Sunday’s Elite 8 slate options Michigan St. vs. Auburn, Tennessee vs. Houston
Mackenzie Salmon breaks down Sunday’s Elite Eight matchups.
Sports activities Significantly
When Michigan State basketball takes on Auburn within the Elite Eight of the males’s NCAA Match South Area on Sunday, sports activities followers may come throughout a well-known identify of one of many Spartans bench gamers.
However it simply will not be the participant jerseys they’re maybe accustomed to seeing it on, although.
Spartans junior guard Nick Sanders, the son of former NFL legendary working again Barry Sanders and a piano specialist for Tom Izzo, has spent the final three seasons as a walk-on at Michigan State. He is now trying to assist Michigan State hold a Closing 4 banner in East Lansing, Michigan.
Nick Sanders and Michigan State are set to tip off in opposition to No. 1 Auburn within the Elite Eight of the South Area on Sunday at 5:05 p.m. ET at State Farm Area in Atlanta.
A win on Sunday in opposition to the Tigers would ship the Spartans to their eight Closing 4 below Izzo, and enhance Izzo’s report in males’s March Insanity to 60-25.
Here is what you want to know:
Is Nick Sanders associated to Barry Sanders?
Sure, the Michigan State guard is the second-oldest son of the legendary NFL working again.
The elder Sanders, in fact, performed the whole lot of his NFL profession with the Detroit Lions and is among the solely working backs in NFL historical past to run for over 1,000 yards in every of his 10 seasons. He completed with 15,269 whole dashing yards in his 10 seasons with the Lions.
Barry Sanders’ NCAA single-season dashing report at Oklahoma State was practically damaged this previous faculty soccer season, as Boise State working again Ashton Jeanty got here up 28 dashing yards brief. Sanders is one among 40 working backs to be bestowed into faculty soccer’s most prestigious brotherhood, as he gained the Heisman Trophy after his historic junior season with the Cowboys in 1988.
“Excited for this weekend… Who might be in #Atlanta with #SpartyNation?,” Barry Sanders wrote on X (previously Twitter) on Wednesday.
Nick Sanders stats
Nick Sanders, who’s in his third season as a walk-on for the Spartans, has as soon as once more seen restricted taking part in time this season for the Large Ten common season champions: 10 video games and 15 mixed minutes.
He noticed two minutes of motion in Michigan State’s first-round win in opposition to No. 15 seed Bryant, the place he made a layup off the glass with 53 seconds remaining within the recreation.
Here is a breakdown of Nick Sanders’ stats at Michigan State:
- Profession: 26 video games, 0.4 factors and 0.1 rebounds per recreation whereas taking pictures 38.5% from the sector
- 2024-25: 10 video games, 0.8 factors and 0.2 rebounds per recreation whereas taking pictures 57.1% from the sector
The place did Barry Sanders go to school?
Barry Sanders attended Oklahoma State, the place he shortly turned one of many high working backs in faculty soccer historical past.
In three seasons in Stillwater, Oklahoma, Barry Sanders ran for 3,556 dashing yards and 48 dashing touchdowns. He was drafted with the No. 3 total decide by the Lions within the 1989 NFL draft, the place he’d go on to be the Rookie of the 12 months within the NFL that season.
Here is a year-by-year breakdown of Barry Sanders’ stats at Oklahoma State:
- 1986: 74 carries for 325 dashing yards and two touchdowns
- 1987: 105 carries for 608 dashing yards and 9 dashing touchdowns; 4 receptions for 58 receiving yards and a receiving landing
- 1988: 344 carries for two,628 dashing yards and 37 dashing touchdowns; 19 receptions for 106 receiving yards
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