The NCAA tournament is always filled with heart-warming stories. Perhaps the sweetest one involves Michigan State’s star forward and an 8-year-old girl named Lacey Holsworth who found out in 2011 that she had neuroblastoma.
She’d been in the hospital for a month when the Michigan State team came for a visit. She immediately forged a bond with Adreian Payne the 6’10” senior with a big smile.
“She’s like a sister to me,” Adreian told the Big Ten Network.
“I just think of him and I smile,” said Lacey.
On Senior Night, before the start of the Big Ten tournament, he carried her in his arms onto the basketball court as fans cheered.
He has also attended fundraisers to help the St. Johns family pay for hospital costs.
(WATCH the moving video by the Big Ten Network)