On Saturday afternoon, the Michigan State Spartans defeated the Florida Atlantic Owls by a score of 86-69. The Owls are a solid mid-major team from the American Athletic Conference who are ranked in the top 100 of Kenpom. If Florida Atlantic were to play Rutgers, USC, Washington, or Minnesota on the neutral floor that game would essentially be a tossup according to the sportsbooks in Vegas.
But the fact that the Spartans steamrolled yet another solid team in this still young basketball season was a minor footnote in the discussion following the game. Saturday belonged to one young man and one young man only.
"Coen (Carr), no doubt, was the star of the game," Coach Tom Izzo said in the postgame press conference.
Carr posted a career high 17 points on 7-for-9 shooting from the floor. He hit two free throws and is currently on a streak where he has hit eight free throws in a row stretching back to the game against Nebraska.
But the most electric moment of the game came with 4:41 left to play. Jaden Akins started to attack the basket and was able to draw in a second defender from the wing. Akins rifled a pass to the corner to the now unguarded Carr who rose up and calmly drained the first 3-pointer of this career.
The Spartans had a comfortable 15-point lead but were having a little trouble putting the scrappy Owls away. Carr's triple gave the Spartans their largest lead of the game. More importantly, it launched the Breslin Center, including the Spartans' bench, into a frenzy.
"I appreciate our fans appreciating him," Izzo said. "And the last time I saw an eruption like that (from the bench) is when Steven (Izzo) hit a shot. That was pretty cool. I think that tells you a lot about how they feel about each other."
Shooting isn't the only area where Carr has improved. He also posted a career-high eight rebounds in just 23 minutes. Carr has committed only one turnover in the last five games. He is more confident, and he might be the most improved player on the team.
"He's learned how to play harder," Izzo said. "His body's in great shape. He runs like a deer. His shot is improving every day. He's gotten better with the basketball. He's gotten better defensively."
Carr has been a human highlight reel since he arrived on campus. But in his first season in Green and White, opponents just had to survive maybe one loud play per game. Last year, Carr only scored more than three points in a game once after Jan. 14. He scored only five points total in the month of March.
But this year, his presence is felt on almost every possession when he is on the court. Carr is now stringing together high impact plays. Prior to the 3-point shot that lifted the roof off of Breslin, Carr had just hit two free throws and had recorded a block.
At times, he is single-handedly changing the momentum of the game for the Spartans. Izzo, as he likes to do, made a football analogy when describing the impact of these plays.
"It's like getting a big hit in football or getting an interception," Izzo said. "There's things that are worth two points, and then there's things that are worth way more than two points. Those dunks at the time were worth way more than two points... I think it does everything to the opponent, to your fan base, to your players on the bench, to your players on the court, and even to your coaching staff."
During the timeout following Carr's 3-pointer, Izzo gave him a high five, a hug, and pulled him close to tell him something. After the game, Izzo was asked to share what he told Carr in this special moment.
"I said I was proud of him and happy for him," Izzo recalled. "I knew the work he put in and (when he) makes those free throws, and he looks over at me. Those are the things that make this crazy profession of mine worth it. Those are moments that are priceless."
Based on everything that's been said about him, Carr is highly coachable and a hard worker. Add in world-class athleticism and that is a powerful combination to put into the hands of a hall-of-fame coach. After a year and a half in the program, Carr and Izzo may have solidified an even more important element to their relationship: trust.
"I said it's getting harder for players to trust people, because coaches screw over players too," Izzo said. "We do. I don't think I do, but we do in this profession. I think he now trusts. If I told him to jump off this building. I think he jumps and I think that's a good thing.
"The beauty of him (Carr) is that he's agreeing before you get it out of your mouth," Izzo continued. "That's a pleasure this day and age."
With the work ethic and rate of improvement, the sky is the limit for a player with Carr's ability.
"You just have to be thrilled for a guy who works and earns it and changes it (his shot)," Izzo said. "People laughed at him while he shot free throws and laughed at him while he did this and that. I understood it. I mean, they laughed... and he worked. He's going to have the last laugh, maybe... The best is yet to come."
Fears also shows growth
While much of the focus in the post game discussion and celebration was on Carr, redshirt freshman point guard Jeremey Fears Jr. also posted some impressive numbers. He was tied for second on the team with Akins in scoring with 13 points on 4-for-9 shooting, including going 1-for-1 from deep.
More impressively, Fears posted eight assists and just one turnover in 23 minutes. But it wasn't the numbers on the box score that impressed Izzo on Saturday, it was what happened on the bench.
"I thought he took a major step today," Izzo said. "He was demonstrative. He was begging, he was prodding, he was after guys to play harder and check better."
In other words, he was showing just the kind of player-level leadership that Izzo expects from his point guard. Fears is starting to show the kind of fire in the huddles that previously inspired Izzo to compare Fears to Spartan legend Mateen Cleaves.
"That was his best game as a Spartan, because he was really good in the huddles," Izzo explained. "He was really showing some leadership."
Far from perfect... yet
Despite the 17-point victory over another solid opponent and the lovefest for Carr and Fears, Izzo was quick to point out several areas where he believes improvement is still needed.
"I'm liking where the team is heading," he said. "But I think we got to really clean up some things."
Izzo commented that his team was not as sharp on Saturday as they will need to be heading into Big Ten play. He feels that they need to be more consistent if they intend to contend for a conference title.
"I thought we got stagnant with the ball," Izzo added.
In the first half, the Spartans committed seven turnovers and hit just 22% of their three-point shots. In the second half, Michigan State cleaned up the turnovers and shot much better from deep, but the Spartans hit just two of their first 15 shots from the field, including missing "a gazillion" layups (it was actually only four, according to the box score).
Michigan State held the Owls to under 70 points, 40% from the field and 18% from three. But Florida Atlantic was able to penetrate the Spartans' offense on multiple occasions for easy buckets. Michigan State had trouble extending the lead beyond the 13-point halftime margin until the final six minutes of the game.
"We have not been as good defensively since our offense has gotten better," Izzo observed.
"Make more shots; check less," he added with more than a hint of sarcasm.
In order for this Michigan State team to reach its potential, a few players are going to need to step up and play with more consistency. Izzo mentioned several by name.
"We need Coop (Carson Cooper)," Izzo said. "(Saturday was the) first time he had his mask off, and he struggled a little bit. We need him to get back because can guard a lot of different people. He's one of the better leaders on my team."
Izzo commented that junior power forward Jaxon Kohler struggled with his shot on Saturday as well, going just 2-for-9 from the field. That said, Kohler did grab a game-high 12 rebounds and "was a man-child in there."
"We need Book (Xavier Booker)," Izzo said.
After four straight games in double figures, Booker was ice cold from the field. He was 0-for-5 from deep and only scored two points thanks to a broken play on an inbounds with less than a minute to play.
Izzo summed up the current status of his team as follows.
"(We are) good enough to beat a lot of teams, and not great enough to not lose to a lot of teams," he said.
The Spartans have another break coming up for Christmas, but they will be back at practice on Dec 26. Izzo said that his team will need to "grind it for a couple of days," including some two-a-day practices leading into the new year.
Michigan State will play the final non-conference game of the regular season on Monday, Dec. 30 against Western Michigan and former Spartan associate head coach Dwayne Stephens. Then, Big Ten play resumes in earnest on Friday, Jan. 3 with a game at Ohio State.
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