Five games without Tum Tum and Nairn watch begins
A five-game Michigan State stretch without starting point guard Tum Tum Nairn is complete, and now the Nairn watch can begin.
There hasn’t been an inkling, since Nairn was shut down before MSU’s Jan. 17 loss at Wisconsin, that he might be close to returning. But he watched Sunday’s 96-62 win over Rutgers at Breslin Center with no protective boot on his right foot, and it’s possible he could be playing in the No. 12 Spartans’ next game – Saturday at Michigan.
It’s also possible, Tom Izzo said after the game, that Nairn could be weeks from returning.
“Maybe by Tuesday or Wednesday I’ll have clue,” Izzo said of Nairn, who has been battling plantar fasciitis in the right foot going back to last season.
“It feels a lot better,” Nairn said of the foot in the locker room, adding that treatments have “helped a lot,” but he also said he has no idea if he will be playing soon.
Nairn was out of the boot Sunday for the first time, he said, and a day of walking to classes today should give him a better idea of how he’s doing. MSU players will have the day off, but he plans to shoot around and test the foot.
“It’s hard not being out there,” Nairn said, “but I’ve seen a lot of things about the game that I couldn’t even see when I was playing, so I think I’m gonna be a lot more smart with the game.”
MSU lost its first two games without Nairn, one-point crushers against the Badgers and Nebraska at home, then got a much-needed win over Maryland and routs of Northwestern and Rutgers without him.
MSU’s offense has been fine without Nairn, and in the halfcourt the Spartans can space the floor better at times with a shooter in his place – teams have been sagging off him all season.
But Nairn is the primary pusher of MSU’s fast break, and he is MSU’s best on-the-ball defender. MSU put forth an impressive team defensive effort against Maryland, but Nairn would be a help against U-M’s Derrick Walton, Indiana’s Yogi Ferrell and other Big Ten point guards if he can return.
