This has obviously been a set of posts geared toward illness and injury, which leads to Michigan State's Kalin Lucas.
The most important player on the Spartan team, Michigan State's spell of losses after a 6-0 start proved the degree of its dependence on last year's Big Ten Player of the Year.
Lucas was hurt halfway through the Wisconsin game, where the Spartans lost 67-49 without their leader. The Illinois game saw Lucas on the sidelines as Demtri McCamey took over that contest like he has done so many others this season.
But when they took for State College, Lucas was finally back to form.
After playing offense-defense with Lucas to end the Purdue game, Michigan State coach Tom Izzo saw him score 24 points against Penn State.
It helped to go against the team sitting at last in conference with an 0-12 record, but Lucas was all over the court. He had 24 points, six assists and three steals.
That performance came just in time for IU, a team that has struggled against the conference's best guards.
Here's a listing of what the best guards and guard-forwards in the Big Ten did against IU:
Manny Harris: After being limited to only 13 points when IU defeated Michigan on Dec. 31, Harris scored 17 points in the second half of IU's trip to Ann Arbor. He finished with 21 points on 7-of-14 shooting.
Demtri McCamey: No player has hurt IU like this guard who was recruited by Kelvin Sampson. The first thing that will come to mind for IU fans will be his game-winning shot to cap a night with 19 points and eight assists. But he also scored 19 against IU in Bloomington and dished out nine dimes.
Evan Turner: The best player in the Big Ten only had 10 points as he had fouls and deferred to his teammates. William Buford had 21 points, though, 12 of which came in the first half. He averages 14 points per game.
Robbie Hummel: He had a slow start, but Hummel finished with 21 points and seven rebounds. He was 7-of-10 from the free-throw line and shot 50 percent for the game.
Trevon Hughes: It only took him one half to put together 16 points. Hughes only took three shots in the second half, and Jason Bohannon took over, scoring 30 points in the game. Hughes, a 6-foot guard, also had six rebounds against the Hoosiers.
Talor Battle: Fighting through a year where his entire team's performance is based on his play, Battle played IU with a bad ankle and still came out with 22 points. IU came secured a 67-61 win, but Battle challenged them the entire game and got Jeremiah Rivers in foul trouble.
Based on these performances against IU this season, what do you expect from Lucas against IU? Or can all these numbers be thrown out? Humor me.
