Michigan State's Matt McQuaid sidelined with deep thigh bruise

Louisville, Ky. — Michigan State will be short-handed when it takes on Louisville in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge on Tuesday night.

Senior guard Matt McQuaid did not travel with the team after suffering a deep thigh bruise late in the Spartans’ victory over Texas on Friday in Las Vegas.

“It was kind of a freakish thing,” Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said. “The last minute of the game he got hit in the upper thigh. At the end of the game there were no problems. No problems on the bus. Then, all of a sudden, it flared up on the plane.

“It’s a bad bruise that bled a little bit and swelled up on the way home.”

McQuaid has started all six of No. 9 Michigan State’s games and is averaging 7.3 points and 2.3 rebounds while shooting 8-for-22 from 3-point range. He’s scored in double figures three times this season, including 12 against then-No. 1 Kansas and 11 last week in a win over then-No. 17 UCLA.

Junior Kyle Ahrens will start in McQuaid’s place while freshmen Aaron Henry and Gabe Brown could see more minutes. Freshman Foster Loyer could see more minutes at point guard since McQuaid had been spelling Cassius Winston.

McQuaid’s status for the Big Ten opener Friday at Rutgers is still up in the air.

“He was unable to practice at all,” Izzo said. “We just made a choice not to fly him because the altitude doesn’t help the swelling process

“I hope he’s getting better. He was riding the bike yesterday. We’ll be able get Matt back soon. He was leading our team in minutes played and was definitely our best defender and kind of a glue guy.”

mcharboneau@detroitnews.com

Twitter @mattcharboneau