ATLANTA — The hugs and tears were plentiful. The emotions were raw and real.
An abrupt end to Michigan State basketball’s deep run in the NCAA tournament, with Sunday’s 70-64 loss to Auburn in the Elite Eight, closed the books on the season.
And opened the questions about what comes next. Particularly for Jase Richardson and Xavier Booker, at different ends of the spectrum.
After joining MSU’s starting lineup in early February, Richardson emerged as the go-to Spartan on offense, playing his way onto the first rounds of NBA mock draft boards. The 6-foot-3, 185-pound freshman combo guard averaged 16.1 points in starting the Spartans’ final 15 games, shooting 42% from 3-point range while grabbing 4.6 rebounds and dishing out 1.7 assists per game.
Asked about his plans, Richardson — who averaged 12.3 points for the season — said he will think about whether or not to test the NBA draft process when he returns to East Lansing.
“I'll talk to my family, talk to my teammates, talk to my coaches, kind of just figure out what's the next best step for me, just considering that,” he said in MSU’s downtrodden locker room. “Especially when you lose in this fashion, when you're so close to a goal that you really want to achieve, it's a lot. I mean, just the coaching staff, everybody that was around here, I really love so much. So that's gonna play a lot.”
MSU coach Tom Izzo said he has been impressed how Richardson’s family — his father is former MSU and NBA star Jason, and his mother is Jackie Paul-Richardson, who coached Jase — have handled the added attention as their son blossomed as a pro prospect this season.
“I've already talked to Jason and his mom,” Izzo said. “I do think he's got to test the waters, just because that's the way it is now. But they'll do what they want. …That'll be something that'll be months away yet, so it'd be dumb for me to speculate.”
Richardson scored just six points on 1-for-10 shooting in MSU’s second-round win over New Mexico, recovered for 20 points in the Sweet 16 win over Mississippi and then again found shots tough to come by Sunday against Auburn, going 4-for-13 for 11 points.
“This is just gonna encourage me to work harder,” Richardson said. “You lose games like this, and it's gonna sit in the back of your mind for the rest of the offseason. You're gonna be watching the Final Four, and we're gonna think that we were supposed to be there. It's definitely gonna be used as fuel.”
The last MSU player to leave after his freshman season was Max Christie in 2022; he's now with the Dallas Mavericks after being taken in the second round (No. 35 overall) of the 2022 NBA draft by the Los Angeles Lakers.
