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On Wednesday, Michigan State men’s basketball head coach Tom Izzo announced that the team would be without redshirt senior guard Jason Whitens for the upcoming season. According to Izzo, Whitens, who went down with an injury in the second half of the Spartans’ exhibition victory over Ferris State, suffered a torn ACL and will likely miss the entire 2021-2022 season.
Michigan State walk-on Jason Whitens tore his ACL and won’t play this season, Tom Izzo said. Transferred to MSU after starting for Western Michigan last season
— Kyle Austin (@kylebaustin) November 3, 2021
After playing at Western Michigan for three years, Whitens decided to transfer to the Spartans as a walk-on, joining fellow in-state walk-on transfer Michael Peterson from Ferris State.
The 6-foot-5 guard from Powers, Michigan suffered the injury in the second half of Michigan State’s 92-58 exhibition victory over Ferris State last Wednesday after losing his balance while running for a fast break.
Whitens played in 19 games, starting 18 of them, last season with Western Michigan. He shot 47.2 percent from the floor, while averaging 5.4 points and 3.5 rebounds in 23.3 minutes per game for the Broncos. Last month, Izzo mentioned that Whitens could potentially earn some playing time in the Spartans’ rotation, but now, unfortunately, Whitens will miss the season.
Michigan State plays against Grand Valley State for its second exhibition game on Thursday before officially opening the season the following Tuesday with a matchup against Kansas in the annual State Farm Champions Classic.