By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

Exactly a month after he was sidelined due to injury, Lourawls, “Tum Tum” Nairn Jr made his return to the court for the No 8 ranked Michigan State Spartans.

In limited action, he appeared in just two minutes, but the recently struggling Spartans got back in the winners column with a lopsided 88-69 win over the Indiana Hoosiers yesterday at the Breslin Center in East Lansing, Michigan.

Both teams, major contenders for the Big 10 Title now stand at 20-5.

After battling plantar fasciitis for several weeks, Nairn Jr was finally sidelined due to the nagging foot injury. The Spartans, dropped four sports in the poll and went 4-3 in past seven games without the sophomore point guard in the line-up.

Prior to the injury, Nairn started all 18 games at point guard and averaged 4.1 points and 4.5 assists in 24.1 minutes per game.

Spartans head coach Tom Izzo indicated during his pre game show that Nairn would likely return to the court, but also that his role would will be reduced from what it was before the injury became to severe.

This season, Nairn scored a career high 13 points and equalled his career high with eight assists in a 99-68 win over the Boston College Eagles last November.

In the American Athletic Conference, the Houston Cougars’ Danrad Knowles returned to double figure scoring after a four-game drought.

Knowles finished with 13 points, in the Cougars’ 82-58 win over the UCF Knights Saturday at home in Hofeinz Pavilion.

Knowles connected on 4-of-5 from the field and 5-of-6 from the free throw line to go along with six rebounds.

It was his sixth game scoring in double figures and ninth time receiving at least 20 minutes on the floor as the Cougars improved to 18-7 on the season.

Houston connected on 50 percent from the field in each half and buried 81.8 percent of their 22 tries from the free throw line. With the win, the Cougars won for the fifth time in their last six games.

Head coach Kelvin Sampson applauded the team’s effort and singled out Knowles for his improved free throw shooting.

“We were good at both ends of the court. I loved our effort and our attention to detail. UCF is a hard team to guard; just look at their games. They’ve played all the tough teams and have won five conference games. Our defense in the first 30 minutes of the game played really good. Offensively, we played well, shared the ball, took good shots and had great multiple pass positions. Once you have an identity of how you want your team to play and then your team plays to that identity, it just proves you are getting better. Our team knows who they are. The guys practice certain things that are important for us,” he said,

“I am really pleased with the continuous improvement at the free-throw line, and I’m really happy for Danrad Knowles. Chicken (Knowles) is a 74 percent free-throw shooter. It was a good solid game. We won by 24 and scored 82 points which is good this time of year.”