EAST LANSING, Mich. — Tyson Walker didn’t need much convincing. Or much searching, for that matter.
The point guard’s decision to enter the transfer portal was an easy one after a sophomore season at Northeastern that put his game on the map. Schools came calling, conversations took place. There was plenty of interest, but Walker approached this search with a vision in mind, knowing exactly what he needed from his next destination.
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His search led him to Michigan State, and it didn’t take long for him to identify a fit. Now enrolled and on campus, preparing for the upcoming season and adjusting to his new surroundings, Walker is here to discuss what he found in East Lansing and why this was the school for him.
“I didn’t take any visit,” Walker said Thursday, recalling how he chose the Spartans over other programs that showed interest. “I watched a lot of Michigan State growing up and what they do with their point guards and how they let them play. Once I got the call, my mind was made up after that.”
Welcome to East Lansing, @TysonWalker13 💚 pic.twitter.com/ZeeWgVQIoV
— Michigan State Basketball (@MSU_Basketball) May 17, 2021
After a standout season in which he averaged 18.8 points per game and 4.8 assists, Walker bet on himself. He felt he belonged at a high-major program, with a game against North Carolina last season essentially sealing the deal in his mind.
Though his team lost 82-62, Walker lit up the Tar Heels for 27 points on 8-of-15 shooting, including 4-of-7 from behind the 3-point line. It was a turning point for him.
“I felt like I was the best person on the court,” Walker said. “I’m just like, ‘I need to be at a bigger place that can be seen more.'”
When Northeastern’s season came to an end, Walker decided he would look around and see where he could land. Michigan State was one of the first schools to reach out. Walker received a phone call from MSU assistant Doug Wojcik and later head coach Tom Izzo. The Spartans rose to the top of his list, and the two sides moved quickly to bring Walker on board.
In more ways than one, Walker fills a massive need for Michigan State. Point guard play was a challenge for the Spartans last season. Rocket Watts was expected to take the reins as MSU’s lead guard but couldn’t find a rhythm and never looked comfortable in the role. Backup point guard Foster Loyer looked overmatched at times, as did true freshman A.J. Hoggard, who was susceptible to freshman mistakes.
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With Watts and Loyer entering the portal after the season, MSU was left with youth at the position in Hoggard and incoming freshman Jaden Akins. With that in mind, Walker, who ranked 16th on The Athletic’s list of best available transfers, was brought in to lead the offense next season.
“I considered a couple of other places,” Walker said. “But here, they knew everything that they needed and what they had coming back. So that helped me with the decision.”
It’s not difficult to envision a world in which Walker slots into the roster as Michigan State’s starting point guard, making things easier for those around him. He’s viewed as a player who excels in ball-screen sets and could become the sort of pick-and-roll threat Michigan State lacked last season. Coming off screens, Walker has shown a knack for making smart reads, whether that’s identifying a mismatch and sizing up a big for a 3-pointer, splitting the defense and kicking it out for a corner 3 or finishing at the rim. He has the talent to give MSU more juice than it had last year. He even studied how the team used Cassius Winston to get a feel for how he might fit in.
He liked what he saw.
“I watched a lot when they had Cassius,” Walker said. “Just how they get up and down, a lot of pick-and-rolls with him and kind of let him flow through the offense. I like playing like that.”
Walker is fearless in transition and often pushes the tempo to exploit opposing defenses. He has a good handle and can get up and down the court in a hurry without playing out of control. He also connected on 3-point attempts at a solid clip, making 2.3 per game on 35 percent shooting. Those numbers would’ve made him one of MSU’s best deep threats last season on a team that desperately could’ve used him.
Perhaps equally valuable as his offense is what Walker brings defensively. He took home CAA Defensive Player of the Year honors last season, averaging 2.4 steals per game. He routinely disrupts passing lanes with quick hands and can turn steals into points in transition.
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“I definitely think it’ll transfer over,” Walker said of his defense. “I just have a way of finding the ball and getting the ball on defense. I don’t know how, but it just always seems to be in my hands.”
Walker fills a massive void for Michigan State, but make no mistake about it. He, too, can benefit from this move.
Michigan State offers the type of stage he desires, in one of the top basketball conferences in the country. He’ll have a chance to be featured in this offense, with several guards transferring out and younger options behind him, while playing for a Hall of Fame coach. When he was at Northeastern, opposing defenses could spend more attention on him, knowing he was his team’s main scoring threat. At MSU, Walker will have more talent to work with, so he won’t be asked to do as much as he was at Northeastern.
With the season still months away, Walker is in the process of building relationships with his new teammates, learning their tendencies on the court and how they like to be talked to and trying to get a feel for their games. He was welcomed by several members of the team when the news of his transfer became official, and he believes the biggest thing for him will be getting acclimated.
Walker didn’t seem overly concerned about making the jump from the CAA to the Big Ten, citing his performances against high-profile opponents Northeastern faced the past two seasons. He trusts that his game will carry over and doesn’t believe the improved level of competition will have a major impact on his game.
If anything, he’s more concerned about his commute around campus.
“I had to get a scooter,” Walker said, drawing a few laughs from those on the Zoom. “I didn’t recognize the campus was so big. … Last year, I was in the middle of Boston, where everything’s kind of close. Now, a walk is like 15 to 20 minutes. The electric scooter just gets me a little quicker.”
Given the fit for him and the Spartans, Walker will learn to live with the trade-off as he settles in as Michigan State’s new point guard.
(Photo: Mitchell Layton / Getty Images)
