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Michigan State survives a scare from Oakland

North Carolina v Michigan State

EAST LANSING, MI - DECEMBER 04: at the Jack T. Breslin Student Events Center on December 4, 2013 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) *** Local Caption ***

Gregory Shamus

Michigan State dodged a bullet on Saturday.

Playing without Gary Harris and Matt Costello and playing with Keith Appling and Adreian Payne at less than 100%, the Spartans shook off a slow start to knock off Oakland, 67-63.

Branden Dawson, who may be the only person in East Lansing that isn’t dealing with some kind of nagging injury, led the way with 21 points, 13 boards, three assists, three blocks and two steals.

There really isn’t all that much more to say here. Michigan State is a team that thrives on toughness and effort and putting enough talent on the floor that all they need to do to win is to simply play harder. But when that talent is hampered with a high-ankle sprained or plantar fasciitis or a sprained wrist, it gets difficult. Think about it like this: four of Michigan State’s five starters were either sitting out or playing at well below 100%.

Oakland is better than their 2-9 record. They’ve played a ridiculous schedule, one that will make it really easy to overlook the fact that they have Travis Bader, Duke Mondy and Corey Petros on their roster. This performance was not as bad as it would look on paper, but a loss would have been a major ding on their tournament resume.

They avoided that. They got the win. And they got Gary Harris one step closer to being back to 100%.

I’m not sure just how much more you could have asked for.