1. This MSU team is more than just toughness and grit
FORT MYERS, Fla. — At a certain point, we have to realize that this Michigan State basketball team is really good. I think that point is now.
It’s not just toughness and grit, relentless defense and rebounding, and discipline to get a good shot. That stuff sets the table. That’s the Spartans’ identity. But you don’t win a game like this — 74-58 over a talented North Carolina team — without also having shot-makers and the ability to produce offense time and time again.
My biggest question about this MSU team is still whether it has a guy whose greatest skill is getting buckets when the buckets aren’t coming easy, or when the other team finds a little momentum. A guy, for example, like North Carolina’s scary-good freshman star Caleb Wilson, or the player Jase Richardson (who Face-timed into the press conference Thursday) was for the Spartans a year ago.
Thursday, MSU had those guys. And not just one. It was Jeremy Fears Jr. rising above the defense several times from the free-throw line, including for 55-50 lead when it felt like the Tar Heels were about to make a move. It was Carson Cooper with two jumpers in the paint, Jaxon Kohler hitting a trailing 3-pointer just when the Spartans absolutely needed it and then one in the second half to give MSU a nine-point lead. It was Divine Ugochukwu hitting his only 3, Kur Teng with two timely buckets, and Cam Ward having interludes of beast mode.
The Spartans will continue to be tested — Iowa on Tuesday and Duke next Saturday, both at Breslin Center, will give us more data points. But so far MSU has passed every test, impressively.
The Spartans have a point guard who sets the tone — Fears had 19 points, seven assists and five rebounds, driving through defenders into the final minutes, with the lead safe. They have two big guys in Kohler (10 points, 11 rebounds) and Cooper (14 points, six rebounds) who clean up seemingly everything and contest almost everything, and led the way toward 46 points in the paint for MSU. They’ve got a player in Coen Carr who makes them a bear to deal with on the break, and an increasingly intriguing supporting cast that seems up for this.
It’s not a perfect roster. But it’s a 7-0 one, with wins over Arkansas, Kentucky and North Carolina, the latter two neutral-court wins when they overpowered a gifted opponent.
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2. The sequence that showed us a lot
There was a point in the first half when I thought the Spartans were in trouble. North Carolina had gone on a 10-2 run to take a 22-15 lead and the Tar Heels were in a groove and MSU was struggling to get stops or find offense of its own. North Carolina had the best player on the floor in Caleb Wilson and seemed to be solving the Spartans defensively.
Then, after a smartly called timeout, Fears got a bucket, MSU got a stop and, in transition, Fears dished it back to Kohler for trailing 3-pointer. Another two stops and then Fears found Cooper for an alley-oop dunk, as Cooper was being fouled. The mean mug on Cooper’s face was something we don’t see that often.
Suddenly, after a free throw, MSU was back ahead.
MSU took over in the second half. But none of that happens without that earlier stretch. MSU’s toughness was tested. And you saw the answer.
3. Freshman thoughts — the North Carolina in Fort Myers edition
Cam Ward personifies just about everything MSU could want in a freshman — beyond tough enough, knows how to make a dent in the game without forcing it, and so far makes the biggest impact when intensity of the setting and level of the opponent rise.
Thursday’s game against North Carolina was an example of all of this. Ward sprained his right wrist with about 14 minutes left until halftime and left the court in clear discomfort shortly thereafter, returned to put his imprint on this game.
Playing with his wrist taped — and still grabbing it and wincing after he’d shoot (noticeably in warmups before the second half) — Ward was instrumental in helping MSU keep some measure of control of the game before halftime, after getting it back.That included playing a couple of those minutes alongside Jesse McCulloch, with Carson Cooper on the bench with two fouls and Jaxon Kohler getting a breather.
Ward’s best stretch Thursday came just after MSU took a 26-22 lead on a Divine Ugochukwu 3-pointer. Ward blocked North Carolina’s Derek Dixon at the rim, beginning an MSU break that finished with Ward scoring in traffic underneath the rim at the other end. The next trip down the court, he was fouled inside. And then, on MSU’s next possession, Ward grabbed an offensive rebound and was fouled again, hitting both free throws to cap a five-point, grown-man sequence.
His physicality stands out in games like this. Simple things like being able to back down a defender, forcing a foul and then doing it again to score, as he did on one possession did late in the second half.
“He’s strong, he’s tough,” Tom Izzo said. “He’s got a bright, bright future, and I’m just lucky I got him.”
Ward finished with 11 points and that block and two rebounds in 15 minutes. His imprint felt a little bigger than that. He’s become someone MSU can count on and who’s up for situations like this.
“Just watching the game, coming off the bench, I have a time to just like explore the game, see where I can be valuable and, I just try to take advantage of those times when I get in the game,” said Ward, who said he sprained his wrist but never thought of not toughing it out. “Early when I got in, I saw a couple opportunities. Didn’t really make the most of them. Coach kind of got on me for it. The second time I got in the game, I tried to exploit the mismatches and just try to execute for my team.”
Another freshman worth highlighting is McCulloch, whose first-half stint began with Izzo yelling at him, “You’ve got to get tougher.” He wound up playing two pretty tough and important minutes in the first half, with MSU leading 23-22 when he entered and up 29-25 when he sat down. No stats, but noticeably solid defensively when MSU needed to buy a couple minutes to get Kohler a break.
Contact Graham Couch at [email protected]. Follow him on X @Graham_Couch and BlueSky @GrahamCouch.
