Tyson Walker gets free throw help from MSU legend Steve Smith

Tyson Walker has struggled from the free throw line lately and Steve Smith decided to step up and help the senior out.

East Lansing is a special place, especially within the Michigan State basketball program. While fans have been frustrated with the past few years, there is one thing that has stayed constant: culture. Just ask Tyson Walker.

Some fans may be frustrated because they may think Tom Izzo doesn’t go after transfers because he wants to keep the culture of the program. While there might be some truth to that belief, there is one thing that fans can not deny is that Michigan State has something special and that’s the former players.

Culture might not win you a specific game but it brings back players back to East Lansing.

You have Michigan State greats that come back for things like grind week or any basketball game. Players like Steve Smith, Drew Neitzel, Jason Richardson, and many others come back to support this program and the last game wasn’t any different. They not only come back, but they also help the current team and that is exactly what Steve Smith did after the Spartans’ win over Illinois.

It’s no secret that Tyson Walker has struggled from the free throw line. After being at least around the 80 percent from the free throw line in his last two seasons, he’s dropped to around 70 percent this year. This isn’t a drop that fans expected and it could be because he’s really tired. It could also be because of his injury. There may be several things that have caused this dip but he wants to get it fixed.

This is where Smith comes into play.

After last game, Smith grabbed Walker and they went to go shoot free throws after the game in an empty Breslin Center.

I was able to catch that moment 💚#GoGreen #Spartanswill https://t.co/NEzzL6F95A pic.twitter.com/kcmEnCMceY

— Anna Johnson (@AnnaJohnxon) February 13, 2024

With Smith being an above 84 percent free throw shooter during his NBA career, he knows a thing or two about the charity stripe. Some people might ask, what’s the big deal of this? The big deal is, this doesn’t happen in many other programs. Fans can be frustrated about the results but this is just one of the many examples of why Michigan State is different from many other programs.

Will this gesture by Smith fix Walker’s free throw slump? That is a question that fans will need to wait to see answered but even if Walker doesn’t get back up to 80 percent, the Michigan State basketball program will be under good hands as long as Izzo is around and you have legends doing the little things for the current players — just like Steve Smith did for Tyson Walker.