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EAST LANSING - Just as Michigan State's Raymar Morgan was starting to look healthy for the first time since last year, down he went.
The senior forward rolled around in extreme pain at center court midway in the first half, grasping at his right ankle. Yet another injury so early in the season seemed almost unfathomable. This time, it was.
"Not again, that's definitely the first thing that went through my mind," Morgan said.
"I told our trainer that I just had to keep playing and he stuck with me and taped my ankle up ... the atmosphere was so crazy I just had to play through it."
The senior captain did just that and more in the second half, knocking down several clutch shots. Perhaps most impressively, Morgan shot 10-of-11 from the free-throw line, including a pair with 4:22 remaining which cut Gonzaga's lead to two.
All that, after entering the game having played just nine minutes of meaningful basketball. Morgan sat out the both exhibition games after badly spraining his left ankle during preseason practice.
"Hey, there's been nobody pushing Ray harder these past three years and tonight I learned why," coach Tom Izzo said. "Because he was so good on the bench, he was so good wanting to play hurt, and to have the courage to go up there and knock those free throws down after he'd shot so poorly (in the first game), that guy's got a future in this game and we've just gotta get him healthy."
Morgan finished with 16 points and five rebounds over 22 minutes, along with two assists and two steals. His lay up off a Chris Allen assist late in the second half gave Michigan State a 4-point lead with 2:07 left.
Morgan had six first-half points and two rebounds before tweaking his right ankle.
"That was a better performance than most of you probably think, because most of you haven't seen him the past three weeks like I have," Izzo said.
Defensively, Morgan faced the tough task of guarding 6-foot-8 freshman Gonzaga Forward Elias Harris at times in the second half, who finished with 17 points. Morgan fouled out with 1:08 left in the game, but that didn't bother the Izzone, as the MSU student section chanted his name while he exited the court. A fitting tribute for a player who has seen more more adversity than most as of late, and overcame even more Tuesday night.
