EAST LANSING - Michigan State finally put the exhibition talk behind it Monday night, and once the real games started, the Spartans looked every bit like a team with more size, more speed and a lot more answers than Quinnipiac.
No. 6 Michigan State rolled to a 96-59 win over the Bobcats at Breslin Center to open the regular season, and the night turned into a showcase for the kind of depth Tom Izzo has been searching for.
Jeremy Fears Jr. led the way with 13 points and 11 assists, Coen Carr added 12 points and eight rebounds, and Anton Bonke finished with 11 points and 13 rebounds. Jordan Scott chipped in 11 points, with eight of them coming after halftime.
The bench did plenty of damage, too. Kaleb Glenn and Cam Ward each made their presence felt, while Carlos Medlock and Kur Teng gave Michigan State a second backcourt that looked more than capable of handling minutes behind the starters. By the end of the night, MSU’s reserves had outscored Quinnipiac’s backups 45-17.
The Spartans also delivered the pace Izzo wanted after a 1-2 exhibition stretch. Michigan State ran at every chance, piling up a 36-8 edge in fastbreak points and a 19-2 advantage in transition before halftime. The Spartans also controlled the paint, winning the rebounding battle 46-27 and outscoring Quinnipiac 50-22 inside.
Quinnipiac got 11 points from Tayeshawn Cunningham-Pembeton and 10 from Nate Guerengomba, but the Bobcats shot just 35.7% and went 6-for-21 from 3-point range. Michigan State shot 58.1% overall and made 9 of 23 from deep.
For Izzo, now in his 32nd season, it was another familiar kind of start. He is 24-8 in season openers and 31-1 in home openers at Breslin.
The game tilted hard once Michigan State’s second unit got rolling. The Bobcats hung around early, even after Izzo pulled Bonke after an ill-advised 3-point attempt.
Bonke returned quickly and scored inside, and Quinnipiac answered with a Keith McKnight driving layup to cut it to 10-6. At that point, the Spartans had already committed three turnovers.
Then Medlock and Teng changed the tone. With Fears and Jasiah Jervis on the bench, Medlock knocked down a 3-pointer from the top of the key off the dribble, then set up Teng for another from the corner. A Carr turnaround jumper pushed Bobcats coach Tom Pecora to call timeout with 13:14 left in the half and Michigan State ahead 18-6.
That burst sparked a 25-8 run over a stretch of more than seven minutes. Medlock scored nine points in the first 4:04 of that run and also threw down an alley-oop to Ward.
Medlock ended up as the night’s standout. The freshman showed a little bit of everything, scoring on a driving layup through contact, hitting a midrange jumper and using his quickness for another downhill finish.
He finished with nine points, four assists and no turnovers in 15 minutes in his official MSU debut, and he looked like a real option behind Fears. The one blemish came in the second half, when he missed three free throws after being fouled on a 3-pointer while playing alongside Fears.
Bonke’s night also told a story. Izzo was furious when the 7-2, 266-pound transfer launched that early 3-pointer and yanked him after 3:20, sending freshman Ethan Taylor in.
But the benching didn’t last long. Bonke came back, took the message, and spent the rest of the night attacking the glass.
He finished 5-for-7 from the field.
Glenn, another player who gave Michigan State a lift, started slowly before settling in as a low-post threat. He carved out two first-half layups, then added two more driving baskets in traffic after halftime, knocked down a 3-pointer from the wing and blocked a shot with authority. Glenn finished with 11 points on perfect shooting, going 5-for-5.
Michigan State also played without Jesse McCulloch, who sat out with what Izzo called a “minor, minor concussion” on his pregame radio show. The 6-11, 242-pound big man had returned to practice over the weekend, but the Spartans kept him out for precautionary reasons. McCulloch had averaged 10.7 points and 3.7 rebounds in 18.3 minutes during the three exhibition games.
The Spartans won’t have much time to savor the opener. They return to Breslin on Thursday against Toledo at 8 p.m. on Peacock/NBC Sports Network.
The Rockets opened Monday night at Arkansas State, finished 19-15 last season and placed fourth in the Mid-American Conference. Michigan State beat Toledo 92-69 at Breslin on Dec. 16 and leads the all-time series 4-1 since it began in 1999.
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 States Opener Put One Early Frontcourt Battle In Focus
Michigan States season opener against Quinnipiac offered an early look at how the Spartans frontcourt rotation might sort itself out, and Anton Bonke made a strong case to stay in the conversation. In the 96-59 win, the big man turned in one of the more productive debuts on the roster, finishing with 11 points, 13 rebounds and two blocks while the Spartans controlled the game from the start.
The opener also gave the staff a first chance to compare the new pieces in real game action, including freshman point guard Carlos Medlock Jr., who made an immediate impression off the bench with nine points and two assists in just four minutes. Ethan Taylors debut was quieter, but the bigger question now is how Michigan State balances those early returns as the competition level rises and the frontcourt picture comes into sharper focus. [Read more 🡒]