Perhaps we can breathe easy.
Via its official Twitter page, Wisconsin announced that Ryan Evans suffered "only" a knee sprain in practice on Thursday. The quotes are necessary there because while it seems as though a more significant injury was avoided, Evans' short-term availability is unknown. The Badgers host Purdue on Sunday for Senior Day before traveling to Michigan State on Thursday.
#Badgers F Ryan Evans suffered a right knee sprain at practice yesterday. Will not practice today. Sunday status is questionable.
— Patrick Herb (@BadgerMBB) March 1, 2013
We'll see how Evans is handled with that critical game vs. the Spartans potentially deciding the conference's upper-echelon seeding in advance of this month's Big Ten Tournament. Wisconsin and Michigan State are tied at 11-4, one game behind Indiana. The Spartans travel to Michigan on Sunday before facing Wisconsin and ending their season vs. Northwestern at home. The Hoosiers host Iowa on Saturday and Ohio State on Tuesday, then wrap their season at Michigan on March 10.
Also, @BadgerMBB pointed out Evans has has appeared in all 131 games of his career -- before adding "Hope that streak continues." We'll see on Sunday how much of an indicator that last sentence is intended to be.