The Spartans came into their 76-45 exhibition win against Northwood on Sunday at Breslin Center already down two players, with senior forward Raymar Morgan (sprained left ankle) and junior guard Chris Allen (groin) in street clothes.

They left Sunday’s game without two other players, as neither sophomore forward Delvon Roe (head injury) nor junior guard Durrell Summers (cramps) finished the game.

“Adversity is OK, if it’s a little bit, but this is borderline ridiculous what has happened,” head coach Tom Izzo said. “And that’s why I say I feel bad for the fans today, because I think we looked worse than we really even were just because of that lineup and what we put in play.”

About three minutes into the game, Roe got whacked on the head. He tried to play for a bit, but was “out of it,” Izzo said. Izzo didn’t know Roe’s actual diagnosis, but called it a “partial concussion.”

Izzo said Allen should be able to return to practice during the middle of the week, while Morgan, who wore a boot on his foot, is expected to miss about 10 days.

Despite that bad news, the Spartans were able to dodge a bullet with Summers, who led with 17 points. Summers left the game with 2:28 remaining and headed to the training room for treatment. After the game, Summers said he simply had a charley horse, and that he’d be good to practice Tuesday.

“That probably would have been bad for us, but even last year, our team was faced with a lot of adversity early and that just kind of showed what kind of team we are,” Summers said of what would’ve happened if he too had missed time.

“When guys go down we have to try to make up for it, and when they come back, we’re even better. We’re faced with adversity early again, so hopefully we can pull through it and I think that will make us a tougher team in the end.”

Centers of attention

Junior center Tom Herzog earned the frontcourt start and freshman Garrick Sherman started the second half, but it was freshman Derrick Nix (13 points and five rebounds in 13 minutes) who stood out the most in the box score.

“Sherman, Nix and Herzog all had their moments — looking at the statistics, Nix might have had the best moments,” Izzo said.

“Looking what was done on the floor, Sherman played pretty well and Tommy did some good things at times, yet we still have to limit his time and get him in and out and keep him as fresh as we can keep him.”