Nairn said he wasn't upset with MSU head coach Tom Izzo's decision to sit him down and said he is viewing the injury positively knowing he would still be able to help and impact the team from the bench. Nairn said he has already noticed things he never saw when playing.

"The coach talked to me about it, just saying that I’ve got to help him and learn the game more and be able to see things I couldn’t see when I was playing — which I have," Nairn said. "In one game I’ve already seen a lot that I didn’t see as a player, so I’m taking it as a positive, I fought as hard as I could have fought and I’m happy with it."

Nairn has been playing through the injury all season, but Izzo said the injury got too bad and the decision had to be made to sit his starting point guard.

“Tum gave us everything and more that that human being could give," Izzo said. It’s just too bad, it’s a weird injury."

Nairn has excelled this season in not turning the ball over, averaging a 4.76-to-1 assist to turnover ratio on the season which is good for seventh best in the country and best in the Big Ten.

Senior guard Denzel Valentine said after sitting out himself for a four-game stretch he's talked to Nairn about having to sit and thinks the rest will be good for Nairn as it will allow him to get healthy and see the game from a new perspective.

"He gets to sit out, rest, and I mean, he’s a grinder, he pretty much works out every day," Valentine said.

"He was on that foot playing hurt so it’s probably good for him to take a little rest, and he deserves it, but at the same time he’s going to see things from coach's perspective. He’s going to really see what we need to work on, what we need to improve on and hopefully when he gets back, we won’t miss a beat."

Izzo said he thinks the lack of continuity of who is going to be able to play on a game-to-game basis has really hurt the team's chemistry this season.

"We (have) struggled to overcome the number of injuries with guys coming and going," Izzo said. "The problem, as Denzel said, he comes back in and all the sudden we're getting the ball inside more, and so if you ask me (Denzel's) been kind of tentative. Find out the day before (Wisconsin) that Tum's not going to be playing for a while and he was playing 25 minutes a game."

Izzo has said the loss of Nairn will mean a starting role for 6-foot-5 freshman Matt McQuaid, who Izzo said he thought did a decent job of filling in for Nairn on Sunday, especially on the defensive end.

Nairn said he has talked to McQuaid a lot since the decision was made and thinks the added playing time will be good to help build McQuaid's confidence and aid in his switch from shooting guard to point guard.

"I talked to him a lot just make sure that he stays confident because he’s a great player, so just making sure he understands what coach wants and making sure he understands what we need to do to help us win."

The Spartans next game will be at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at home against Nebraska (11-8).