JASON WHITENS

KALAMAZOO — Current Western Michigan University men’s basketball player and North Central graduate Jason Whitens is looking forward to he and his teammates’ upcoming game on Sunday night. The Broncos will travel to East Lansing to take on the No. 15 Michigan State Spartans and Iron Mountain native Tom Izzo.

“It’s a blessing to me, to be able to play Division I college basketball. To be able to play against MSU is a blessing as well,” said Whitens in a phone interview Friday afternoon. “And for me to return to the Breslin Center after almost three years since winning our third state championship there, is very exciting.”

Whitens was a member

of the three consecutive undefeated Class D state basketball championships won by North Central in 2015, 2016 and 2017. He and fellow three-time state champion Jets teammate and current Michigan Tech player Dawson Bilski had their jerseys retired by their alma mater this past Monday night.

During Whitens’ recruiting process, he was invited by Izzo to attend a game at Michigan State. In that official visit, Whitens and his father, Gerald, a NC state championship team member as well, being a junior on the Jets 1984 Class D state championship team, met with Izzo and were given an incredible amount of help from the Hall of Fame coach.

When it was determined that the best opportunity for Whitens wasn’t in East Lansing playing for Izzo, the coach extended a helping hand to Whitens. “Coach Izzo called several coaches on my behalf, in an effort for me to find whichever opportunity was best for me,” said Whitens. “A big reason I ended up here at Western is because of Coach Izzo’s conversation with Coach (Steve) Hawkins.”

Whitens noted that Hawkins has held extra workouts the last couple of days in preparation, but Whitens insists that it’s because of it being Christmas break on campus, and having extra time to do so.

“We have to treat this as any other non-conference game,” Whitens said. “Coach (Hawkins) doesn’t want us to let ourselves get too up for this game.”

As the starting small forward for the Broncos, the redshirt sophomore noted that his defensive assignment is going to either be Aaron Henry or AP Preseason All-American and Player of Year Cassius Winston.

“I have played against several of the guys on MSU, mainly in AAU, including Winston, Foster Loyer and (Xavier) Tillman. I played against Brock Washington (Southfield Christian) in the state finals our junior seasons and in the semifinals as seniors,” Whitens said. “I’ll look forward to seeing all of them and Coach Izzo on Sunday, before, during and after the game.”

Whitens had a season- high 15 points in a 115-110 triple overtime win in Milwaukee versus UW-Milwaukee earlier this season. He had his first career double-double in the Preseason NIT at Disney World in Orlando against Yale, registering 11 points and 10 rebounds.

Tip-off Sunday night from East Lansing will be slightly after 7 p.m., with the game being televised on the Big 10 Network. BTN is channel 66 on Norway Cable, Channel 65 on Charter Spectrum, channel 405-1 on Dish Network and channel 610 on DirecTV.