Michigan State's Derrick Nix hopes for winning sendoff

Auburn Hills — Less than a week ago, as Derrick Nix sat in a locker room at the United Center in Chicago following a loss in the Big Ten tournament, he understood what was coming.

The Michigan State senior could feel it — the final few weeks of his college career.

On Wednesday, as he sat in the locker room at The Palace preparing to face Valparaiso in the NCAA Midwest Regional, the reality continued to hit home.

"It is close," said Nix, Michigan State's only senior. "(Today) could be my last game. That would be my college career."

It was that revelation that left Nix on the verge of tears.

"I don't want it to be my last game," Nix said. "So I'm going to come out with that energy and that passion and try to get this team a victory."

It's been a long road for the former Mr. Basketball from Detroit Pershing High.

He was an overweight project who often let his emotions get the best of him as a freshman. As a sophomore, he was left home from a trip to the Maui Invitational. Before his junior season, he cut a substantial amount of weight and had one of his most productive seasons, only to follow it in the offseason with an impaired driving arrest.

His summer was full of fighting to get back in the good graces of coach Tom Izzo — and he did.

"It's been a good and bad four years," Nix said. "I've experienced a lot and I've have matured a lot. I'm so grateful to be here. Coach sticking with me through my ups and downs, I appreciate it."

Izzo doesn't regret giving Nix a second chance. In fact, he wishes Nix would be around for another year.

"It's probably the most fun to take a guy that you're not sure would have made it academically, athletically, or socially, and you see it turn around," Izzo said. "You see a guy making it probably means more in the long run than the Final Fours because you really truly did help a guy get better, and that's what we all should be doing."

Nix will graduate in May — the first from his family to do so. But that doesn't mean he doesn't have hopes on the court.

He has said his best moment in basketball was reaching the Final Four as a freshman in 2010. He would like nothing more than to do that one more time.

"We just want to send him out the right way," said Keith Appling, who also played with Nix at Pershing. "Maybe that is in the Final Four and a national championship. We're gonna try to do everything we can and in our power to help him go out on the right note."

Nix has been vital in helping the younger players appreciate every moment of the final few weeks of the season.

"He told me he remembers his first day on campus," sophomore Travis Trice said. "He remembers every detail. He just explained how fast it goes, and you really have to savor it when you are here."

At the very least, Nix will have at least one more game to savor, and he'll get to do it in front of plenty of family and friends.

And he'll get to do it for the coach who gave him one more shot and wishes he could have an entire season more.

"I just want to keep finishing strong for him," Nix said.

mcharboneau@detroitnews.com

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