EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Indiana senior forward Juwan Morgan sustained a left shoulder injury in the first half of Saturday's 79-75 overtime win at No. 6 Michigan State and did not return to the game. IU head coach Archie Miller did not any additional updates or details after afterward.
"I don't know anything on Juwan," Miller said. "I just know he hurt his shoulder. Nothing other than that."
With 6:04 left in the first half, Morgan dove for a loose ball and tried to force a jump ball after a steal by Michigan State guard Kyle Ahrens. He immediately grabbed his left shoulder and went back to the locker room with team doctor Larry Rink. While Morgan was unable to play in the second half, he did eventually remerge from the locker room during that period to rejoin his teammates on the bench.
Junior forward De'Ron Davis and freshman forward Jake Forrester wound up taking the minutes created by Morgan's absence. Davis scored 12 points on 4 of 8 shooting from the field along with six rebounds in 25 minutes off the bench, while Forrester chipped in two points and four rebounds in eight minutes off the bench. Justin Smith stepped up with a double-double of 13 points and 10 rebounds, as well as three blocks.
"Obviously, Juwan is a big part of our team," Smith said. "Once he went down, we kind of had a next-man-up mentality and we were able to go out there and get it done without him, but we look forward to having him back."
"Everybody's got to step up," Davis said. "I've got to play more minutes, even if I'm not able to. Juwan's a big part of our team and he's a great leader. Honestly, in my opinion, it felt like he was still out there, because every time we came back to the bench, he was talking to us. Especially me. Telling us to keep going, telling me where the defense is, what I need to do with Nick Ward, because you know, he's a big guy. Just because he was out, he wasn't really out, honestly. "
Morgan managed to collect five points, six rebounds and two assists in the 13 minutes he played prior to the setback. He is averaging 15.8 points, 8.0 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 30.2 minutes per game this season.
Indiana is back in action Thursday at 9 p.m. ET hosting Iowa at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
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