Michigan State Basketball: It’s Rocket Watts time with Josh Langford out

Michigan State basketball received some bad news on Tuesday as Josh Langford has been ruled out until at least January. It’s Rocket Watts time.

Throughout the course of Tom Izzo’s career, he’s had some players who just haven’t been able to catch breaks. Some guys just can’t avoid injuries and that has led to them not reaching lofty goals.

When Izzo retires, one name will stick out above the rest and that’s Josh Langford. The senior wing was expected to return from his foot injury this season after missing the entire second half of the 2018-19 campaign. He was off to a solid start, averaging about 15 points per game, but he just couldn’t avoid the injury bug.

With an entire offseason to rehab that foot injury, Langford was getting back to activities this fall, but Izzo announced on Tuesday that his senior captain is out indefinitely and won’t be reevaluated until January. This one hurts.

Izzo held back some tears when addressing the media as it’s clear Langford means a lot to him as well as the team and if he doesn’t come back at all this year, no one would be that surprised.

But the head coach is hopeful he’ll be back to help the team.

Michigan State has a big-time freshman who will get his chance with Langford out and his name is Rocket Watts. The Detroit-native has the toughness Izzo likes and he can play both ends of the court. During the “secret” scrimmage versus Gonzaga, Watts was reportedly a pleasant surprise and finished second on MSU in scoring.

It’s time for him to get a chance in the starting lineup and sometimes that’s too much for freshmen, but this kid seems to be made for the big-time.

On a positive note, he can also handle the ball, taking some pressure off Cassius Winston and easing into a similar role to Langford.

If Izzo doesn’t want to rely fully on the freshman immediately, he could turn to Kyle Ahrens or Gabe Brown. The latter has been receiving rave reviews this offseason. Good thing this team has depth.