Michigan State Fans Go Bananas When Tom Izzo’s Son Steven Scores First Points After Five Years As A Walk-On

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Michigan State cruised to a 73-55 win over Rutgers on Sunday in a game where Malik Hall led the Spartans with 15 points. However, the undisputed star of the day was a guy who’d waited a very long time to score the first points of his college career: Steven Izzo.

Even the most casual college basketball fans are familiar with Tom Izzo, who has been at the helm of the Michigan State men’s basketball program for close to three decades. During that time, he’s racked up close to 700 wins while punching his ticket to March Madness every single season for the past 25 years.

Izzo has coached hundreds of players during his legendary career, and for the past five years, he’s had a particularly special connection with one walk-on who’s been largely resigned to the bench: his adopted son Steven.

The 5’9″ guard (who averaged  1.5 points per game during his senior year in high school) was never going to be a star at Michigan State, and during the five years he’s spent in Lansing, he’s never recorded more than 15 total minutes off of the bench over the course of an entire season.

Prior to Sunday, he’d also never scored a single point. However, that all changed when he got the nod in garbage time against the Scarlet Knights, as the crowd at the Breslin Center went nuts after watching him sink a lay-up while earning the right to step to the line to successfully convert the and-1.

After the game, his dad said watching him make the shot was “The thrill of a lifetime.” It seemed like Steven felt the same way, as he fought back tears while reflecting on an accomplishment he said he’s dreamed of for his entire life.

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