Michigan State Basketball

Michigan State Spartans forward Nick Ward suffered a hairline fracture in his left hand during Sunday's 62-44 win over the Ohio State Buckeyes, the team announced.

The Spartans confirmed Ward's possible return date is unclear but that he'll undergo an evaluation on a weekly basis.

Ward played 19 minutes in Sunday's victory, scoring nine points and collecting six rebounds. The junior is now averaging 15.1 points and 6.7 rebounds while shooting 60.4 percent from the floor.

Michigan State already lost Joshua Langford to a season-ending foot injury in January. Now, the Spartans are facing an extended stretch without their second-leading scorer and third-leading rebounder. The team stopped short of saying Ward is out for the year, but his lack of a firm recovery timetable is concerning.

The Spartans still have two games against the Michigan Wolverines ahead and a tricky matchup with the Indiana Hoosiers, who pushed them to overtime on Feb. 2.

In his most recent edition of Bracketology, ESPN.com's Joe Lunardi projected Michigan State to be a No. 2 seed, and beating Ohio State will help the team's NCAA tournament resume. A short-handed Spartans squad will struggle to win out in the regular season, so slipping into a lower seed is on the table.

And that's to say nothing of what Ward's absence would mean in the Big Dance if his injury lingers into March.

Michigan State men's basketball head coach Tom Izzo announced Wednesday that junior guard Joshua Langford, who has averaged 15.0 points per game this season, is out for the rest of the year with a stress injury in his left foot.   

"It's with great sadness that I have to announce that after numerous studies, rehabilitation and an attempt at return, it has been determined that Josh will miss the remainder of the season," Izzo said.

"Josh has a stress injury that we caught fairly early and we had hoped that, with treatment and rest, he would recover. He has not, and will likely need surgery to prevent problems in the future."

Langford has been out with the injury since an 88-60 win over Northern Illinois on December 29. He played only 12 minutes in that contest before leaving early.

The Spartans have gone 7-1 in his absence and are 18-3 overall (9-1 in the Big Ten). They are the nation's third-best team heading into Wednesday, per Ken Pomeroy, and they stand with Virginia and Duke as the lone teams to earn top-seven marks in both adjusted offensive and defensive efficiency.

However, the Spartans' 73-63 loss to unranked Purdue on Sunday showed why they miss Langford.

The Boilermakers jumped out to a 37-19 halftime lead as the Spartans offense could not get anything going. Langford, who has connected on 40.3 percent of his three-pointers and 44.3 percent of his shots overall, could have helped to stymie the first-half rout.

As Izzo noted, Langford is one of MSU's best backcourt defenders and brings a lot to the team in terms of his intangibles:

"Throughout the process, Josh has done everything asked of him, while maintaining an amazing attitude and doing whatever he could to help his teammates. His selfless attitude is the reason there were tears throughout the meeting room when we shared the news with his team. I've never felt worse for a player than I do for Josh, but he's a very religious kid who believes everything happens for a reason. He's constantly telling me to not worry about him, but focus on the team. It's the reason I have so much respect and admiration for the way he's handled the injury."

With Langford sidelined, MSU has turned to junior forward Kyle Ahrens and freshman forward Aaron Henry in the starting lineup. Ahrens got the first crack at replacing Langford, but he is currently nursing a back injury, per Stephen Brooks of 247Sports.

Henry has started the last five games and has averaged 7.6 points on 63.0 percent shooting over that span. His efficiency is impressive, although he isn't a three-point threat like Langford (only one made three in his last five games).

Crowley Sullivan of Spartans Wire recently praised the first-year forward's "terrific athleticism" and ability to take care of the ball.

Michigan State does not play a Top 20 opponent until a road game at No. 5 Michigan on Sunday, Feb. 24. A home matchup with the Indiana Hoosiers awaits Saturday.

The No. 6 Michigan State Spartans suffered their first loss of the Big Ten season Sunday at the hands of the Purdue Boilermakers, and head coach Tom Izzo did not hold back after the game.

"My freshmen needed diapers today," he said after the 73-63 loss, per Matt Charboneau of the Detroit News. "It was one of those days I knew they were gonna get indoctrinated."

Meghan McKeown of WISH-TV shared more of the coach's comments:

To his players' credit, Michigan State battled back from a significant deficit and almost pulled off the win on the road. Purdue led by 18 points at halftime and as many as 23 in the second half, but the Spartans pulled within four with less than five minutes remaining before ultimately falling short.

Junior Cassius Winston led the way for the visitors with 23 points, eight assists and seven rebounds but didn't receive enough help from his teammates. No other Spartan scored more than 12, and the three freshmen who saw the court and Izzo said "needed diapers" struggled throughout their playing time.

Aaron Henry had four points and three turnovers on 2-of-6 shooting from the field, Gabe Brown had two points and missed all four of his field-goal attempts, and Thomas Kithier went scoreless during his action.

Izzo's suggestion the young players were "indoctrinated" also speaks to the difficulty of getting through the daunting Big Ten schedule without many losses. ESPN's Joe Lunardi projected 10 Big Ten teams to make the NCAA tournament in his latest bracketology, which is the most of any conference.

Michigan State lost its first league game of the season Sunday but still has two games against the rival Michigan Wolverines as well as road trips to Wisconsin, Indiana and Illinois remaining.

Those freshmen who Izzo didn't think were ready against Purdue will be battle-tested come Selection Sunday.