Michigan State basketball: Jaden Akins injury update

Jaden Akins twisted his ankle against Maryland on Sunday, but he shouldn’t be missing time with Michigan State basketball.

During the 61-59 win against Maryland on Sunday, Michigan State basketball junior Jaden Akins suffered an ankle injury in the first half. The play itself looked pretty nasty, but it didn’t seem serious because he continued to play through it.

Akins did only play 22 minutes against Maryland, which is slightly lower than his season average. So maybe this injury was impacting him more in the moment than he made it seem.

On Tuesday, however, Tom Izzo addressed the media and provided an update to Akins’ injury.

Jaden will practice through it

With a huge matchup at Wisconsin on the horizon, Michigan State needs to be at full strength. Thankfully for the Spartans, it sounds like Jaden is progressing that way. According to Tom Izzo, Jaden Akins will be able to practice today. In the post shared by Chris Solari, it doesn’t even mention Jaden being a limited participant at Tuesday’s practice. So he may not be 100 percent yet, but this implies that he is at least pretty close to full strength.

Izzo says he feels Jaden Akins will practice today with his ankle injury.

— Chris Solari (@chrissolari) January 23, 2024

This is huge news for MSU as Akins has been a starter in all 19 games this season. He obviously is a major contributor to this team, so losing him would have been difficult to overcome.

Jaden Akins season in review

Akins has been having a great season for Michigan State this year. He is averaging 10.4 points (career high), 3.9 rebounds, and 1.2 assists per game. He also is shooting 43.6% from the field this season which is another career high. His 3-point shooting has taken a slight drop this year, but he is still making 36.3% from beyond the arc.

On the other side of the court, Akins is also a great defender for MSU. All of the Spartan guards have proven to be solid defenders, and that is no different with him. Akins also is one of the more athletic players on this team, demonstrating that most by averaging nearly four rebounds per game as a guard.

This is some really good news that he didn’t suffer a significant injury on Sunday. Michigan State needs a healthy Akins to be at their best, and winning at Wisconsin would have been tough without him.

Michigan State is set to take on the No. 13 Badgers in Wisconsin on Friday night.