Wait, what?

MSU just dropped a game against their rival to fall behind in the Big Ten title race, and he used the word “proud?”

Well, as weird as it seems to say after losing such a marquee game, he’s right on the money.

There is no question the Wolverines deserved to win Saturday’s game — they hit all the shots when they needed to in front of the delirious Breslin Center crowd.

Yet at the same time, the Spartans took a few steps in the right direction without two of their biggest players.

Missing two starters in Adreian Payne and Branden Dawson, Izzo was forced to play some guys who usually only see the court during warmups.

Besides Gary Harris’s 27 points and Keith Appling’s double-double, freshman guard Alvin Ellis was the bright point during a loss at the hands of the Wolverines.

To be honest, Ellis looked like anything but a first-year player. The maturity he had to be aggressive with the ball in place of Dawson and a hobbled Appling was remarkable for not just a freshman, but a player who only averaged 5.7 minutes in Big Ten games prior to Saturday.

Instead of being shy with the ball, Ellis slashed to the rim and hit a 3-pointer to take a 55-54 lead late in the second half en route to scoring a career-high 12 points.

Heck, “proud” probably isn’t strong enough of a word to use after a seldom-used freshman plays like that during ESPN’s game of the week.

His roommate, freshman forward Gavin Schilling, also stepped his game up to score his first Big Ten points to go along with three rebounds and two blocks in seven minutes of work.

With MSU’s top two rebounders and rim protectors sidelined for who knows how long, MSU will need to rely on its young big man to show up on defense and on the glass, and now the Spartans know they can after Saturday’s game.

It wasn’t just the young guns showing great signs for the near future.

It also was junior forward Russell Byrd, who has only played in half of MSU’s games so far this season.

Byrd checked into the game less than five minutes into the first half — just the second time this Big Ten season he has played in the first 20 minutes — and did much more than just hold his own.

Stepping in for Dawson, who plays in-your-shorts defense, is no easy task, but Byrd played a key role in containing Michigan’s Glenn Robinson III to 2-of-8 shooting.

And remember what started the minor scuffle in the second half?

That’s right, it was a block by “Byrdman,” who followed it up by telling Robinson exactly what just happened.

For someone who had only played in nine total minutes of conference play going into the game, Byrd had just as good of a game as you could possibly ask from him.

Even U-M head coach John Beilein saw how well the Spartans played without Dawson and said MSU will “end up being really good without him.”

If the Spartans are “really good” without Dawson and Payne, just imagine what this team will do when the team has those two players back in action.

With a stronger, more experienced roster putting good work in during their absence, the limit for this team when healthy stops at the roof of Breslin Center.

After all, that is where they hang their banners.

Matt Sheehan is a State News basketball reporter. Reach him at msheehan@statenews.com.