over an arena and showing love to that player even if they play for the opposition that night? I don’t think it happens very often. I’m sure a few fans do this from time to time, but not enough for that player to publically comment on it. But Michigan State fans showed out in a big way and gave a lot of love to Jaren even though he was playing against the Pistons.
Jackson did not disappoint Spartan fans and put on an absolute show on Monday. He scored 40 points and also added seven rebounds and three assists as well.
Here are Jaren’s highlights from the game on Monday night.
Jaren Jackson Jr. didn't mess around last night.
— Big Ten Men's Basketball (@B1GMBBall) April 3, 2024
The former @MSU_Basketball star and 2018 @bigten DPOY erupted for 4️⃣0️⃣ points in Memphis' 110-108 win at Detroit. 🔥
Head over to the @NBA App to follow your favorite B1G alumni. https://t.co/VCI5y4Oj7M pic.twitter.com/HzhUYdc9zE
This moment between Jaren and the Spartan fanbase is just another example of how special the culture at Michigan State is. Like I said, I’m sure every NBA player gets love from their college fans sometimes, but it just feels different at MSU. Jaren felt so much love on Monday that he had to thank the fans, and you just don’t see that very often especially from someone who’s been out of college for six years now.
But that’s the norm at Michigan State and one of the reasons why the culture in East Lansing is second to none.