Examining Travis Walton's game-by-game statistics is not the best way to measure his contribution this season. A better way would be to look at the stats of those players the Michigan State senior guard has been assigned to defend.
"We've put him on a variety of different guys from 6 feet to 6-7," coach Tom Izzo said. "But he's got that one intangible that not many people have anymore. He's just got toughness, and that's why we recruited him. We thought there was something missing in our program and we needed a bulldog -- another (Mateen) Cleaves-type guy who would get after it."
"You'll always have your star players, but you also have to have that guy that's gonna play defense, that's going to do all the little dirty things that your star player's not supposed to be doing," Walton said.
Izzo said MSU was lacking the "blue-collar guy" that he liked during the early 2000s, and Walton appeared to be the type to fill that role.
Since Walton's arrival, Izzo has been so impressed by his leadership on and off the court that he made Walton a co-captain as a sophomore. Walton is the third three-year captain in Izzo's tenure.
From the start of his senior season, Walton has been forthcoming about his goals. He frequently has mentioned how much he wants to win the Big Ten's Defensive Player of the Year Award, but is aware that anyone's chances to win individual honors correlates heavily with team success.
Illinois coach Bruce Weber spoke highly of his player, Chester Frazier, as well as Walton during Monday's Big Ten teleconference.
"They're both guys that have accepted their roles," Weber said. "It's not easy in this day and age to say, 'Hey, I'm a defensive stopper.' It's not cool to be a defensive stopper. You want to be a go-to guy, a three-point shooter, a dunker or something like that."
Reigning defensive player of the year, Purdue's Chris Kramer, is in the same mold. Purdue also is 1 1/2 games behind first-place MSU.
"Those three guys -- it's kind of funny that the three leading teams in the league all have one of those kind of guys," Izzo said. "Maybe that's why we're all in the same boat."
