MSU’s Nick Ward our with a broken hand
https://twitter.com/bfquinn/status/1097273414610493441?s=21
”Yow. Some serious news out of Michigan State:
What was billed as maybe a dislocated finger for Nick Ward is now known to be a hairline fracture in his hand. Ward is out for an unknown amount of time. MSU says it hopes he will return before the end of the season.”
Gotta think he’ll miss the first matchup on the 24th
February 17th, 2019 at 7:24 PM ^
I wouldn't say that's true for Tillman. He shoots around 75% at the rim with 70% of those being assisted, very similar numbers to Ward but on smaller volume. He also shoots close to 50% on other 2's, is a 70% (80% in conference) FT shooter and has made 4 3's. He's a fairly skilled big man.
MSU doesn't run offense through Tillman like they try to through Ward. They don't make it a point to post him up and give him post touches. I think part of that's because he spends time on the court with Ward so he loses those touches to Ward. Without Ward I think his usage increases and Tillman will still be efficient, but I don't think he can handle the same usage that Ward has.
The biggest reason this hurts is MSU is that I think Ward and Tillman were bith at their best playing 50% of minutes. I don't know that either has more conditioning than that so having them going balls to the wall for 20 minutes each a game worked well. No Ward means Tillman has to eat more minutes and he either gets gassed and is ineffective after 20 minutes or he plays slower to conserve energy so he's only 75%ish of what he is on the court now. The other option is a lot more bench minutes for MSU, and whether that's a small lineup or with Kithier that doesn't bode well for MSU.
February 17th, 2019 at 8:04 PM ^
So...if we get Tillman in foul trouble...lights out?
February 17th, 2019 at 8:23 PM ^
Tillman is big, strong, fast, and athletic with very little offensive game. He does score on put backs and fast breaks. He plays good D but I think he is foul prone.
He seems like a great role player but to be dependent on him for all of those minutes is probably not a good thing.
February 17th, 2019 at 6:54 PM ^
Ware sure is prone to extremity injuries
February 17th, 2019 at 6:57 PM ^
Yours maybe, but not ours!
February 17th, 2019 at 6:58 PM ^
Izzo’s Halftime rage got a little out of control and unfortunately he used a scene from Casino to show his disappointment in Ward’s first half performance....
February 17th, 2019 at 7:19 PM ^
I’ll say the same thing about him that I’ll said about Nick Bosa: feel bad for him, never want to see a kid injured, but I’m not sorry this team doesn’t have to face him.
February 17th, 2019 at 8:30 PM ^
Yeah well...and everyone may do well to consider how that turned out.
February 17th, 2019 at 8:37 PM ^
Welp now I'm sad again cause this is the first time I've realized that our O-line got whipped up all game even without the number one pick in the draft on the other team. And we couldn't even manage one measly sack.
I hope basketball season never ends
February 18th, 2019 at 9:44 AM ^
Oh, the OSU fan in the #97 jersey next to me in the Shoe made sure to remind me of that... fuck
February 17th, 2019 at 7:20 PM ^
Damn, I wanted yet another Wolverine to embarrass him.
February 17th, 2019 at 7:39 PM ^
Bummer for MSU, but I cried a tear and am all better now. Tough luck with him and Langford out. If we lost Teske and Poole I would be crying a river.
February 17th, 2019 at 7:50 PM ^
Lol exactly. People on here are saying "sparty excuses" and what not, but will quickly say we lost a game because Teske only played 18 minutes due to bullshit fouls.
This is basketball. Injuries to any difference maker is a massive blow to your team because the importance of 1 person is much higher than most other team sports. I mean we had entire seasons ruined because of Levert by himself not playing.
This sucks for MSU. I hope Ward can get back to playing before their season is over
February 17th, 2019 at 8:05 PM ^
I agree that it sucks for them. But they shed no tears when we played them without McGary/LeVert/Walton/LeVert (again)/Albrecht over a 3-year stretch and I'm not going to be bawling for them now. C'est la vie.
February 17th, 2019 at 8:11 PM ^
I'm not saying you should. I'm just saying you need to be consistent in your thoughts on injuries.
You can't say "2015 and 2016 were bad because of injuries" and then say "oh boy here come the MSU excuses!". It's just dumb.
It's basketball. Injuries to starters are brutal. I mean Kansas lost their giant center and have stunk since then. Like if we lost Teske, we would be considerably worse.
February 17th, 2019 at 8:19 PM ^
OK Sparty. My heart bleeds for you.
February 17th, 2019 at 9:19 PM ^
Yep, I don’t give 2 shits about Sparty, hope we blow them out in both games and they lose in the first round of the tournament again! What’s this “sucks for MSU” bullshit!?!?
February 17th, 2019 at 10:38 PM ^
Because a normal adult can separate sports from reality. I don't think you can.
They're just kids.
February 18th, 2019 at 9:07 AM ^
They're adult males that play for Michigan's rival. I don't think anyone is happy. We're just not sad.
February 18th, 2019 at 9:40 AM ^
I dont give 2 shits about sparty i just post about them all the time
February 17th, 2019 at 8:25 PM ^
Izzo is such an insufferable prick that I really don't care how legit his excuses are.
February 18th, 2019 at 6:16 AM ^
actually, ya kinda can. the difference is that beilein didn’t cry crocodile goddamn tears over the injuries. he LITERALLY SAID “next up,” and sent andrew dakich out there. he also didn’t take shots at dakich from the podium.
February 18th, 2019 at 8:18 AM ^
In this case, think more appropriate would be, C'est la guerre
February 17th, 2019 at 8:50 PM ^
The loss of one person in doubles tennis is a bigger deal. :)
February 17th, 2019 at 9:22 PM ^
Ps. Plenty of classy posters as well so kudos to you
February 17th, 2019 at 7:49 PM ^
Not a dr, this is probably a dumb question, but how did they let him back in the game with a broken hand?
Maybe he didn't tell them it hurt that much, but it was bandaged, so they looked at it. Don't you do the pressure test thing and a fracture is pretty simple to determine?
February 17th, 2019 at 8:05 PM ^
Occasionally subtle, undisplaced fractures can be hard to detect, even with an Xray.
February 17th, 2019 at 8:57 PM ^
Ok thanks, I really don't know. But at no point in that 2nd half did he seem comfortable with that hand. Just seemed obvious something was wrong.
February 17th, 2019 at 7:51 PM ^
Oh I thought he broke his ankle again watching a tape of Mo Wagner.
February 17th, 2019 at 9:33 PM ^
Nicely done
February 17th, 2019 at 10:28 PM ^
You see the broken ankles' move led to minor stress fractures when he landed on his hands - blame MO!!!
February 17th, 2019 at 7:52 PM ^
February 17th, 2019 at 9:06 PM ^
So true!
February 17th, 2019 at 8:01 PM ^
Man, his ankles just healed too. Dude cant catch a break.
February 17th, 2019 at 8:04 PM ^
Sounds like a minor injury.
If hes tough, he'll be back for the next game.
February 17th, 2019 at 8:17 PM ^
February 17th, 2019 at 10:39 PM ^
Ahhh yes. Why does every hockey fan have to talk about how great and hardcore hockey is?
February 18th, 2019 at 8:03 AM ^
They tape up broken fingers in football too.
February 17th, 2019 at 8:31 PM ^
Didn't see their game. Was he slapping the floor or something?
February 17th, 2019 at 8:53 PM ^
Cue the annual injuries and weird guys excuses from Izzo.
February 17th, 2019 at 8:58 PM ^
Hairline fracture of his hand, right. Maybe he will be back for figuratively "broken ankles" on 3/9.
February 17th, 2019 at 11:01 PM ^
3/9........3-9..........coincidence??
February 17th, 2019 at 9:02 PM ^
Sucks for the kid. Hope he heals 100%.
February 17th, 2019 at 9:41 PM ^
Not sure if/how this affects the recovery time, but saw a picture of him on Snapchat coming out of surgery. He has a hard cast half way up to his elbow.
February 17th, 2019 at 9:58 PM ^
Then we are looking at 6-8 weeks. The good news, here, for Nick is that he gets a reprieve from Izzo.
February 18th, 2019 at 9:02 AM ^
That’s not a short term deal.
February 18th, 2019 at 9:04 AM ^
No, it isn't. One MSU Dr. says, "out for 4-6 weeks."
February 19th, 2019 at 10:23 PM ^
That is the earliest-an optimistic guess. Ward, with his age and good health, has everything in his favor. However, from a simple medical side, the loss of strength and flexibility is significant-if he is indeed hard-casted. Here, there is "healing" and there is return to equivalent usage-those two time-lines are very different.
February 17th, 2019 at 9:58 PM ^
Let the excuses begin!