No. 10 Michigan State expects to be without Ward for weeks

EAST LANSING, MICH. >> Michigan State forward Nick Ward had surgery on his broken left hand and is expected to be out of for at least a few weeks.

Coach Tom Izzo said Ward was injured when his hand was hit or it made contact with the rim in a 6244 win over Ohio State on Sunday.

“I hope everyone here feels bad for Nick, but I don’t want anyone to feel bad for us,” Izzo said Monday. “This is the nature of the beast. We have to adjust.”

Ward is the team’s second-leading scorer at 15.1 points a game and third-leading rebounder at 6.7 per game. The 6-foot-9 junior returned to school after putting his name in the NBA draft last year.

“Our margin of error has shrunk,” Izzo said. “I hope to get a few more points out of a few people. We have to find a way to rebound a little bit better.”

Shooting guard Joshua Langford had season-ending surgery on his left foot this month.