Tom Izzo didn’t stop at one flattering comparison for his young guards. He’s already put Jeremy Fears Jr. in the Mateen Cleaves lane and Jasiah Jervis in the Gary Harris conversation, and after Monday’s season opener he found another name for fans to latch onto.
Carlos Medlock Jr. “ has a little Kalin Lucas in him ” Izzo said after Michigan State’s win over Quinnipiac, and the freshman backed it up with a sharp debut. Medlock scored nine points on 4-of-5 shooting in 14 minutes, doing all of his damage in the first half during a scorching stretch. In the second half, he shifted into distributor mode and finished with four assists and no turnovers.
That kind of performance made the Lucas comparison easy to understand. Medlock showed the same sort of scoring burst, quickness, craftiness and basketball IQ that helped define Lucas, who was a 6-foot-1 guard that played bigger than his size and never shied away from creating his own shot.
Medlock is listed at 5-foot-11, but he brings the same kind of energy and confidence. After a couple of shaky exhibition outings, he looked like he belonged.
Michigan State’s backcourt has a lot of that flavor now. Fears is a preseason All-American and arguably the best player in college basketball.
Jervis brings the kind of freshman upside that can produce 15 points a night. Medlock gives the Spartans a backup point guard who can score in bunches.
Jordan Scott is described as a future pro who does everything the right way, and Teng adds a 3-point threat.
It’s a group with real ceiling. The kind that can win 30-plus games and push toward a Final Four.
And if the frontcourt catches up, the national title talk gets a lot louder. Monday night, at least, felt like a step in that direction against Quinnipiac.
In Other News...
Michigan State's Opener Revealed A New Look That Could Matter Fast
Tom Izzo wasted little time tinkering with Michigan States opening-night look, and the changes were hard to miss against Quinnipiac. Coen Carr slid into the power forward spot, Jasiah Jervis got the start at shooting guard, and transfer Anton Bonke was in the first five as well, giving the Spartans a different blend than they showed in the exhibition games. It was the kind of early-season adjustment Izzo often makes when he thinks a lineup can be sharpened quickly, and this one had immediate consequences on both ends of the floor.
Carr responded with a lively all-around effort, finishing with 12 points, eight rebounds, a block and a steal in 25 minutes, while Bonke made his presence felt inside with 13 rebounds and 11 points in 19 minutes. For Michigan State, the bigger question now is whether this was simply an opener experiment or the start of a more permanent reshuffling, because the Spartans already have evidence that the new alignment can change the teams balance in a hurry. [Read more 🡒]
Michigan States Opener Raised An Early Rotation Debate Fans Will Notice
Michigan State opened its season with a look that immediately gave fans something to track beyond the final score. Jesse McCulloch was unavailable because of a head injury, but he was still on the bench, and Tom Izzo answered by rolling out a small-ball starting group of Jeremy Fears, Jasiah Jervis, Jordan Scott, Coen Carr and Anton Bonke. It was a lineup built for speed and versatility, and it signaled that the Spartans are willing to mix things up early as they sort through the frontcourt.
The first half offered a glimpse of why the approach was worth watching, with Fears and Medlock providing key scoring support while Bonke made his presence felt on the glass. Even without McCulloch on the floor, Michigan State found enough balance to take a halftime lead, which only sharpens the conversation about how Izzo wants to use his pieces once the roster is whole again. For a team with real depth questions to answer, the opener already hinted at a rotation debate that could linger. [Read more 🡒]
Michigan State Just Showed Why Izzo Has A New Early Decision
Michigan State opened the regular season in the kind of lopsided fashion that usually tells you a lot about a team before the schedule gets any harder, rolling past Quinnipiac 96-59 at the Breslin Center. The Spartans looked deep from the start, with Jeremy Fears Jr., Coen Carr and freshman Carlos Medlock all turning in strong showings as Tom Izzos group controlled the game in transition, on the glass and around the basket.
The broader takeaway was less about the final margin than the way Michigan State piled up advantages in the areas that tend to travel once Big Ten play arrives. Fastbreak points, rebounding and post scoring all tilted heavily in the Spartans favor, giving Izzo an early look at a roster that already appears to have multiple ways to beat teams. For a program trying to establish its identity right away, this was the kind of opener that can shape the conversation quickly. [Read more 🡒]