GREEN & WHITE BASKETBALL

MSU, U-M players don't mind mixing at Moneyball Pro-Am

Graham Couch
Lansing State Journal
MSU's Tum Tum Nairn offered a funny look when asked about playing with Michigan players at the Moneyball Pro-Am, before saying he didn't mind.

DIMONDALE – Tum Tum Nairn isn’t quite sure how to feel about having players from the University of Michigan on his summer league pro-am basketball team.

Two years entangled in this feud has left Nairn with certain feelings about the Wolverines — even in June and July. He’s a true patriot of the rivalry.

“That’s odd, that’s odd,” the Michigan State junior guard said, shaking his head, about having U-M players participating in the Lansing Moneyball league, which began Thursday night. “I mean, it is what it is. But I respect them. They’re great players. And they play really hard.”

Nairn can blame one of Lansing’s own — new U-M assistant coach Saddi Washington, a Sexton High School graduate, who joined John Beilein’s staff this spring after a decade at Oakland University. There, Washington made the Golden Grizzlies players staples of the 13-year-old Moneyball Pro-Am. He suggested Michigan’s players join the league, too.

With only two players from any Division I school allowed on the same pro-am roster, the Wolverines and Spartans are paired up — two each on each of most of the six teams — an unnatural blend.

U-M’s Derrick Walton and Mark Donnal are playing with MSU’s Josh Langford and Gavin Schilling. Zak Irvin and Moritz Wagner are with Greg Roy and Connor George. Andrew Dakich and D.J. Wilson are with Eron Harris and Cassius Winston. Duncan Robinson and Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman are on the same team as Alvin Ellis and Nick Ward. And Brent Hibbitts and Sean Lonergan are with Miles Bridges and Nairn.

Michigan's Andrew Dakich, left, celebrates with teammate Cassius Winston, an incoming MSU freshman, during their Moneyball Pro-Am game Thursday at Aim High in Diamondale.

In the first men’s game of the night, U-M’s Dakich and Wilson and MSU’s Winston and Harris flourished together, Dakich dishing the ball back to Harris seamlessly on one possession as if they’d known each other forever. And, well, in their case, they nearly have — since high school, at least, in the Indianapolis area.

“It’s huge rivalry during the year,” Dakich said. “But out here we’re just having fun. I was joking with Cassius, with Eron, all the State guys, but we all know each other. It was a good time.”

Said Harris: “We’re human at the end of the day.”

For much of Thursday’s second game, Nairn and Walton battled, at times almost as fiercely as they might at Breslin or Crisler. Oddly enough, they’d never played each other before, with Walton injured for their two meetings in 2014-15 and Nairn out for their only matchup last season.

Walton said he didn’t worry about campus allegiances Thursday night.

“When you’re a point guard, you can branch out to a lot different people,” the Michigan senior said. “We want to play. We just get out here and have some fun.”

“It was fun,” Nairn said of going up against Walton, knowing where he was from. “As soon as I got the ball, he kind of played me like the scouting report (in the Big Ten) said.

That meant backing off and tempting Nairn to shoot. Walton had likely never seen Nairn hit a 3-pointer until Thursday night, when he made several.

“I just had to make sure I stayed aggressive and I stayed confident,” Nairn said.

Contact Graham Couch at gcouch@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @Graham_Couch.

Moneyball Pro-Am

What: 13th annual Lansing summer basketball pro-am, featuring players from MSU, Michigan, Detroit, Oakland, EMU, LCC and elsewhere, as well as a women's league.

When: Tuesdays and Thursdays, through Aug. 4 (four games a night, beginning at 5:30 p.m.)

Where: Aim High, Dimondale

Admission: Free