Dawson averaged 8.4 points in a little more than 20 minutes per game, establishing himself both as a strong two-way player and one of the most tenacious dunkers the Spartans have seen since the days of Jason Richardson. But one collision changed the course of Dawson’s season, and possibly his MSU career, forever.

During a March 4 game against Ohio State, Dawson knocked knees with a Buckeye player, sending him to the ground in a fit of writhing pain. Dawson tore his left anterior cruciate ligament, or ACL, in a loss to Ohio State, ending his season and his chance to make an impact in postseason play.

“It was a heartbreaker,” Dawson said. “Basketball is something I love and something that I like doing. When I went down, being out for six months isn’t easy. Basically, the hard thing was staying mentally tough.”

The Spartans effectively filled Dawson’s spot in the starting lineup with then-senior guard Brandon Wood, who provided veteran leadership in Dawson’s absence. Without Dawson, MSU limped to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament with wins against Long Island and Saint Louis before finally falling to Louisville.

“It is what it is,” Wood told The State News at the time. “We knew what had happened, we knew people had to step up, and they did.”

Now, after months of rehabilitation on his ACL and endless hours in the gym aiming for a chance to make a return, Dawson is back and ready to make an impact for the Spartans. In a recovery referred to as “freakish” at MSU’s media day earlier in the month, Izzo said Dawson is doing many of the same things that made him successful as a freshman, which will contribute to the success of the team.

“We have experience and inexperience, you know,” Izzo said. “You’ve got guys like (Alex) Gauna or, better yet, (Russell) Byrd, who’s a third-year guy but hasn’t played, hasn’t even practiced half the time. You’ve got (Dawson), who’s missed seven months, so it’s hard to see what he’s going to do for a while.

“At the same time, I’ve told you three times now, which is scary to me, I love the way this team practices. If they play like they practice, we’ll be good. And then as we grow, we could end up real good.”

Although admittedly needing some work in the way of conditioning — no doubt a side effect of a seven-month layoff from the game — Dawson said he’s physically “100 percent” for a 7 p.m. game Tuesday against Northwood at Breslin Center.

“I would say that as far as this team and, you know, as coach said, we’ve been practicing hard for the past three or four weeks,” he said. “You know … he said he wants us running this year. So practice has helped me a lot guarding Travis Trice and Keith Appling and all of those guys. I think it will be fine.”