Michigan State's Travis Trice Took the Long, Hard Road to Tourney Stardom

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — No one would have blamed Travis Trice Sr. for missing his son's game Sunday.

Sure, Travis Trice II (as the family calls him) was playing on a pretty big stage, but Travis Sr. had a big game of his own to think about. He's the coach at Wayne High in Huber Heights, Ohio, and on Saturday night, he was coaching in the Ohio state tournament in Cincinnati. His game tipped off less than 12 hours before Travis II and Michigan State were scheduled to play Virginia in the third round of the NCAA tournament.

The timing was a problem. But Travis Sr. knew how important it was for him to be there for his son, how much his guidance has helped Travis II turn into a star for the Spartans.

"I wouldn't be the player I am today if it weren't for my dad," said Travis II.

So after his own game, Travis Sr. and wife Julie hurried home, packed up and—along with another Wayne coach and his wife—got in the car for an overnight road trip. Instead of celebrating a win that put Wayne in its first-ever state semifinal, they hit the road at around 1 a.m. and drove nearly eight hours, arriving in time to see Travis II turn in one of the defining performances of this year's tourney.

The proud father didn't show any signs of exhaustion—or surprise—as he watched his son score 13 of the Spartans' first 15 points and 23 total in a 60-54 upset of Virginia.

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"I'm so excited to see Travis showing what he can do and who he is," Travis Sr. said after the game, watching as his son's team celebrated advancing to the Sweet 16. "We know that's who this kid is, and for him to get the chance to show everyone else on this stage, it's just unbelievable."

It's also pretty improbable. Travis II has not had an easy road to stardom, at Michigan State or before.

"If you look at my story and some of the things I've been through," he said, "I shouldn't even be here right now."

His father credits his son's perseverance, faith and determination—from the beginning—for the level he's reached, leading Michigan State this season with 15 points and 5.1 assists per game.

As reported in a recent article by Joe Rexrode in the Detroit Free Press, Travis II's mother was a senior track star at Springfield North High in Ohio when she learned in 1992 she was pregnant with him. Travis Sr., then a sophomore point guard at Purdue (he would later transfer to and star at Butler), was the father.

They decided Julie's college career, which would have included a track scholarship to UNC-Wilmington, would have to be put on hold. They also decided to stay together, eventually married and made Travis II the cornerstone of a much bigger, very accomplished athletic family. He's the oldest of five Trice children, including two who are on the current Wayne semifinal team: D'Mitrick, a senior point guard and the quarterback on the school's state championship football team, and Isaiah, the youngest son at 16.

But just getting Travis II into the world was no easy task, a harbinger of the life that was ahead of him. As his mother told Rexrode, Travis II's heartbeat "flatlined" in the 41st week of the pregnancy, and it was necessary for her to be rushed to the hospital for an emergency C-section. They discovered the umbilical cord had wrapped around his ankles, further complicating his arrival into this world.

Travis II beat the odds that day, and it was only the beginning.

"I've been in the gym since I was five," he said. "Being around my dad, I always had a basketball in my hands."

But even with his pedigree and determination, Travis Sr. said his son has always had to feed off those who doubted him.

"He's always been one of the smallest guys on the floor. A little thin. I mean, even now he's 175 pounds soaking wet…a little over six feet tall, maybe," Travis Sr. said. "But he's very athletic. He's sneaky athletic—and if I'm going in the trenches and need to make something happen at the end of a game, I'm taking him every time."

In middle school, Travis II was told he was a pretty good quarterback. But soon, his dad said, the family was hearing he wasn't quite as good as his best friend, Braxton Miller, the Ohio State standout who remains close to the Trice family.

He met Branden Dawson, his future Michigan State teammate, when both were in seventh grade at an AAU basketball tournament, and they became fast, close friends. When Michigan State coach Tom Izzo came to see the team play, he initially was there to recruit only the bigger, faster, stronger Dawson.

But Travis II eventually caught Izzo's eye, and soon he was recruiting him too. When both players decided to come to Michigan State within three days of one another, the Trice family started hearing whispers that their son was merely part of a package deal to get the more highly rated, more highly recruited Dawson to commit to the MSU program.

Dawson will be the star for the Spartans. Your son is too small and probably will never start, Travis Sr. heard some critics say.

"A lot of it is that he's a smaller kid. But the desire of this kid [shows] in his heart," he said. "Since he was very, very little, like five years old, he's had tremendous determination. He's been told at every level that he's not big enough, not strong enough, not fast enough.

"Izzo comes and recruits him, really, after watching Branden Dawson. Everyone was like, 'Oh, they just took Travis Trice because they're trying to get Branden Dawson.' But that wasn't the case at all. … Then he got to Michigan State and everyone was like, 'Who is this kid? He's not a 5-star or even a 4-star guy.' But Coach Izzo saw something in him, and that says a lot about his eye for what talent is and for what a Michigan State Spartan is. And Travis has proven him right about all that now."

Dawson said he, for one, has never doubted that Travis II would eventually emerge as a star for the Spartans.

Nell Redmond/Associated Press

"Just playing with Travis since AAU basketball in the seventh grade—all the big shots he made throughout the Big Ten tournament, and the shots he made in the regular season, the shots he made [against Virginia]—that just shows Travis is a big-time player," Dawson said. "He's been in moments like this plenty of times. … Big-time players make big-time plays, and that's what Travis does.

"He's like my brother. We've been roommates since my freshman year. Playing alongside Travis has been quite a long journey, but it's been fun."

Not always. At least not for Travis II.

His first three years at Michigan State were littered with injuries that boggled even his determined mind. He says he's had concussions, turf toe, blisters that got infected, blisters on top of those blisters that also got infected and made it difficult for him to even walk, sprained ankle ligaments and a pulled groin.

Al Goldis/Associated Press

"I haven't had any surgeries, but I've probably had every weird injury in the book that would make you shake your head," Travis II said.

Nothing topped or baffled doctors more than in the summer of 2012 when what is described in the Michigan State media guide as "a mysterious illness" eventually diagnosed as a brain infection from a parasite left the Trice family and Izzo fearing for the young man's life. Travis II credited his faith for pulling him through when the illness eventually faded away.

"You've got to realize he's barely 6'0" and weighs about a buck-fifty when he started out with us. He got up to about 172 or 173 [pounds], and then that summer he got sick," Izzo said. "It was a virus of some kind; they said they didn't know. I was worried about his life for a while, and it totaled him for the whole summer. He went down, I think, to 148 pounds.

"Then the next summer, he had a couple of injuries too. He had a concussion. When you miss that much time, you can't get stronger."

And when you enter college a little on the smaller side, stronger and bigger is what you need to be.

Last summer, Travis II finally had a chance to put it all together. After years of playing catch-up because of his health issues and also playing behind some great players who since have moved on, the stars finally seemed to be aligning for him coming into this season, according to Izzo, who named him a co-captain.

Travis II has not disappointed, leading the Spartans in scoring and assists while also being directed by Izzo at times to defend the opposition's best offensive guard.

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"I can't say enough about the job he's done, but he's done it the old-fashioned way. He's earned it," Izzo said. "He's a gym rat. His dad's a coach. His mother was an athlete. They're a great family.

"When I didn't start him [earlier in his career], I called his dad and he said, 'Yeah, I didn't start some guys on my team either.' Everybody gets it. When [Travis II] says winning is the most important thing for him, winning is the most important."

There was plenty of winning to go around for the Trice family last weekend.

But they all know this weekend presents new challenges. Michigan State and Travis II are off to Syracuse to face Oklahoma in the East Regional semifinals Friday night. Travis II knows Travis Sr. can't be there for that one, as his Wayne team will be in Columbus, Ohio, to take on Lakewood St. Edward in the state semis. Tipoff for that game will be about 90 minutes and 470 miles from Travis II's.

"We play Friday night at 8:30 [p.m. ET], and if we win that game, we'll play Saturday," the father said. "So we won't be able to get to Syracuse for their first game. I'm going to tell Travis the same thing I've been telling him: 'You get to Sunday, and I'll be in New York.'"

As for the son, he doesn't want his journey to end. Nor does he question where it has taken him through the years.

"I just think everything happens for a reason," he said. "I thank God for literally just bringing me through it. It's made me a better person, honestly, for all the things I've been through."

Later, sitting at his stall in a jubilant Michigan State locker room in Charlotte, Travis II shook his head at the long list of what all that meant. But it's not something he spends a whole lot of time dwelling on these days. He's got better things to do.

"I revisit it every once in a while in my mind, just to put it in perspective of where I could have been and where I'm at now versus some of the other things I've been through," he said. "It just really makes you appreciate what's happening now. So I really live in the moment now, more than anything."

Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained firsthand.

Joe Menzer has written six books, including one about college basketball entitled Four Corners, and now writes about college hoops and other sports for Bleacher Report while also working as a writer and editor for FoxSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @OneMenz.