Coming off a big win over Duke, the Michigan State basketball team may have felt a bit of a letdown heading into their game with Detroit Mercy.

Couple that with no Joshua Langford, and the Spartans escaped with an 83-76 win over the Titans, and it was a struggle the entire way.

Langford, who has what has been described as a minor knee injury, is expected to return against Western Michigan on Saturday. Langford played 29 minutes against Duke, and with the Spartans in the midst of a stretch of four games in nine days, MSU head coach Tom Izzo opted to rest his senior guard.

But Langford was one of a pair of Spartans players on the bench late in Friday’s game as a result of knee injuries. With 11 minutes left in the first half, Spartans forward Joey Hauser hit his knee on the floor and initially left the game.

Hauser returned three minutes later, wearing a brace on his knee, and scored seven points in the first three minutes of the second half. He did return to the bench with 7:49 left in a close game and didn’t return.

On his pregame radio show, Izzo said Hauser has “a pretty good bruise” on his knee, and while they will be careful with him tonight, he is expected to play. Izzo said Langford has “no problem.”