He stayed late to work on his shooting, put in an extra set at the gym and condition a little longer.

Gabe Brown is both a fan favorite and a team favorite, a team staple whose shooting ability and Energizer Bunny-like emotion was missed in games against Rutgers, Ohio State and Iowa.

Brown tested positive for COVID-19 on Jan. 26 and, according to Big Ten conference rules, he was isolated to the sidelines for 17 days. His first day back on the lineup was the game against Nebraska on Feb. 6.

The junior forward came into this year off his best summer and off-season since joining the Spartans. He's a gym rat, as people might have noticed, with both a high IQ and tremendous passion for the game.

Typically playing 17.8 minutes per game, the Ypsilanti native ranks fifth on the team, averaging 7.4 points and 2.1 rebounds per game.

On Saturday night against Nebraska, Brown tallied six points and seven rebounds alone, going 3-for-6 from the field and 0-for-2 from the arc.

Head Coach Tom Izzo said he was impressed with Brown's turnout because the kid only took the court for 18 of the 40 minutes, and he wasn't even sure Brown would make the court. No one knew he would be in the game until he was seen warming up.

During the first half of the game, Brown made a layup on the fast break after an opponent's turnover, pushing the Spartan lead to double digits. During the second half, he came off the 3-point line for a second-chance dunk off of Hauser’s missed jumper.

He was back, and he was hungry for blood.

Izzo called Brown after the game one of his "live, eat and sleep it guys."

"I absolutely love the kid," Izzo said, acknowledging the fact that Brown is fresh out of recovery and COVID-hangover is real as Brown missed more time than anybody. "He gave us something, he brought us some energy, but he couldn't go for long periods of time."

Brown agreed with Izzo and said he was trying to get his flow back and any mistakes in tonight's game were proof of that.

He said that during his quarantine, he was itching to get back onto the court, to the point where he couldn't sleep. Instead, he was there for his guys in the little ways. He wanted to help and be there. Brown often called and checked up on his teammates.

"Basketball is all I've got," Brown said. "That's the only thing that makes me happy, so if I can play it as much as I can, that's what I like to do. I work out 24/7 and ... nobody really sees the days when I go in, but I'm in the gym all the time. If somebody is looking up to me, that's what I want to show them, that's how you have to work, that how you have to grind if you want to get what you deserve."

Joshua Langford said that it's exciting to get to play among powerful underclassmen such as Brown, as a veteran himself.

"It makes me feel old to see Gabe, and all the other guys, just playing," Langford said. "At the end of the day I want to give them the things that I didn't necessarily get, help them the ways that I didn't necessarily get but should have when I was in their position, their age. They're all super talented, and the sky's the limit for them."