'Heart and soul' senior Tum Tum Nairn prepares for Michigan State basketball home farewell
EAST LANSING — Tum Tum Nairn arrived at Michigan State and immediately became the starting point guard on a Final Four Team as a freshman.
His greatest assist, however, might have come by giving up the job as a senior.
And that is saying a lot about Nairn, one of the Spartans’ rare three-time captains in program history who has been credited with everything from helping to recruit to getting Miles Bridges to come back for a second season.
“I was talking to Cassius (Winston) the other day about Tum, and he was saying how much he means to him,” MSU coach Tom Izzo said Monday. “I mean, Cash took Tum’s spot. And they’re best friends, and they’ve been embraced ever since. I’m just not sure everybody could do that.
“It speaks more about him as a human being even as a player.”
Nairn and classmates Gavin Schilling and Ben Carter will be honored after No. 1 MSU’s final home game Tuesday night against Illinois (7 p.m., ESPN).
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And they will have a chance to clinch at least a share of the Spartans’ first Big Ten regular-season title since 2012.
“It’s beautiful,” Nairn said Monday. “I know it’s a part in God’s plan for my life, because I couldn’t write this. Especially it being senior night, the opportunity that we have is so special. I’m thankful just to be a part of a program that gives me opportunities like this.”
After starting 65 games during his first three seasons, Nairn moved to a reserve role in his final season for Winston. Narin’s unselfishness has benefitted the Spartans at the point guard position.
Winston is averaging 12.3 points and ranks seventh in the nation at a Big Ten-leading 7.1 assists per game. The sophomore also leads the league in 3-point shooting at 53.9 percent and ranks third in free-throw shooting at 87.3 percent.
Meanwhile, Nairn has provided energy and defense off the bench while playing a career-low 18.1 minutes. The 5-foot-10, 175-pound native of the Bahamas also is shooting a career-best 51.7 percent while also dishing out 94 assists, second only to Winston’s 205.
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“It’s gonna be a sad day when Tum Tum leaves the program,” Winston said last week. “It’s hard to describe. He’s a ball of energy, he’s inspiration – he’s all those type of things. He’s everything that you would want your son to be or everything you aspire to be as a person. That’s what Tum Tum is. He motivates and inspires us every day. …
“He is the heart and soul of this team. We go as Tum Tum goes, just in terms of our energy and our passion. Those things are way more important than if you can shoot a basketball.”
Last year, the Spartans went to Nairn’s hometown of Nassau, Bahamas, to play in the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament. He took his teammates and coaches to his house, showed them the dirt “court” and makeshift “basket” he learned to play the game with that brought Nairn to the United States when he was 13.
“He is the epitome of what is Michigan State basketball,” Carter said. “He’s tough. He comes from nothing, and he’s able to turn it into such a success. But he’s the ultimate team guy.”
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Nairn navigates the team leadership with sincerity and intensity as well as any captain Izzo has ever had. Draymond Green saw it right away and told Izzo he felt Nairn deserved to be a captain before he ever played a game at MSU.
In his freshman year, Nairn took over the primary point guard job midway through the 2014-15 season. He started the final 16 games and pushed the Spartans to Izzo’s seventh – and perhaps most surprising – Final Four of his career.
“I really don’t know what my legacy is yet. I just want people to know for sure I’m a man of faith, and I’ve always lived my life that way. I just tried to give everything to the program that I have,” Nairn said. “I never took a day off, I never took a practice off, never skipped a rep in the weight room, never took a sprint off. Anything that had to do with this program, I did it with all my heart, and I meant it from the bottom of my heart.”
A pro basketball career is where Nairn hopes his path will go next, wherever that may lead him. He wants to coach when that ends, hoping someday to follow Izzo’s path as head coach of the Spartans.
But there remains those larger goals in college first. Delivering Izzo another Big Ten championship, another Final Four and another national title.
“Many players set a goal to get to the Final Four, and they never do it in college. And I did it my first year as a freshman,” he said. “I think that’s my biggest memory, if I could say right now. I hope to make a bigger one.”
MSU senior day bios
TUM TUM NAIRN
Age: 23
Hometown: Nassau, Bahamas
High school: Sunrise Christian Academy, Bel Aire, Kansas
Height/weight: 5-10, 175
2017-18 stats: 2.1 points, 0.9 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 51.9 FG pct., 18.1 minutes in 29 games
Izzo on Nairn: “I could see him as the head coach here. The most infectious human being I’ve ever been around. If he’s had a bad day, I don’t know when it was. I think he’s a credit to what I should do a better job of becoming, and that’s (being) the most positive human being on a daily basis.”
GAVIN SCHILLING
Age: 22
Hometown: Chicago
High school: Findlay Prep, Henderson, Nevada
Height/weight: 6-9, 245
2017-18 stats: 3.2 points, 3.7 rebounds, 70.2 FG pct., 10.0 minutes in 29 games
Izzo on Schilling: “We have a guy who actually started as a sophomore in a Final Four, and injuries have kind of riddled his career a little bit. And yet we probably don’t beat Purdue (this season) without him. That just goes to show how important the depth is.”
BEN CARTER
Age: 23
Hometown: Las Vegas
High school: Bishop Gorman, Las Vegas
Height/weight: 6-9, 235
2017-18 stats: 0.7 points, 1.0 rebounds, 7.0 minutes in 20 games
Izzo on Carter: “In his own way, a guy that didn’t played was really helpful. We put him on the scout team. … And he was like gung ho 100 percent. Then he grabbed (Xavier Tillman) and said, ‘Why don’t you come with me?’ Those two together, there are times we think our bigs on our scout team are as good as some of the bigs we’re playing against.”
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari. Download our Spartans Xtra app for free on Apple and Android devices!