Take the court with Tom Izzo for Michigan State vs Auburn in Elite Eight
Take the court with Tom Izzo for Michigan State vs Auburn in Elite Eight in Atlanta, Sunday, March 30, 2025.
ATLANTA — The list is incredibly short, but just got a little longer.
Despite that fact, those who shared a locker room with MSU’s captain look up to him tremendously. And always will.
«Jaden, bro, that’s my brother, that’s like my real brother ,bro,» Tre Hollomon said through tears. «We’ve had so many talks. I love him,
«I just try to keep him like confident because we needed him. … He’s a winner man. He’s a great person. I’m just gonna keep on cheering for him.»
Akins played in 138 games with 98 starts at Michigan State, improving with each passing season.
He shot better than 42% on 3-pointers as a sophomore, cracked double-digit scoring per game as a junior and led MSU with 12.8 points per game as a senior.
Akins’s shooting was off in his final college game Sunday — he opened 1-for-10 before he hit five of his final seven shots and finished second on the team with 15 points — but MSU wouldn’t have been there without the man who was named to the Big Ten all-defensive team.
The 6-foot-4, 195-pound wing from Farmington knew that he wanted to play for Michigan State from the time he was in elementary school, and as his collegiate career wrapped up, he did his best to reflect on what the youth version of him may think of his journey.
«It was definitely ups and downs, not everything went as planned,» he said. «But I feel like there were a lot of great moments, too.
«This year, definitely, was worth everything. I mean this was the best year of basketball of my life to be around these guys. So I mean, I’m grateful.»
Akins was the longest-tenured Spartan, but not the only senior on the roster. The others were one-year rentals, so to speak, in Frankie Fidler and Szymon Zapala, but the tears streaming down their face postgame showed this meant a whole lot more than just one year to them.
Fidler, who starred at Omaha, had to adjust his role throughout the year and find where he fit. He even kept MSU in it in the first half, with a five-point stretch to help get a 15-point deficit as close as five. But the Spartans could not get over the hump.
Zapala, meanwhile, played his role well, coming in from Longwood.
He was a 7-footer who used his size to carve out space in the paint. Grab rebounds when he can, finish around the bucket when he can, and be mobile enough on defense to defend in the ways Tom Izzo requires of his center.
«It’s been amazing man, I couldn’t ask for anything more,» Zapala said. «We did a lot of great things together. I have brothers for life.
«I just wish it ended a different way.»
Fidler said that East Lansing will be «a second home for me forever» that he appreciated how the players, coaches and the fan base «welcomed us in from the jump» and he will be a «Spartan for life.»
For as true as it is for Fidler and Zapala, consider it four times as true for Akins. He made the tournament all four seasons, but this was the best of the bunch. MSU (30-7, 17-3 Big Ten) won the league outright by three games in the first year of its four-team expansion.
For just the second time in three years, the Spartans made the second weekend of the NCAA tournament and for the first time in six years, got within one game of where they’ve been eight times under Izzo: the Final Four. Junior Jaxon Kohler said that the team dedicated this postseason run to the seniors, knowing they wouldn’t get another shot.
What hurt the most, Kohler said, is that they couldn’t get it done. But that’s also what made this team special.
The pain MSU feels is almost all for Akins. Others may get another chance. Akins won’t.
He’s had this feeling before: When MSU got bounced in the second round last year, in the Sweet 16 the year prior that or the second round the year before that. But it was this group, the one Izzo said he’s more proud of than perhaps any before, that made the year special for Akins.
That was the cherry on top of an outstanding career, even if it came short of that one shining moment.
«It felt a lot different,» Akins said. «Just the group of guys we had. Everybody was unselfish, everybody had the same goals. So yeah, it was just a different feeling.»
Tony Garcia is the Michigan Wolverines beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at apgarcia@freepress.com and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.
