Morgan waiting for time to heal his ankle, others battle injuries as well

By: Cash Kruth Posted: 11/13/09 10:56pm

Senior forward Raymar Morgan returned to the lineup for the No. 2 MSU men’s basketball team and played nine minutes in Friday’s 97-58 season-opening win against Florida Gulf Coast.

Morgan looked a little rusty, scoring zero points on 0-for-4 shooting – including 0-for-4 from the free-throw line – and didn’t play at all in the second half. After the game he said he didn’t re-injure the ankle, but might have hyper-extended it. Regardless, he said he felt “pretty good overall,” adding, “it’s just a time thing now.”

Head coach Tom Izzo said he wanted to give Morgan a chance to play – even though Morgan probably won’t be 100 percent for a week and a half or two weeks – but did say because Morgan played Friday, he’ll be more ready for Tuesday’s game against Gonzaga.

That’s exactly Morgan’s thinking, who said, “It’s a time and it’s going to be sore, but I can play on it, so I’m going to play.”

In other news, sophomore forward Draymond Green dropped to the floor screaming in pain with 3:13 remaining in the game, but simply was suffering from cramps. He returned to the bench minutes later, but didn’t return to the game.

Freshman center Derrick Nix had quite the debut, recording a double-double with 11 points and 14 rebounds to set a school record for most rebound by a freshman in a debut. He broke the record formerly held by Matt Steigenga, who pulled down 10 boards in his 1988 debut.

“It was one of those games, a double-double in 15 minutes, and some of the double-double was because he was missing shots and getting them back, but I was pleased with Derrick,” Izzo said. “That’s impressive that he had 14 rebounds, 11 points. I’m happy for him. He’s sweat a lot of weight off in the last year and especially this summer, so it’s nice to see him rewarded.”

Jump to comments