In moments of chaos, Michigan State basketball athletic trainer provides calm voice, sound judgment

DES MOINES, Iowa – As Kyle Ahrens tumbled to the floor during Sunday’s Big Ten tournament championship game, a cascade of emotions rippled through the United Center.

Unflappable point guard Cassius Winston looked like he’d seen a ghost. Hard-nosed coach Tom Izzo’s bloodshot eyes welled up. Ahrens’ roommate on the road, Nick Ward, a mountain of a man, was reduced to a puddle of tears.

One of the few who remained calm, cool and collected: Michigan State’s athletic trainer Nick Richey.

“He’s just telling me, ‘You’re going to get through this,’ ” Ahrens remembers. “ ‘We’re going to get through this.’ ”

In moments like this, when everything around an athlete can feel like it’s careening out of control, it’s Richey’s job to provide a calming voice and sound judgment. It’s not always easy, especially with players whom Richey has built trust and friendships with through years of early-morning rehab sessions and long bus trips.

But that’s the job.

“That’s the reason I’m here,” Richey said. “It’s the reason I chose the profession I chose, so that I can help other people – both in good times and in bad – work through different kinds of situations.”

Ahrens' situation turned out to be not quite as serious as first feared. He was diagnosed with a grade 3 sprained ankle, which is a full tear of the ankle ligament. He is nearly certain to be done for the season.

But it appeared immediately after the injury that it could have been much worse. And that's when Richey's experience and calmness were critical. 

When an athlete suffers a serious injury, Richey springs into action, asking himself several logistical questions: What’s the emergency action plan? Where are the EMTs? Where’s the X-ray machine in the building?

He also asks himself another question, a more personal one: “What would I want to see if I was the person laying on the floor?”

It’s not hard for Richey to answer this question. He has been there himself.

When he was 12 years old, Richey slipped on the wet grass playing soccer. Both bones in his lower leg snapped. For three months, he was in a cast from his toes to his hip.

“It was summertime which was even more miserable,” Richey said.

The accident came with a silver lining.

As Richey learned about human anatomy and the rehab process, he was inspired to pursue a career in sports medicine. The Greenfield, Indiana, native earned a bachelor’s degree in athletic training at Purdue University in 2003 and a master’s degree in health education from Virginia Tech in 2005.

Now, more than two decades after that soccer game gone wrong, Richey still thinks about that broken leg when he sees a Michigan State basketball player injured.

“I know what it’s like to be the guy laying there,” Richey said. “I know what it’s like to need rehab. I know what it’s like to try to come back. That gives me a little bit of perspective on what they’re dealing with.”

RELATED: A nervous 45 minutes for Kyle Ahrens' parents: 'First time something went right on an X-ray'

Typically, you’ll find Richey near the end of the bench, next to the seldom-used walk-ons. But as the Spartans turned into a walking MASH unit this season, he’s been forced to go from sitting among the role players to out on the court with the stars.

Virtually every player has gone through something this year – Joshua Langford’s foot, Matt McQuaid’s thigh and ankle, Cassius Winston’s knees and toe, Ahrens’ back and ankle, Ward’s hand … Those are just some of the injuries that have become public.

Izzo joked that Richey has been like the “grim reaper” this year because he’s so often been forced to be the bearer of bad news.

At the same time, Richey has also been part of several creative solutions to keep injured players on the court, including Ahrens and Ward.

When Ahrens injured his back, the staff formulated a relay system, of sorts, so that Ahrens could run, stretch and pedal a bike in the tunnel to keep his lower back warm. When the staff was ready to put Ahrens in the game, assistant coach Dwayne Stephens would signal to Richey, who would signal down the tunnel to strength and conditioning coach Marshall Repp.

“Kyle would come sprinting past me to the scorers' table,” Richey said.

The Spartans got creative again when Ward suffered a hair-line fracture in his hand. Because it was in his shooting hand, the traditional options for protection were limited.

Richey made a call to Michigan State’s Department of Materials Science & Engineering. The engineering team scanned Ward’s hand and created a 3D model to test different materials and designs. Then, they fashioned a carbon-fiber splint and covered it in a material called RTV11, which is like a silicone rubber, for padding.

These solutions have helped Michigan State players get healthy and stay on the court on the way to a Big Ten regular-season championship and league tournament title.

But, for Richey, it’s about more than that.

“It’s not all about a sprained ankle or a hand,” Richey said. “It’s about where they’re from, who their family is, who their girlfriends are, what they’re studying, what they want to do with their lives.

“For me, this is bigger than basketball.”

RELATED: Couch: Minus Kyle Ahrens, Gabe Brown takes the stage for MSU. His excitement is palpable.

RELATED: What Michigan State's Tom Izzo said before NCAA tournament game vs. Bradley

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Email Mike DeFabo at mdefabo@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @MikeDeFabo.