Michigan State head basketball coach Tom Izzo had tears in his eyes as he looked up into the Breslin Center crowd before the Spartans faced the No. 17 Indiana Hoosiers on Tuesday.
It would be Michigan State's first home game since a tragic mass shooting occurred on campus, wrote Associated Press Michigan Sports Editor Larry Lage in a Wednesday article.
“It was one of those moments where I just said, ‘I'm a lucky guy,'” Tom Izzo said. “I said to myself, ‘I hope we can come through for you.'”
The Spartans were able to take a triumphant victory over the Hoosiers at home, pulling away with an 80-65 win with the help of 20-point performances from senior guard A.J. Hoggard and senior guard Tyson Walker.
“It was definitely emotional,” Walker said after the game. “Everybody was involved in some way because everybody's on campus. So, it was definitely good to go out there and play well for everybody.”
Article Continues BelowWhite shirts were placed on eight seats in the front row of the student section for the eight students, three killed and five hospitalized, who were shot on campus. Michigan State recognized the victims, survivors and first responders of the shooting with pregame remarks, and a moment of silence was held before the band played “MSU Shadows,” the school's alma mater that was officially adopted in 1949.
“I wish I could have ran up to that top row and thank the people that were there,” Tom Izzo said.
The Michigan State women's basketball team wore white shirts that read “Spartan Strong” before it faced then-No. 8 Maryland in the Breslin Center on Saturday. Funerals for Brian Fraser and Alexandria Verner, students who were only 20 years at the time of the shooting, were held earlier that day.
“I’m really proud of us for just showing up,” said guard Julia Ayrault. “It’s hard to come back and play a game that seems so small.”