Nick Sanders, I hope you’re warming up because you’re one more Michigan State backcourt injury away from playing meaningful minutes behind Jeremy Fears.
If you watched the Spartans’ win over UCLA, you were probably a little surprised to see a lack of Denham Wojcik on the floor. Wojcik is always good for a few minutes in each half to spell Fears, but he only played two total minutes in the blowout win over the Bruins.
Wojcik was then seen in the post-game handshake line with a huge wrap on his shoulder and you could tell he was favoring it. He was clearly held back because of that injury.
In the post-game presser, Izzo said that Wojcik suffered a shoulder injury but that he didn’t think it was serious. While that’s good news, it shows that this backcourt is an injury away from being in major trouble against really good teams. Michigan State does have Fears playing 30-35 minutes per game and Kur Teng, Jordan Scott, and Trey Fort are all available to help out, but outside of those guys, there’s not much depth in the backcourt.
Fortunately that will change next season when Divine Ugochukwu is healthy and Carlos Medlock and Jasiah Jervis come in, but the focus is on the present, and it’s not great.
The backcourt already took a major hit when Ugochukwu suffered a season-ending foot injury against Minnesota which ripped away a backup point guard option. Now, if Wojcik is forced to miss any time, it’ll be up to Fort, Teng, and Scott to handle backup duties behind Fears.
I won’t lie, that’s terrifying to think about.
It’s not that I don’t trust Fort, Teng or Scott, but none are primary ball-handlers, and if Fears is gassed, hurt, or in foul trouble, the Spartans can kiss any hope of a second-weekend berth goodbye.
Yes, Wojcik comes with his own deficiencies, especially on defense, but he is at least a solid ball-handler and he’s cut his mistakes down considerably. Having a guy who can come in and not turn the ball over while Fears is on the bench for 5-6 minutes a game is important.
Let’s just hope this injury isn’t serious and he was held out of the UCLA game for precautionary reasons or else the Spartans may legitimately have to look at Sanders as a legit option.