Rivals reports:

Delvon Roe, the rugged forward who helped Michigan State make it to a pair of Final Fours, has decided to quit the basketball team because of knee pain.

The school said Thursday that Roe, a senior fromEuclid,Ohio, will remain on scholarship and is on track to graduate in May.

The 6-foot-8 Roe says the pain in his knee has taken away his love of the game and it’s not fair to his team to try and play.

Over three years, Roe averaged only 6.1 points and 5.1 rebounds, but was a stalwart in Big Ten and NCAA tournament games. He averaged 23 minutes per game in the 2010 NCAA Tournament and is second in school history with 106 blocks.

This is not good news for Tom Izzo and the Spartans, who, despite their successes, feel like they’ve been underachieving in recent years. The Spartans are fortunate to be in a position where their annual goal is an NCAA Tournament championship, but without Roe, it’s going to be very difficult to achieve that goal in 2012.

Thanks to a reader for the tip on this story.