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Injured Michigan State Guard Eron Harris Takes to the Court on Emotional Senior Day

By Jason Romano Feb 27, 2017

 

Injuries are a part of sports. For Michigan State Senior guard Eron Harris, this particular injury ended his college basketball career. In a game on February 18, Harris was driving to the basket and went up for a layup. When he came down, he landed awkwardly and his knee buckled as he crumbled to the ground in pain.

Harris was wheeled off the court in a stretcher. His college career was over and he would need surgery on his knee. Harris was in good spirits despite the bad news and tweeted out that he wouldn’t let this keep him down.

What Harris didn’t realize was that he would back a lot sooner than he expected thanks to his head coach Tom Izzo. On Sunday, the Spartans were playing their final home game of the season against Indiana. Michigan State is typically a powerhouse top-10 team in college basketball, but this season has been a struggle for them. Their record coming into the day was just 18-11. The hope is a tournament berth and a chance to compete in the “Big Dance.”

On Sunday, the Spartans played with tons of energy and proved against No. 16 Wisconsin, that they are still a team you can’t take lightly. They beat the Badgers 84-74. But the best moment from yesterday happened in the last few seconds.

With the game in hand, Coach Izzo seized the moment and had his injured senior guard, Eron Harris, wearing his No. 14 uniform, with a large brace on his right knee, check into the game with 11.2 seconds left.

Harris, after a clock stoppage, went to center court and kissed the Spartan logo to follow a senior tradition that’s been going on since 1995.

Coach Tom Izzo said only he and the equipment manager Dave Pruder knew that Harris would go in and exactly when the situation that would dictate that moment to occur.

“It’s going to be his one shining moment,” Izzo said.

(Photo Credit: John Quick)