After rolling his ankle in Wednesday's 72-71 loss to Nebraska, MSU senior forward Matt Costello didn't practice the rest of the week, and in fact, he didn't even participate in the team's walk through prior to MSU's primetime matchup with No. 7 Maryland.
Costello said after MSU's 74-65 win over Maryland that before the game he knew he would play, but thought he would only be able to give 10 to 15 minutes maximum due to his injury — he played 32.
Sparty on! No. 11 Michigan State tops No. 7 Maryland. Costello drops 15, has 12 boards, Valentine adds double-double https://t.co/pUuhMUCLjm
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 24, 2016
“I was just super happy,” Costello said. “I can’t explain the emotion, I was thinking about everything. I was thinking about my fiance being in the crowd, my parents being here, my teammates and what we fought through, all this stuff, it was just swelling up in me and I was trying to let it flow a little bit.”
From the opening tip, MSU fed off of the energy Costello played with all night on his way to a 15-point and 12-rebound performance, his second double-double in the past three games.
“I think (my energy) was huge," Costello said. Just lifting everybody, getting the crowd into it, and so when we had that lead we didn’t lose it the last three minutes or so. We didn’t break down like we did at Wisconsin.”
You gotta see this! @MSU_Basketball's Matt Costello gets a HUGE block and knocks down Kenny Goins with a chest bump https://t.co/nyUl4lwUfG
— Michigan St. on BTN (@MichiganStOnBTN) January 24, 2016
After blocking a Maryland shot and then grabbing a defensive rebound out of a Maryland timeout, Costello knocked down two free throws with 11 seconds left to give MSU a 72-65 lead. As Costello exited the game with 4.2 seconds to play, he grabbed MSU head coach Tom Izzo, lifted him in the air and twirled him around.
"He was little," Costello said. "He looked like he needed a hug."
Matt Costello bear hugs Tom Izzo. Awesome. https://t.co/OLtCnpzFOF
— Ryan Fagan (@ryanfagan) January 24, 2016
Izzo said before the game he thought Costello was about nine percent healthy and would probably start, but be very limited. Izzo joked that maybe Allen Iverson was right and practice was overrated after Costello's performance.
"I was surprised that Matt played," Izzo said. "I really thought that he'd play at the beginning — he didn't even go through walk through. Give our trainer credit, give him credit. Yeah, I could use a ride once in a while, it's not bad at all."
MSU senior guard Bryn Forbes, who had a team high 25 points after a three-game shooting slump, said he thought the energy Costello brought was a huge part of propelling them to the win.
"I love seeing my teammates hustle and fight, it's just a great feeling," Forbes said. "You've got guys that are willing to do anything to win."
Forbes said he thought Costello's performance might have been one of his best ever as a Spartan.
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“He was big tonight,” Forbes said. “Down the stretch, I remember Kansas where he got like two or three straight offensive rebounds, in crunch time. And then again tonight he’s getting rebounds, making free throws, blocks, it was great.”
Six of Costello's 12 rebounds came at the offensive end and he added three blocks to his stat line. After the game when asked about his ankle, Costello said he was simply determined to play through the pain.
"I rolled it a couple times during the game and I was like DJ (associate coach Dwayne Stephens) get me out I need to sit for a second, I need to figure this out, and sometimes he pulled me out and sometimes he didn't," Costello said. "But when you start playing, you forget about it. The only time you remember is when you're running down the court and you're like 'Oh! There it is.'"
Costello also ended the game making a career high nine free throws on a career high 10 attempts.
MSU does not play again to next Thursday when it will travel to Northwestern, but Costello said he does not expect to miss any games due to his ankle.
