Kalin Lucas didn’t put on a surgical mask or latex gloves to combat the flu bug that swept through the MSU men’s basketball team this past week, but the junior guard did have his own way to stay healthy.
About five Spartans were battling the flu, including senior forward and Lucas’ fellow co-captain Raymar Morgan. That posed a problem for Lucas, whose locker is next to Morgan’s.
“His locker is right next to mine, so during that week, when I went to my locker, I had to wait until he left,” Lucas said.
Lucas dodged the illness — “(People just need to) keep a scarf on,” he said of his secret — but other players weren’t so lucky.
Lucas said Morgan, junior forward Delvon Roe and senior guard Isaiah Dahlman were a handful of the players who were sick. Luckily, Roe said the bug was almost out of the locker room.
“I still have symptoms and (Monday) was a tough day for us,” Roe said.
“We had a lot (of sick players). A string of players just got sick, sick, sick, sick, but we’re starting to get over it. I’m probably the last person with it.”
The sickness affected the way the Spartans opened their first three and a half days of practice, including Friday’s Midnight Madness.
Instead of putting the players through two-a-days, MSU head coach Tom Izzo said he focused more on teaching rather than conditioning during the past week. Although the flu bug has screwed up the routine a bit, Izzo said he expected to give the players today off, then hit them with two-a-days on Wednesday and Thursday.
“We’ve had three-and-a-half pretty good days,” Izzo said. “We had five guys sick on Friday, but most of them pushed through it. … We’re off (today) and we can really start getting after it now because we’re all healthy.”
Gym rats
Last season, Izzo praised the then-sophomore guard trio of Durrell Summers, Chris Allen and Lucas as three of the biggest gym rats on the team, especially toward the end of the season.
This year, he expects more of the same from those three, and more gym rats to emerge.
“For us to be great, it’s got to be Raymar and (sophomore forward Draymond Green),” Izzo said of having players log extra hours. “We’ll have more of them this year, but it’s the key ones you have to have, and I think Day-Day and Raymar are the two guys … that if we’re really going to take it to another level, (they’ve got to be in there).”
Green and White game
MSU’s annual Green and White game will take place at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Breslin Center.
Doors open at 2 p.m. and fans can get player autographs and pictures with various MSU trophies prior to tip-off. Admission is free.
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