EAST LANSING — Coen Carr’s dazzling above-the-rim play gets plenty of things going.
Michigan State basketball’s offense. The Breslin Center crowd. And his opponents’ glassy-eyed gazes on how he did it.
With Florida Atlantic giving the 19th-ranked Spartans the type of game Tom Izzo expected early Saturday afternoon, the sophomore swingman delivered a pair of highlight reel dunks to ignite a 23-9 first-half finish and send MSU into the Christmas break with an 86-69 victory.
“It’s a huge energy booster and a momentum shifter,” point guard Jeremy Fears Jr. said. “So having him do those things is just like, wow, in a game,”
Carr finished with a career-high 17 points on 7-for-9 shooting, with five of his buckets coming on slams. He also had a personal-best eight rebounds and delivered a monster block in the second half, following it with his first career 3-pointer as part of another balanced effort from the Spartans.
Fears also had a career high with 13 points to go with eight assists. Jaden Akins added 13 points, and Frankie Fidler scored 10.
MSU had a 48-36 rebounding advantage thanks to 12 from Jaxon Kohler and held the Owls to 4-for-22 shooting from 3-point range.
The Spartan (10-2) are off until they host Western Michigan (and former MSU player and assistant coach Dwayne Stevens) on Dec. 30.
“I feel like we’re at a great place right now,” Carr said. “But I feel like there’s definitely a lot more room to grow.”
Tre Carroll scored 24 points and Baba Miller had 12 points and seven rebounds for Florida Atlantic (7-6).
Coen Carr takes flight
Izzo expressed concern about the size and talent level of the Owls coming into Saturday’s matinee, calling them the best nonconference team the Spartans would play outside of their major opponents in Champions Classic and Maui Invitational.
For 12 minutes, his assessment proved spot on. Florida Atlantic countered every punch, answering MSU’s 8-0 run early with seven straight points following six in a row from the Spartans with a pair of buckets. The Owls led four times in the first 12-plus minutes, including 20-19 on a dunk by Miller.
That’s when Carr took flight.
After a Richardson free throw tied it up, Carr collected a near-turnover when Tre Holloman’s pass got tipped in traffic and then raced through the FAU defenders toward the basket. He took two dribbles, made a Eurostep move between two Owls as he approached takeoff and slammed it with his left hand over Carroll.
“It’s just instinct, for real. I’m not really thinking too much out there,” Carr said. “He reached and came under me for the ball, so I just put it up. Usually I kind of do it fast, but I had to slow down and take my time, and I just got up and dunked it. I didn’t even see the other dude that tried to block it.”
Then after a Szymon Zapala dunk through a foul, finishing off the three-point play, Carr took off again in transition after MSU forced a turnover. Fears found him in stride, and Carr soared in for a left-handed tomahawk dunk.
“You saw our bench, you saw our fans, you saw their coach, you saw the players that were on the floor,” Izzo said. “It’s like getting a big hit in football or getting an interception. 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.”
MSU’s newfound desire and ability to draw contact this season also paid off, with FAU getting whistled for 15 first-half fouls and the Spartans making 12 of 14 free-throw attempts at halftime and a 42-20 lead at the break. MSU finished 16-for-20 for the game at the line.
Fears shows his athleticism, too
Despite the strong surge, including the first four points after halftime, MSU could not pull away from the Owls in the early part of the second half. But a Carr dunk off a wrap-around assist from Jase Richardson and a Richardson 3-pointer sparked the final put-away run.
Carr delivered on another alley-oop dunk, his chin nearly at the rim, off a pass from Fears. Then Holloman buried a 3-pointer to extend the lead to 58-42 at the midpoint of the half. It swelled to as many as 20.
“I definitely think in practice that (the awe-factor) has worn off. Just seeing him dunk is just like, ‘It’s just another Coen Carr dunk,'” Fears said. “But in the real world, everyone can’t do this. Probably none of the 14 or 15 players on the team can jump and dunk as much as Coen can.”
With just inside of five minutes remaining, after an Akins 3-pointer, Carroll tried to do his best Carr imitation by driving down the left side of the lane through MSU’s defense. But Carr slid over to help and elevated for a high-flying swat to prevent a slam, keeping the ball in bounds.
At the other end, the ball rotated around and found its way to Carr in the right corner. No defender stepped out on him, so he coiled up his lefty shot and swished a 3-pointer that sent his teammates and the crowd into hysterics again and forced FAU coach John Jakus to call timeout, his players finally succumbing to the strain of yet another Carr-induced momentum swing.
Fears also managed the offense efficiently, committing just one turnover in his 23 minutes while directing MSU to 27 fast-break points and attacking deep in the paint for buckets in half-court sets. Along with that, the redshirt freshman swished a 3-pointer and delivered a high-flying block in the second half..
“If I took everything overall, that was his best game as a Spartan,” Izzo said of Fears. “Because he was really good in the huddles, he was really showing some leadership. And I’m telling you, he’s going to get better.”
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.
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