The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

WITH his senior campaign on the horizon, Lourawls “Tum Tum” Nairn Jr intends to make his final season of NCAA basketball the best of his career.

Nairn is the lone senior returning to the roster for the Michigan State Spartans and recently offered his projections on his personal and the team’s goals for the 2017-18 season.

“I’m a lot better player than I was 12 months ago. I’ve been working extremely hard on all areas of my game but, most importantly, just catch and shoot, being able to knock down the three consistently and also finishing – when you get to the rim you have to be able to make plays. I think for me, it’s being able to make some shots to get other guys shots, no team can play four on five, they’ll have to guard me so I can get in the paint and make plays for other guys,” he said in an appearance on the Press Pass with Jack Ebling on Fox News 47.

Everyone from Spartan alumni Magic Johnson, Steve Smith, and Draymond Green to head coach Tom Izzo himself has heralded Nairn’s leadership from the day he stepped foot on campus in East Lansing.

Nairn was awarded the Stephen G Scofes Inspirational Player Award this past offseason for the third straight year when the Spartans hosted its annual Men’s Basketball Awards Banquet for the 2016-17 season.

That leadership will be tested this season as another talented recruiting class has been added to make the Spartans one of the deepest teams in the nation.

“Everybody has to find their niche on the team, since I was a freshman mine has been energy and my leadership. If I can do that and it can help us to get wins, that’s all I really care about,” Nairn said.

“Depth is always a great thing for a team because you can never know what will happen when it comes to injuries. Coach Izzo is going to make it work, he’s a Hall of Fame coach and what makes this team special is everybody cares about winning and I think it doesn’t matter how much minutes guys play but that they play as hard as they can when they get their turn. It’s going to be tough. Everybody is going to be competing and it will help us tremendously going into the season, every day going at it to make each other better.”

Four-star recruit for the class of 2018, Aaron Henry, said that Nairn was the player clinched his commitment to the team during the recruitment phase.

All four members of an impressive 2016 class have returned, most notably, NBA Draft Lottery pick prospect Miles Bridges, however, they both lead the team in their respective ways on what Izzo calls a “player coached” team.

“It’s a blessing, I’ve never played with a player like that – so explosive, always above the rim, a great rebounder, a great finisher, he can shoot it, he’s probably the best player I’ve ever played with,” Nairn said, “The players have control of everything. You always see teams where the coaches are getting on players, but when the teammates do it makes for a better team when the coach can see another player call you out. I think that’s why coach Izzo has been on me for most of my career is just being to call people out and hold people accountable. When you can do that on and off the floor your team will be more successful.”

The Spartans suffered a 90-70 loss to the Kansas Jayhawks in the second round of the NCAA Tournament

It was the third trip to the postseason for Nairn. As a freshman, he was a member of the Spartans team that advanced to the Final Four. As a sophomore, the Spartans were upset in the opening round as a No.2 seed against fellow Bahamian Stephen Strachan and his No.15 ranked Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders.

The Spartans played this NCAA Tournament with only three players who saw action in last year’s loss to the Blue Raiders. Nairn averaged 3.7 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 3.7 assists as a junior this season.

Izzo traditionally plans intensely tough schedules for his teams evident in last year’s opening weeks of the season which featured matchups against the Arizona, Kentucky, Baylor as the Spartans got off to a 3-3 start.

Following the loss to Baylor at the Battle 4 Atlantis, openly questioned his decision-making on the schedule, but Nairn said the matchups served the team well.

“Never,” he replied when asked if a schedule can be too tough, “The Big 10 is tough itself so playing other people from different conferences just gets you ready for it. I think it helps a lot just playing different people from different conferences. It helps a lot with your confidence and sometimes you just have to play different people to see where you’re at.”

This year’s schedule features 17 teams that appeared in the 2017 postseason, including 11 opponents that played in the 2017 NCAA Tournament. In addition, six opponents are ranked in either the Sporting News, ESPN or CBS Sports Preseason Top 25. The Spartans will add one more non-conference opponent at a later date. In the preseason, Michigan State is ranked No. 2 by Sporting News, No. 3 by ESPN and No. 4 by CBS

The Spartans open the season November 10 when the host the North Florida Ospreys.