EAST LANSING – After missing Michigan State basketball’s last game in Maui, Jase Richardson is ready to return.
Just in time for Big Ten play.
The freshman guard returned to practice after sitting out one game in Hawaii while in concussion protocol, and coach Tom Izzo said after practice Monday Richardson will be back when the 25th-ranked Spartans open their 20-game conference schedule Wednesday night at Minnesota.
“His conditioning isn’t there yet, so it’ll take a little time on that when you’re off three, four or five days,” Izzo said. “He practiced a little bit (Sunday), practiced pretty much full-go today. And everybody else is good to go, so we’re good to go.”
Richardson sat out MSU’s 94-91 overtime win over No. 22 North Carolina on Wednesday, a victory that earned the Spartans (6-2) both third place in the Maui Invitational and a debut spot in this week’s USA TODAY Men’s Basketball Coaches Poll.
The 6-foot-3, 185-pound Richardson got hit in the head twice in the first half of last Tuesday’s 71-63 loss to Memphis, the second time a hard elbow from the Tigers’ PJ Haggerty. Though he did not leave that game and finished with a season-high 18 points, Richardson said it left him “a little dazed and confused on what was going on” until halftime. He did not play a day later against the Tar Heels for precautionary reasons.
“The first one was my mouth, I caught a little knee to the mouth. And the second one was the elbow to the head, and I feel like that one just kind of stung a little bit more and kind of stayed with me,” Richardson said Monday. “But I got back 100%. Sitting out that game kind of helped with the rest and just getting my head right.”
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Richardson is third on the Spartans in scoring at 10.4 points a game and has made a team-leading 53.8% from 3-point range while shooting a sizzling 65% overall. He adds 2.9 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game while splitting time at shooting and point guard.
Minnesota beat Bethune-Cookman 79-62 on Sunday at Williams Arena, but the Gophers (6-3) lost both games last week in the ESPN Events Invitational to Wichita State in overtime and Wake Forest by a combined eight points. Their other loss, at home to North Texas, was by three.
The Spartans lost their lone regular season meeting at Minnesota last year, 59-56, but beat the Gophers 77-67 in the Big Ten tournament at nearby Target Center. MSU has lost two of its last three visits to Williams Arena.
“They’ve been in every game,” Izzo said of the Gophers. “They lost three games by a total of 11 points. And it’s not an easy place to play up there.”
Tipoff is 8:30 p.m. in Minneapolis.
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State basketball’s Jase Richardson ‘good to go’ vs Minnesota
