Less than a week ago, the Naismith Committee put out a semifinalist list of 10 National Defensive Player of the Year award candidates. Xavier Tillman wasn’t on it. Tillman doesn’t care about personal accolades, though. But that doesn’t make his omission from the candidates list any less egregious.
Source: Spartan Avenue
In a game in which he shut down one of the best players in the country, Iowa’s Luka Garza in the second half, Xavier Tillman passed Matt Costello to become Michigan State basketball’s All-Time Leader in career blocks with 147 while helping lead the Spartans past the Hawkeyes 78-70.
Source: Spartans Wire
Michigan State junior men’s basketball Xavier Tillman (Grand Rapids, Mich./GR Christian) was selected to the Academic All-District 5 First Team by the College Sports Information Director of America (CoSIDA) on Thursday.
Watch highlights from Hockey’s win over Minnesota on the road, and hear from Patrick Khodorenko and Xavier Tillman.
First, the simple situation with Michigan State’s frontcourt personnel: Thomas Kithier will return from a two-game absence due to illness when Michigan State plays Illinois on Tuesday on the road.“Kithier’s back,” Spartans coach Tom Izzo said at his Monday press conference. “…I don’t know if that will help us in this game but it’ll help us as we go.”
Source: mlive.com
Tom Izzo, Xavier Tillman and Cassius Winston preview the upcoming Big Ten Basketball game against the University of Michigan on February 8, 2020.
Xavier Tillman has been struggling. Whether it’s fighting through sickness (which he did against Illinois but still played well) or battling the distraction that the birth of a child brings, his game hasn’t been quite up to par with how he’s capable of producing. That’s not to say Tillman has played poorly, though. He’s averaging 13.3 points, 10.1 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game, but he’s hit a rough patch.
Source: Spartan Avenue
Xavier Tillman was named one of 10 candidates for the 2020 Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year Award by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Thursday.
The person perhaps most likely to take Xavier Tillman out of a game at this point hasn’t been born yet. The Spartans junior forward and his wife are expecting their second child, a son, within the next few weeks. That fact makes road trips like the Spartans’ one this weekend to Wisconsin anxious ones these days.
Source: mlive.com
“We told Cash he’s got to come off (screens) harder,” Izzo said. “Cash hasn’t been himself. … I still don’t think he’s coming off things as hard, he looks tired to me still. We’ve got to practice more, and he’s gotta have better practices. And it’s not his fault, it’s just the situations that we’ve been in.” Winston, Tillman and Izzo have been trying to find different ways to make that action work again.
Source: Detroit Free Press
Let’s talk about what Michigan State Spartans junior forward/center Xavier Tillman is doing this season, and the effect he’s had on the basketball team’s success. After getting off to a slow start in the first few games this season, Tillman has really ramped up his play since the Virginia Tech loss.
Source: The Only Colors
Joshua Langford won’t play this year. Tom Izzo expects Kyle Ahrens will be bothered by his multitude of injuries for the rest of the season. Cassius Winston and Rocket Watts both have battled their own physical ailments. Now add Xavier Tillman to Michigan State basketball’s list of walking wounded.
Source: Detroit Free Press
Lately, it can feel like the game flows through Tillman. Just about every rebound seems to be his — or gifts to teammates off his block-outs. Open 3-pointers are often thanks to the double-teams he’s drawing down low. Opposing players’ shots that are swatted out of bounds routinely have his hand print on them.
Source: Lansing State Journal
Xavier Tillman’s reaction could have been mistaken for a celebration after his second-half block on Sunday. In reality, it was a veteran leader providing a wake-up call to a younger teammate.
Source: mlive.com
Heading into Breslin Center about 3 ½ hours before a 1:30 p.m. tipoff, Tom Izzo noticed Xavier Tillman was also entering the building. “I said ‘what the hell are you doing here this early?’” Izzo recalled asking the junior forward. “It was like two hours before (players) were supposed to be here. He said ‘I’m going to shoot some free throws and watch some tape.’ I said ‘wow, kudos.’”
Source: mlive.com
Spartans senior point guard Cassius Winston is seen as the team’s most likely first-round pick and is widely projected to go in either the final few picks of the first round or the first few picks of the second round. He’s projected 28th by CBS Sports and ESPN, 30th by Sports Illustrated and 31st by The Athletic in mock drafts published in the last month.
Source: mlive.com
MSU basketball cruises by Charleston Southern Spartan Tailgate
MSU cruised to 3-1 by way of a 94-46 slaughtering at Breslin Center in the Mainland game of the Maui Invitational. The Spartans will be in Hawaii next time they take the floor, next Monday against Virginia Tech. The Spartans dumped in 50 points in the paint, led by center Xavier Tillman’s career-high 21. The junior added 10 rebounds, four assists and a block against the undersized Buccaneers.
MSU basketball trounces Charleston Southern, then Cassius Winston delivers heartfelt message Detroit Free Press
It was a workmanlike warmup for a long trip to Hawaii. No. 3 Michigan State basketball shared the ball. It scored and rebounded at will. It defended at a high level, doing everything it was supposed to in a 94-46 blowout of Charleston Southern on Monday night. All without Aaron Henry. The sophomore guard went through warmups but got a chance to rest his injured ankles, four days after twisting them and playing through the pain in a win at Seton Hall.
Xavier Tillman’s career night helps MSU hammer Charleston Southern Detroit News
Michigan State got a head start in its preparation for the Maui Invitational on Monday night, hosting Charleston Southern in a campus game for the event that begins next week in Hawaii. The Spartans didn’t take long to heat up, opening an early lead then dominating late in the first and well into the second on the way to a 94-46 victory at the Breslin Center.
Xavier Tillman leads Michigan State to rout of Charleston Southern MLive.com
The next 15 days for this Michigan State team will bring a trip to Hawaii for three , then a return home for a date against current No. 1 Duke. On Monday, the Spartans looked ready for all of it. No. 3 Michigan State (3-1) easily dispatched Charleston Southern (1-4), 96-46, on Monday night at the Breslin Center.
Michigan State rolls, Xavier Tillman has career night against Charleston Southern State News
No. 3 Michigan State (3-1) cruised past Charleston Southern (1-4) in a 94-46 rout Monday night. Sophomore forward Gabe Brown made his first collegiate start as fellow second-year wing Aaron Henry continues to recover from injuries to both ankles suffered at Seton Hall.
Tillman’s Career Night Leads No. 3 Michigan State past Charleston Southern MSUSpartans.com
The No. 3-ranked Michigan State’s men’s basketball team opened up a 22-point lead at halftime and never looked back en route to a4 94-46 win over Charleston Southern at the Breslin Center Monday night.
Never before has a player from Michigan State been named the Naismith Men’s College Player of the Year. That could change this season. Cassius Winston and Xavier Tillman have been named to the Naismith Trophy watch list for this season.
Source: Spartans Wire
As a teenager, Tillman‘s talent was always obvious. For two years he starred at Forest Hills High School before he transferred to Grand Rapids Christian before his junior year. He was a skilled big man with a deft touch and great versatility, big time programs like Michigan State, Michigan or Purdue showed interest in him. Some recruiting services even had him among the best prospects in Michigan for his class
Source: The Only Colors
Each New Year’s Eve the family would sit down in its Grand Rapids home to think and talk about the year ahead. Dreams, goals and what it would take to achieve them were discussed and written down on what Powell-May dubbed the family’s vision boards. A vision board for the year 2019 now hangs now on a wall of the Michigan State apartment of Powell-May’s son, Spartans junior forward Xavier Tillman.
Source: mlive.com