Michigan State’s first two exhibitions have already created a few uncomfortable questions, and the Spartans still have more tune-up work ahead before the season really gets rolling.
The sixth-ranked Spartans dropped games to No. 4 UConn at home and Marquette on the road, and while they still have exhibitions left against Quinnipiac and Toledo before a matchup with No. 2 Duke, a few players are already in tricky territory as the roster sorts itself out.
The biggest surprise has been Anton Bonke, the team’s only incoming transfer. He arrived with the expectation that he would be Michigan State’s starting center, but that role has not stuck so far.
Bonke opened against Incarnate Word and logged 15 minutes in what looked, at least for a night, like a normal starting debut. He wasn’t great, but that could have been written off as a rough first outing while he adjusted to Tom Izzo’s system.
The real concern started against Connecticut. Bonke got the start again, but he did not play at all in the second half. Then the same pattern repeated at Marquette, where he played just nine minutes across the two games combined.
That matters because Michigan State’s center situation was supposed to be settled by Bonke. The Spartans identified that spot as the major hole to address in the transfer portal last spring, and if Bonke is not the answer, the whole frontcourt picture changes.
Right now, it appears he may not even be first in line. Jesse McCulloch started at the five on Sunday, and freshman Ethan Taylor is also picking up more minutes. Bonke, for the moment, looks like the third option.
Kur Teng is in a different kind of bind. The junior guard’s value comes mostly from one thing: his three-point shot. When that isn’t falling, there isn’t much else he’s doing to tilt the game.
He hit 38.1% from deep last season, and the question now is whether he can push that number higher as a junior. If he can, maybe the shooting offsets the rest. If not, he risks being a little too easy to fit around.
That’s especially true because Michigan State may already have enough perimeter shooting to make Teng somewhat redundant. He’s mostly tied to the shooting guard spot, but Jordan Scott and Jasiah Jervis can play there too. Scott shot 42.0% from three after New Year’s last season, and Jervis knocked down 8-for-15, or 53.3%, from beyond the arc in the exhibition games.
Scott and Jervis also bring more to the floor beyond the jumper, which makes Teng’s path tougher. His offseason was interrupted by a foot injury and surgery that kept him out for much of the summer, costing him time that could have helped him broaden his game.
Kaleb Glenn is another player who has not yet found his footing in these exhibition games. At 6-foot-7, with shooting ability and some guard skills, he’s one of the more intriguing pieces in the frontcourt. That versatility still hasn’t shown up the way Michigan State would like.
Glenn got only four minutes against Marquette, and some of that can be tied to the fact that he is returning from a major injury. He missed the entire 2025-26 season with a knee injury, and there is obviously a mental side to coming back from that kind of setback.
Still, if Glenn does settle in, he could end up giving MSU real value in a frontcourt that has already had its share of issues. There’s a sense that he could have mattered on last year’s team, especially with that group lacking secondary creators.
For now, his minutes will be hard to come by. Glenn plays mostly the 3 and the 4, and both spots are crowded.
Scott and Coen Carr are in the mix at small forward, while Carr, Cam Ward and Julius Avent can all play power forward. Glenn should still be part of the rotation, but the path is crowded and nothing about it looks simple.
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