Walk-on Thornton has memorable debut for MSU
by David Mayo | The Grand Rapids Press
Sunday November 16, 2008, 11:15 PM
EAST LANSING -- Michigan State learned from its season opener that it has a walk-on who can play some.
Just as Austin Thornton learned when you're the biggest surprise of a game not expected to produce many, you shouldn't be the first player to leave the locker room after the game.
Thornton already was back at his apartment by the time he got the message and called, apologetically, to explain an odd phenomenon that took place Sunday night at Breslin Center where MSU beat Idaho 100-62.
First, the redshirt freshman from Cedar Springs High School got first-half minutes as a walk-on in his college debut, which is memorable enough.
"After the exhibition games, I thought I played pretty solid," he said. "I didn't know if I'd get meaningful minutes or just garbage time but I thought I'd get a chance to play."
Then, Thornton was on the court all of 62 seconds of his first college game before he teed up a 3-pointer. He swished it. A couple minutes later, he did it again. Late in the second half, he did it again. And if not for getting clobbered and knocked woozy between the second and third bombs, he might have played even more.
Nine minutes, nine points, one rebound, one assist is a statistical line usually reserved for an entrusted rotation player, not a non-scholarship guy playing his first real game since high school two years ago.
"The way he shot it, with confidence, he shot it that way in practice," Spartans coach Tom Izzo said.
About a week ago, Izzo had a heart-to-heart with Thornton about where the player saw himself in the future of the program. Thornton characterized the talk as "seeing where our heads were and getting to know each other better."
Izzo saw it as a glimpse into the inner workings of an athlete who was a starting high school quarterback until he decided to focus on basketball as a senior, then walked on at one of the nation's leading college programs.
"One thing about a competitive kid -- and he is a competitive kid -- is they respond," Izzo said. "Some guys don't respond. And I don't mean to getting chewed out, I mean respond to getting challenged. He has responded.
"It's a tribute to his toughness, his perseverance and his ability to look at things and take some criticism and build on it, which not all guys can do."
Tim Bograkos knows the challenges. The Flint native was the last Spartan to play a significant walk-on role. As a third-year sophomore during the 2002-03 season, Bograkos hit a game-winning 3-pointer at Kentucky, a play on which Izzo later called him "the sixth option."
Bograkos, who ultimately made himself a scholarship rotation player, said he has discussed the difficulties of walk-on life with Thornton.
"You kind of share that bond, as a walk-on, and I've shared it with him and tried to keep his head up, tried to keep him working hard," said Bograkos, who watched from courtside. "Coming out of the redshirt year is always tough, because you have to practice and work real hard but don't get to play. This just tells you about his character and what kind of kid he is, and how hard he worked coming out of the offseason."
Thornton said summers on the AAU circuit convinced him he could compete with highly recruited players.
"I'm very competitive. I've got a great work ethic. It's a quiet confidence I have. I wanted to play with the best and I wanted to play against the best," he said.
These first-half minutes might not be as plentiful as the schedule stiffens. But they were unanticipated Sunday, too, and after this first response, who knows?
"I just know, from my conversation with coach, he told me to keep working because you never know what's going to happen, someone may get hurt or something," Thornton said. "Obviously, when you go 3-for-3 on 3-pointers, you feel good about it. But I just have to stay level-headed and not get too high about the highs, or too low about the lows."
