Remembering Adreian Payne: His Stats at Michigan State and Other Info
Former Michigan State basketball player Adreian Payne was shot and killed Monday in Orlando Florida. He was 31 years old.
Police arrested a man in connection with the shooting at the scene not long after, but by Monday afternoon authorities hadn't released details as to what precipitated the shooting.
Payne played at Michigan State from the 2010-2011 season through 2013-2014. A 5-star recruit from Dayton, Ohio, he earned Second Team All-Big Ten honors his junior and senior seasons. In 2013-2014, Payne averaged 16.4 points and 7.3 rebounds per game while shooting above 42 percent from beyond the arc.
Payne helped Michigan State to reach the Elite Eight in his final season. During that NCAA tournament, he scored a career-high 41 points in the second round against Delaware, setting a new school record for most points in a tournament game. It was also the most points a Spartan had scored since Tom Izzo became head coach, and the most points scored by a Spartan since Shawn Respert's 43 vs. Minnesota in 1994.
His career-best performance vs. Delaware made Payne just the eighth player to ever score 41 points or more in Michigan State history. Twenty-three of those points came in the first half, including 17 straight for the Spartans at one point. Payne shot 17-of-17 from the foul stripe in that game, setting an NCAA Tournament record for most free throws made without a miss.
Despite that monster performance, Payne will perhaps be more remembered at Michigan State for the close friendship he developed with Lacey Holsworth, an 8-year-old Lansing-area girl who fought cancer. Holsworth and her family attended many of MSU's games to cheer on Payne, including Payne's participation in college basketball's slam-dunk contest in 2014. Sadly, Holsworth died in early April 2014, just a few weeks after Payne and the Spartans ended their season.
Check out more interesting stats and info on Payne below.