MSU's Tum Tum Nairn hopes to build on strong trip to Bahamas
EAST LANSING – Tum Tum Nairn didn’t guide Michigan State to a Battle 4 Atlantis tournament title.
That didn’t make his trip home to the Bahamas any less impactful.
“I wanted to win the championship down there,” he said. “But, man, it was such a blessing. Something I’m gonna look back on for the rest of my life. I definitely didn’t take it for granted.”
Nairn set single-game career highs in points (13 against St. John’s), rebounds (6 against Baylor) and assists (12 against Wichita State) in front of a throng of family and friends. The 5-foot-10 junior point guard averaged 6 points, 6.3 assists and 4 rebounds in the three-game tournament.
He also got a chance to take his teammates to his family home and show them around his hometown of Nassau. The Spartans also visited a nearby school and spent time with the children there. It’s a memory-making experience coach Tom Izzo is glad he was able to help orchestrate, even with the grueling travel schedule the team has endured this month.
MSU travels to No. 4 Duke to close out tough November slate
“The chance to go to the Bahamas and bring Tum home … was unbelievable,” Izzo said. “I wouldn’t trade the world for that.”
Now comes the challenge of facing No. 4 Duke on Tuesday night in Durham, N.C. (9:30 p.m./ESPN). It will be another test of Nairn’s leadership with the Spartans’ young nucleus around him, getting ready to face their first true road test of their young careers at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
“As Tum said to me, ‘How can it get any better? You give me a chance to play in the Bahamas, my home … and then you give me a chance to play at Duke,’” Izzo said. “If you look at it that way, not in awe of it but in excitement with it, then I think it’s nothing but a positive.”
Nairn recalled playing against the Blue Devils twice during his freshman season, when the Spartans lost 81-71 in the Champions Classic and 81-61 in the Final Four, both in Indianapolis. He and Alvin Ellis are the only two MSU players to have faced Duke, with Gavin Schilling currently out with a knee injury and Eron Harris and Matt Van Dyk having had to sit out that 2014-15 season due to transfer regulations.
“It don’t matter – freshman, sophomore, junior, senior – everybody’s gonna be excited,” he said. “A lot of people don’t get a chance, an opportunity to play at Duke, especially as a freshman. Our freshmen have been great so far for us.”
Contact Chris Solari:csolari@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari.
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