Michigan State coach Tom Izzo says 'weight of the world' is off Tyson Walker's back following decision to return

East Lansing, Mich. – The Michigan State basketball program received significant news on Monday when guard Tyson Walker announced his return to East Lansing for the 2023-24 season. One day later, forward Malik Hall also confirmed that he’d be returning for a fifth year. 

Given the chaotic and unpredictable nature of college basketball nowadays, Michigan State coach Tom Izzo was quick to celebrate the return of two veteran players to his program.

“With Tyson coming back and Malik coming back, we’ve got something to celebrate,” Izzo said. “And I say that because in this day and age, you don’t know who’s coming back.”

Walker showed flashes of becoming an impact scorer late in the 2021-22 season, his first with the Spartans since transferring in from Northeastern. But Walker realized that potential last season when he emerged as Michigan State’s go-to playmaker late in games.

Izzo spoke throughout the 2022-23 season about Walker’s growth as a player and a person since arriving at Michigan State as a junior two summers ago. Walker was one of a few players whom Izzo said had a productive summer heading into the 2022-23 season. For Walker, part of that meant becoming acclimated within his new environment.

Now, Walker is as comfortable as ever.

“I just felt really good listening to him talk to me at the end of the year about what it meant to be in that tournament,” Izzo said of Walker. “He felt like maybe he could’ve taken that last shot (against Kansas State). I think he’s grown enormously.”

Izzo revealed this season that following Michigan State’s Round of 32 loss to Duke in the 2022 NCAA Tournament, Walker addressed the team and told them how fortunate he was to play on that kind of stage. It meant a lot to him, coming from a smaller university.

Walker left Northeastern (a school just over 200 miles from his hometown of Westbury, N.Y.) for Michigan State partly because he wanted the opportunity to prove himself in those moments, under those bright lights.

The transition wasn’t always easy. Walker needed time to get adjusted to a new system, a new school, a new way of life. But once he did, Walker proved that he was more than capable of being a guy who could put a high-major team on his back. 

Izzo could tell throughout the 2022-23 season how much Walker had grown. He had become comfortable with his new surroundings. That’s now even more apparent with Walker’s decision to return for a fifth collegiate season. 

“You just see the weight of the world off Tyson’s back,” Izzo said.

With Walker back in the fold for 2023-24, Michigan State will have another leader in the backcourt to help bring along the Spartans’ younger guards like Tre Holloman and Jeremy Fears, Jr. 

“I think we’re going to have a good base for those rookies to come in and have some mentors to work with,” Izzo said. “Every year there will be guys pushing guys, and last year we didn’t have as much pushing. I think this year we’ll have more pushing and I think that’ll be good for us and good for the guys.”

With the surplus of talented guards Michigan State has at its disposal next season, there will be a variety of lineup combinations for Izzo to experiment with – and he hopes Michigan State’s transition game will improve because of that. 

Walker and Jaden Akins, for example, are both viable catch-and-shoot threats on the wing and can get down the floor in a hurry.

Izzo’s optimism for next season is at a high, and the same appears to be true for Walker. Izzo said that Walker is “as excited as he’s seen him” since he arrived at Michigan State in 2021. 

Izzo also thinks that Walker’s decision to remain at Michigan State for another season is good for the program in the long run. 

“It is good when you can have some consistency and continuity and some people to help other people grow in a program,” Izzo said. “I think that’s a positive. I think that’s a positive for our freshmen coming in and I think it’s an honor for the other guys.

“I think, in general, we should have a pretty solid group coming back with a great group of recruits coming in, and you put those two things together and there’s a lot of optimism for next season.”