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Michigan State's Tyson Walker Sets Program Record vs. Minnesota

No former Spartan has scored as consistently in double figures as Michigan State's current shooting guard...

Matthew Lounsberry

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Tyson Walker has been the model of consistency for Michigan State men's basketball throughout the 2023-24 season, and even dating back to the previous year.

On Tuesday night in Minneapolis, Walker scored his ninth and 10th point of the night in the closing seconds of the first half against Minnesota, to give the Spartans a five-point lead at the break. This marks the 34th consecutive game in which the fifth-year senior has scored in double figures, breaking the program record for the longest-such streak since at least 1995. Former Michigan State point guard Kalin Lucas (2007-11) previously held the record at 33 games. Game-by-game stats before 1995 are not readily available.

Walker's streak began a year ago, almost to the day, on Feb. 4, 2023 when he scored 12 points in a 61-55 loss on the road at Rutgers. The last time the graduate senior failed to reach 10 points in a game came back on Jan. 1, 2023 when he scored nine for the Spartans in a 71-61 loss at Purdue.

This season, Walker leads Michigan State with 18.9 points per game, which would be the second-highest mark of any player coached by Tom Izzo should the graduate senior continue on at this pace. Only Denzel Valentine's 19.2 points per game in the 2015-16 season outpace Walker's current scoring average, in terms of Izzo-coached players. Cassius Winston came close to Walker's mark, averaging 18.8 and 18.6 ppg during his junior (2018-19) and senior (2019-20) seasons, respectively.

Michigan State has not had a player score 20 points per game in a season since Shawn Respert averaged 25.6 during the 1994-95 season, the Spartans' final year under previous head coach Jud Heathcote. 

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Matthew Lounsberry
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