Tom Izzo heaps heavy praise on five-star freshman guard Max Christie

Michigan State freshman shooting guard Max Christie is already off to a solid start to his collegiate career after starting and scoring nine points in the Spartans’ season-opening 87-74 loss to No. 3 Kansas on Tuesday night, and MSU head coach Tom Izzo knows exactly what kind of player he has in Christie.

“I think we have a potential star in the making in Max Christie,” Izzo said Monday on the College Hoops Today Podcast. “He’s played very well in practice and he played very well in our exhibition games. He came in as a five-star recruit and if you ask me, he’s gotten much better since he’s gotten here. He’s become a better defender, a better rebounder. I think he’s going to keep growing.”

A consensus five-star recruit out of the 2021 class, Christie – an Arlington Heights, Illinois native – chose to go to Michigan State over a number of scholarship offers, including Duke, Michigan, Ohio State, Stanford and Baylor. He averaged 24 points and 10 rebounds per game as a senior and scored over 2,000 career points while at the high school level.

Prior to Tuesday’s regular-season opener against the highly-rated Jayhawks in the State Farm Champions Classic at Madison Square Garden in New York, Christie averaged 15.5 points in Michigan State’s first two exhibition games against Ferris State and Grand Valley State – scoring 17 and 14 points, respectively.

Christie and the Spartans will look to bounce back from their loss to Kansas on Friday night as they host Western Michigan at the Breslin Center in East Lansing.

Tom Izzo responds to Michigan State being unranked

Michigan State men’s basketball head coach Tom Izzo was not pleased that his Spartans did not appear in the preseason Associated Press Top 25.

“It does tick me off,” Izzo said. “But I understand it.”

The Spartans entered the 2021-2022 season unranked for the first time since the 2011-12 season. Michigan State did receive the most votes among unranked teams. Tom Izzo’s squad lacks a star player and is coming off an offseason full of attrition. The Spartans lost Rocket Watts, Foster Loyer, Thomas Kithier and Jack Hoiberg to the transfer portal. Aaron Henry, last season’s scoring leader, skipped his senior season to enter the NBA draft and Joshua Langford’s five-year career ended.

Last season, the Spartans snuck into the NCAA Tournament after going 15-13 and below .500 in conference play for the first time in Izzo’s 27 seasons with the program.

Michigan State returns seven players with experience this season including Joey Hauser – who averaged 9.7 points per game last season – and senior guard Gabe Brown. The Spartans also added Christie, who was rated No. 20 in the country in the On300 rankings, along with four-star point guard Jaden Akins, who ranks No. 49, and four-star small forward Pierre Brooks, who ranks No. 54 in the country.