5 Things you Need to Know for Friday, January 24th

1.  An injury-riddled MSU basketball team got dealt some more bad luck yesterday.  Branden Dawson will be out 4-5 weeks with a broken hand.  In that article, Dawson says that he got angry watching film and slammed his fist out of frustration.

In the short term, this is a huge blow for Michigan State.  Dawson was going to be a major factor in Saturday's game against Michigan. He is far and away MSU's best physical matchup for U of M's Glenn Robinson III.  Adreian Payne is unlikely to play on Saturday, and the Wolverines like to use Robinson at the power forward spot.  Now MSU will have to give the trio of Kenny Kaminski, Alex Gauna, and Gavin Schilling a hefty amount of minutes there. That bodes well for Michigan, who have seen much more consistent performances out of Robinson lately.

Meanwhile, Tom Izzo had some very poignant comment towards people who will criticize Branden Dawson.

2.  Michigan hockey topped Michigan State 2-1 at Joe Louis Arena last night.  U of M scored with 2:11 left in regulation to take the lead. The Spartans are now 8-11-3 on the season, while the Wolverines move to 11-6-2.

3.  MSU's women's basketball team completed a pretty rough night for Spartan athletics with a 61-51 home loss to Illinois.  The women's team fell to 12-7 on the season and 4-2 in Big Ten play.

4.  The Red Wings host the Canadiens tonight, and could get a big boost if Daniel Alfredsson is able to return to the lineup.  Detroit is coming off of a huge win over Chicago, while Montreal has cooled of after a very hot start to the season.  The Canadiens are just 4-5-2 in their last 11 games.

5.  The Pistons are trying to right the ship after an embarrassing loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday.  They host the New Orleans Pelicans tonight.  The Pelicans have lost nine of their last 10 games.  Meanwhile, Greg Monroe admitted yesterday that trade rumors bother him a little bit.