Michigan State Basketball: Ben Carter suffers knee injury over weekend

Michigan State basketball is losing a key post presence for an extended period of time.

With forward Matt Costello off to the NBA, Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo replaced the four year big man with UNLV graduate transfer Ben Carter this off-season.

Over the weekend, Carter suffered a knee injury while attempting to block a shot in practice. He has been ruled out indefinitely and will undergo surgery just nine months after suffering a torn ACL as a member of the Rebels.

Michigan State's Ben Carter would have been a significant part of the Spartans this year. Suffered serious knee… https://t.co/LFUx1uxQV3

— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanESPN) October 3, 2016

“I feel awful for Ben,” head coach Tom Izzo said in a statement. “He had worked extremely hard on his rehab and to suffer another knee injury on a fluke play is incredibly cruel.”

The 6’9″ power forward from Las Vegas, Nevada averaged 8.6 points and 6.0 rebounds in his lone season with the Rebels. He spent the first two years of his college career with the Oregon Ducks, but was finally expected to have a consistent role on a program that is projected to be a national contender.

From just reading Izzo’s comments, this doesn’t seem to be just a short term injury concern. That means that the Spartans will be very thin in the front court to begin the regular season.

Freshman Nick Ward, senior Gavin Schilling and redshirt sophomore Kenny Goins will anchor the unit with Miles Bridges potentially playing a lot more small ball four than expected. Ward has been a pleasant surprise this summer/fall for Michigan State, and Schilling and Goins know the ins-and-outs of the program, but Carter’s efficiency and rebounding ability put him one step above the rest of group.

Also, Schilling (toe) and Goins (knee) battled injury issues for the majority of last season, limiting their full impact. Schilling was on the floor for 12.5 minutes a night, but missed 11 games at the beginning of the season. Goins played just 10.2 minutes per game and missed nine games at the end of last year.

The hope should be for Carter to be healthy in time for non-conference play, but with very limited information on the exact injury and the timetable, there are no assurances that he will be able to play at all.