John Niyo: Joshua Langford's new life lifts MSU in NCAA tourney push

Feb. 24—All Joshua Langford wanted was a chance.

That's all his team wants now, too.

So it's probably not a coincidence Michigan State, with its NCAA tournament hopes on the ropes, found a spark in their senior leader who has made a career out of refusing to give in or give up.

That's Langford, all right. And so was this Tuesday night at the Breslin Center, though even his head coach, Tom Izzo, could scarcely believe it when he looked at the stat sheet following the Spartans' upset win over No. 5 Illinois.

"I mean, how can Josh get 16 rebounds?" Izzo said, shaking his head.

How, indeed? That kind of rebounding from a shooting guard took Izzo back 20 years or more, to the days of Charlie Bell and Jason Richardson.

And it had both the player and the coach laughing on their way to the postgame press conference Tuesday. Only once before in his five-year college career had Langford posted 10 rebounds in a game — back in November 2018 against Florida Gulf Coast.

But against the Illini, he'd matched that career high by halftime. And by game's end, Langford had added 13 points to go with those 16 boards, as well as an assist, a blocked shot and two steals in 36 minutes.

Thirty-six minutes? For the second game in a row?

"In October, we didn't even think he could play," Izzo said of Langford, who'd been plagued by chronic foot injuries and hadn't played a game in nearly two years. "In November, we were just hoping to get 15 minutes a game out of him."

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Tuesday night, he was playing more like the McDonald's All-American who'd been one of the headliners of Izzo's heralded 2016 recruiting class with Miles Bridges and Cassius Winston. There was a spring in his step and a confidence in Langford's game that was unmistakable and almost unrecognizable.

"I feel great," he said afterward. "Things are really progressing well for me health-wise. I don't have any issues. And right now, I'm just trying to do the best I can for my team and be everything that they need me to be."

Anything and everything, it seems. Because Tuesday's statistical production only scratches the surface of Langford's contributions to this late-season switch that's been flipped here, perhaps. And with no time to spare, as the Spartans try to extend that 22-season NCAA tourney streak.

"The margin for error is really, really slim," Langford said.

But make no mistake, this Michigan State team isn't done fighting. And quite frankly, the final margin Tuesday was a bit misleading, because the Spartans were the better team from start to finish in this one.

Illinois had won seven in a row and was coming off a thrashing of Minnesota on the road. But Michigan State, which found something with a small-ball lineup in a win at Indiana on Saturday, made it clear early on this would be a different sort of game. With Aaron Henry leading a shutdown effort on Illini star Ayo Dosunmu and a tag-team affair tackling the "monster" in the middle, as Izzo described center Kofi Cockburn, the Spartans didn't waste any time.

"We wanted to be the aggressor," Langford said. "We didn't want to get hit first. We wanted to go hit them first."

And then they kept hitting the Illini, sometimes a bit too forcefully, as freshman center Mady Sissoko learned the hard way when he was ejected for a flagrant foul in the second half. That was one of two dozen personal fouls whistled against the Spartans in a game that reminded Izzo of "our streetfighting days," the way his team scratched and clawed and, ultimately, won.

They'll have to win some more like this, of course.

"We haven't done anything yet," Izzo said. "Long way to go yet, we all know that."

And a short time to prepare for the next challenge, as another top-five team — Ohio State, off since Sunday's narrow loss to Michigan — comes to town Thursday.

But with two straight wins, Michigan State (12-9 overall, 6-9 Big Ten) at least has given itself a fighting chance at landing one of the nine or 10 NCAA berths this league will deserve on Selection Sunday. With five games left in the regular season and the Big Ten tournament to follow — if nothing else, this win may help the Spartans avoid a first-round game as a bottom-four seed in Indianapolis — the challenge remains daunting.

Still, there's a renewed energy with this group, more than a month removed from its COVID-19 pause.

"I mean, this is the healthiest this team has been in two months," Izzo said. "I think a lot of it is that, I really do."

The rest of it, though, is a mix of desperation and determination, and the rallying cry the last couple weeks has been to find a way to be more "connected" down the stretch. Perhaps no one has taken that to heart more than Langford, the elder statesman in the locker room.

"I think he has become one of our best leaders," Izzo said, noting his work with sophomore guard Rocket Watts in particular, from watching film to extra shooting in the gym. "Joshua Langford wants to be held accountable. and Joshua Langford's starting to hold other people accountable. I mean, in meetings he's actually called people out. It's so different than the guy I knew for four years. And it's beautiful."

For Langford, it's been a long time coming.

"It hasn't been an easy journey," Langford said. "It's definitely been challenging. But I think that just speaks volumes about the people I have around me in the program."

People on the medical staff like Nick Richey, the athletic trainer who has spent countless hours with Langford as he rehabbed from two separate foot surgeries the last two years. And his coaches, too, who've helped him through some of the toughest times. Langford leans heavily on his faith and his family, and he always has, but even he sounded ready to call it quits on his college hoops career — and maybe his pro prospects as well, whether in the NBA or overseas — after another lost season a year ago.

"He brings tears to my eyes," Izzo said after Tuesday night's win. "Because I'm one of the few people that knows three-fourths of what he's been through. Not everything, but I know what he's been through. I know how he felt. Me and his dad almost had to beg him to come back, because he just had had it.

"But man, it's good when a guy can do that, reach down and ... who knows where this is gonna take him? But he's a good basketball player, and if he can stay healthy, I think he has basketball left in his life."

So, too, does his team, it appears. And watching this latest effort, I think it's safe to say there's a connection there.

john.niyo@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @JohnNiyo