MSU's Izzo Expands on Booker's 'Amicable' Departure as Return Nears
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EAST LANSING, Mich. --- You used to not see college teams going up against former players very often.
That's going to happen on Tuesday at the Breslin Center. No. 15 Michigan State (20-5 overall, 10-4 Big Ten) is hosting UCLA (17-8, 9-5) on Tuesday. This will be the return to East Lansing for former MSU center Xavier Booker, who transferred to the Bruins last spring. Spartans head coach Tom Izzo hopes everyone is respectful about it.
What Izzo Said
"I've talked to Book a lot over the last six months, eight months," Izzo said on Monday. "I hope our fans treat him with the respect he deserves. He was a great student here. He never caused any problems. He always did his job."
Odds are that Booker will be introduced as one of UCLA's five starters on Tuesday night. The Izzone has a tradition of holding up fake newspapers and simply stating "who cares, you suck" after each name is read off by the Breslin P.A. announcer. Izzo doesn't want anything extra from students or any of the other thousands of fans at the game.
"I hope our fans welcome him back," he said. "I hope we beat him, but I hope our fans welcome him back: students and fans. I don't want to see anybody booing him and doing this and that because he left, because it was a mutual thing that we did what was best for Book."
That's the key component here: it was probably best for both sides to move one from each other. It's the transfer portal being used in a relatively healthy way.
If Booker would have stayed another year after being removed from Michigan State's main playing rotation entirely during the NCAA Tournament, he'd be a junior who would still be coming off the bench behind Jaxon Kohler and Carson Cooper. His development hadn't been progressing enough at MSU anyway, and the timelines didn't really line up now, either.
Regardless of how things ended for Booker at Michigan State, it appears to have been done on good terms. His numbers have improved at UCLA this year, going from 4.7 points to 7.2 points per game and also going from a 23.3% three-point shooter to shooting 41.5% from deep. Both sides seem to be doing well. Izzo also said that he's always rooting for Booker (except for Tuesday), and that the door is always open if he needs anything else in the future.
"Some day, I'm hoping I'm calling a team for Book," Izzo said. "Some day, I'm hoping I'm helping him get somewhere, as I have other guys that have left, and some guys that might've left on other terms that I don't feel the same [towards], and my dumb backside will probably still help them. Because that's kinda what you go to work for every day. The problem is, a good deal is a two-way street, and those have gotta be reciprocated in some way, shape, or form.
"Trust me, when Book left here, met with his parents, met with him, it was a very amicable, good deal, respectful, and everything else. Disappointments both ways. That's what should happen."
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A 2025 graduate from Michigan State University, Cotsonika brings a wealth of experience covering the Spartans from Rivals and On3 to his role as Michigan State Spartans Beat Writer on SI. At Michigan State, he was also a member of the world-renowned Spartan marching band for two seasons.
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