Evanston, Ill. — After missing a week because of a head injury sustained in practice, senior center Paul Davis returned to practice Friday and was deemed well enough to start Saturday against Northwestern.

"There was a decision made (Friday) that we would probably start him, but we did not know how long he could play," MSU head coach Tom Izzo said. "He did some real good things, but he did some uncharacteristic things as well.

"Considering he had not played for a week, I think he sucked it up pretty good."

Davis was elbowed in the head by redshirt freshman center Idong Ibok in practice Jan. 27 and did not play the following day against Penn State. He was expected to be fine after that, but the injury lingered, holding him out of practice most of the week.

"Friday, I went through a whole practice and (had some trouble) at the beginning but toward the end it was fine," Davis said. "(Saturday), it wasn't really anything.

"As long as it didn't get any worse, I was going to play."

Davis went 7-for-11 from the field, scoring 16 points and grabbing seven rebounds.

The only place Davis struggled was from the free-throw line. A 90.7 percent shooter from the line coming into the game, Davis hit just 1-of-4 attempts. He said, though, that it was simply missed free throws.

"I felt bad for him missing those free throws because he's been shooting so well from the line," Izzo said. "And yet, it goes to show that you can't take a lot of time off and feel like you're still the same player."

Davis isn't going to let the misses bother him.

"I'm not worried about that," he said. "It felt good to get back out and practice.

"You're out four or five days and you see how much you really miss playing."

In grand company

Junior guard Shannon Brown scored his 1,000th career point on a free throw with one minute to play.

Brown came into the game needing 21 points to hit the mark. He scored 22.

"It feels great," Brown said. "I don't know what else to say."

Brown, from nearby Maywood, Ill., had many fans in the crowd.

"To do it in front of a lot of his home and family, that's pretty exciting and impressive. I was happy for him. I thought he made a couple of big key plays in clutch times," Izzo said.

Brown now joins Davis and senior guard Maurice Ager as the Spartans' current 1,000 point scorers.

On the glass

The Spartans outrebounded the Wildcats by 16, mainly due to the two wings, Ager and Brown, grabbing 11 and eight rebounds, respectively.

"It's just us going out and doing it," Brown said. "Coach is going to tell us, but we have to go out and get it done."

Izzo preached rebounding to his team all week long and it appears that it paid off, though it was against a team that is not known for its tenacity on the glass.

"We did a really good job on that," redshirt freshman forward Marquise Gray said. "We took a step in the right direction. We just have to keep working and continue to get better."

The Spartans grabbed 13 offensive rebounds.

"We know Northwestern, if they have a weakness, rebounding is one of their weaknesses," Izzo said. "We did do a better job, especially considering Paul wasn't 100 percent, but it was against maybe the worst rebounding team in the league.

"I'm going to look at it as improvement and I'm not ready to raise the flag like we've conquered anything yet."