Iowa City, Iowa - Late in the MSU men’s basketball team’s 75-71 Tuesday night loss to Iowa at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, Jason Andreas had his shot blocked.
The 245-pound, 6-foot-10 center fell hard on his back and didn’t get up.
His mother, Lois, who was watching with her husband, Dan, from their home in Sugarcreek, Ohio, didn’t stay around long enough to watch Andreas try to get up on his own and fall back down.
“I walked out of the room,” Lois Andreas said. “I couldn’t look, he’s had so many injuries over the years.”
Andreas’ most recent injuries came in the preseason when he broke his nose three times.
He had just overcome the mental setback from those injuries Saturday against Penn State.
In that game he recorded eight rebounds and eight points in 20 minutes.
One minute and 17 seconds after hitting the deck Tuesday, Andreas was back in the game.
But not for long.
Andreas came out because he had trouble moving laterally, even though he told head coach Tom Izzo he was good to go.
The decision to play him was one Izzo regretted immediately.
“He came right down on the bone,” Izzo said after the game.
“To be honest with you, that’s ignorance on me, I don’t know if I should’ve played him again. He said it was nothing, but he was hurting.
“I’ve never seen a guy hurting like that and he said he could go, so I said he could go.”
Andreas wasn’t in pain, he was spooked because he had no feeling in his right leg, his mom said.
X-rays taken Wednesday morning showed that Andreas had a deep bruise on the right side of his pelvic bone, Lois Andreas said.
It is uncertain if Andreas will miss any games.
But his mom didn’t fault Izzo for playing her son, she understood the pickle he was in.
“I know Coach Izzo would never put him back in (the game) if it was an injury,” Lois Andreas said.
Izzo was running out of bodies, especially big bodies.
Against Iowa Izzo was forced to play walk-on junior Brian Westrick.
Both 6-9 junior forward Adam Ballinger and 6-8 junior forward Al Anagonye fouled out in the last six minutes.
Not to mention 6-9 sophomore forward Adam Wolfe is out for the season after tearing his right hamstring Saturday against Penn State.
Averaging over 20 minutes a game, Wolfe provided valuable numbers and experience to a young Spartans squad.
With only seven scholarship players and the injury bug hitting MSU hard, it’s understandable Izzo’s judgement was clouded.
It feels like injury bug that hit the football team has carried over the basketball court.
So when Andreas told Izzo he was ready, Izzo made a bad judgment call in the heat of the moment.
Especially since Izzo demands toughness from his players.
Even if a player’s leg was severed, Izzo wants his players to think they can play.
“He can’t say he wants the kids to do that,” Lois Andreas said. “But it pleases him, the toughness and that they want to play.”
While Izzo clearly made a bad call by putting Andreas back in the game, he can’t be faulted for instilling toughness in his players.
In fact, that approach is more telling of Izzo’s character.
It leaves judgment calls up to himself and his trainers, while taking the burden off the players.
Izzo welcomes that burden, and takes the heat when his judgment is lacking.
Yes, even Tom Izzo, who we hold to a higher moral level, can lose sight of what is really important when the game is on the line.
But the very reason we hold him so high is because he has the courage to take the blame without thinking twice.
For Izzo, the issue wasn’t admitting that he was wrong for playing Andreas.
For him, it was that he allowed his drive to win at all costs to cloud what is really important - the health and well-being of his players. And that was clear from the tone of his voice.
Justin A. Rice, State News men’s basketball reporter can be reached at ricejust@msu.edu.
