The senior didn’t start the game, but once he rose from the bench to check in, the Breslin Center crowd showered him with applause.

Payne got the ball just north of the key almost immediately, shot a slight fade-away jump shot and drained it to send the home crowd in a frenzy.

“It just felt good to be back out there on the court with my team,” Payne said. “I think it showed my appearance out there is pretty good and it lifted the spirit of the team.”

Payne ended his night with 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the field in 18 minutes of action. Under many people’s standards, it was a solid performance for not playing in a month, but he said he has to control his emotions in order to keep improving.

“I was out there and I tried to do too much, and I think that was all just emotion,” Payne said. “I’m just trying to work on that and I think next game will be much better because my nerves will be down a little bit.”

When talking with the media on Tuesday after his first contact practice in more than four weeks, Payne voiced concern about moving side-to-side on his foot.

After all, sliding to the other side of the paint is crucial for any big man, and doing that on an ailing foot doesn’t help the cause.

But despite worrying about his confidence while playing with the injury before the game, Payne said after the game it was smooth sailing.

“I think I changed directions pretty well, (and) I wasn’t really thinking about it, so I’m just going to go back, watch film and watch how I was moving around,” Payne said. “I didn’t feel any pain, so it was a good sign.”

However, MSU wasn’t entirely lucky on the injury report. For the first time in his four-year career, senior guard Keith Appling was sidelined with an injury.

Appling’s wrist has been bothering him the last few weeks, and Izzo said it’s not getting any better. As far as how many games and practices Appling will miss, Izzo simply doesn’t know.

“I have no timeframe,” Izzo said. “They gave him something that will take a couple days. I know he won’t practice tomorrow.

“I wish I could tell you. We need Keith. He’s our best defender and our best athlete.”

The Spartans will without a doubt need Appling down the home stretch, but they certainly didn’t need him Thursday against the Nittany Lions.

Filling in his place were guards Travis Trice and Denzel Valentine, who combined for 13 assists and just two turnovers.

But in the middle of the second half, Izzo nearly saw another one of his players bite the dust as Trice went down and came up limping in the second half. When MSU pushed the ball on offense, Trice stayed on Penn State’s side of the court standing off of his left foot.

Luckily for the Spartans, it was just a false alarm as Trice checked back into the game shortly after.

“It was just one of those shocking ones, the ones that just scare you, but I’m good now,” Trice said.