EAST LANSING – Jeremy Fears Jr. continues to push the pace and provide toughness for Michigan State basketball.
Coen Carr’s highlight reel keeps getting bigger and more diverse.
The gap between Xavier Booker’s potential and ceiling grows closer with each passing game and week.
The blossoming of those three members of Tom Izzo’s 2023 recruiting class has No. 19 Michigan State surging to close out 2024. And its those second-year Spartans who very well might hold the key to another deep run in March.
“I honestly think we got a lot of room to improve,” Fears said after MSU’s 86-69 win over Florida Atlantic on Dec. 21. “Obviously, we’re winning games and we find a way, and I think we show good stretches of what we can be. I just think game by game, day by day, understanding each other, the game, the flow, that we can just get a lot better.”
MSU (10-2) hosts Western Michigan (3-8) on Monday afternoon to close out the calendar year and nonconference play for the season. Tipoff is 3 p.m. at Breslin Center (BTN).
When the final horn sounds, it’s Big Ten play the rest of the way, starting Friday on the road at Ohio State. And the development of sophomores Booker and Carr along with starting point guard Fears, a redshirt freshman after missing most of last year because of a gunshot wound, has Izzo peeking toward what he expects to be a competitive conference race in which the Spartans are already off to a 2-0 start.
“I said we’d know something after Christmas (about) how we are. Well, it’s getting near that time,” Izzo said after practice Saturday. “I’m not lying, I think we’re getting to be pretty good. But I still don’t know, because I see 10 to 12 teams in Big Ten alone that I don’t know if we’re better than or worse than. I really don’t. But I think everybody’s having that issue. It’s what the times bring.
“But at the same time, as long as we’re in that hunt as one of those teams. that’s where you want to be.”
Carr and Fears both put together personal-best performances in their last game.
Carr soared in the spotlight coming off the bench for a career-high 17 points and eight rebounds, three of those on the offensive glass. The 6-foot-6, 225-pound forward delivered five dunks among his 7-for-9 shooting performance, one an athletic step-through two Owls defenders late in the first half and another moments later after starting the break with a steal, then racing out for a Fears outlet pass to finish with a thunderous tomahawk slam.
But he wasn’t done, adding a high-flying blocked shot late in the Spartans’ fifth straight victory, following it up at the other end with his first career 3-pointer from the right corner that sent MSU’s bench into hysterics.
“We got great chemistry,” Carr said afterward. “So just being able to spread the floor with the guys we got, especially with our bigs being able to shoot, we spread the floor. That leaves openings for me and other people to go to rim or to crash the glass. So I just feel like everything definitely works together.”
Carr is averaging 8.7 points on 60.9% shooting with 3.8 rebounds and has made an impact defensively as well in 21.6 minutes. Izzo said he believes the growth beyond simply being an electric dunker could give Carr a chance to be the nation’s best sixth man this season.
“He’s really improved,” Izzo said. “He’s improved with the ball, he’s improved defensively, he’s improved his body, he’s improving his shot, he’s improved his free throws. And he’s improving his leadership. He is an energy guy.
“I could be starting Coen Carr. And yet, I look back at a Morris Peterson, I look back at guys I had that were sixth men. When (Carr) comes off the bench, he’s excited, the players are excited, the fans are excited. I’m even a little excited. He just brings a buzz to it.”
Fears delivered a tidy eight assist-to-one turnover over 23 minutes, scoring a career-best 13 points on 4-for-9 shooting. The 6-2, 190-pound floor general flashed the ability to hunt-and-peck deep into traffic like Cassius Winston for one layup, flexed the muscle of Mateen Cleaves to score through contact for a three-point play on another deep drive in the first half and buried his lone 3-pointer in the Spartans’ second-half put-away run.
“He’s come a long ways when you think about it,” Izzo said of Fears who played 12 games but missed the final 23 last season after getting shot a little over a year ago. “Some people didn’t know if he’d ever play again.”
While Booker struggled against FAU, missing his first six shots before a dunk in the final minute for his only points, his previous four outings showed signs of a developing consistency coming off the bench after starting the first three games. The 6-10, 240-pound former five-star recruit scored a career-best 18 with six rebounds in a 77-58 win over Oakland on Dec. 17 in Detroit. It was his first time in college reaching double digits in four straight games, though Izzo says he still believes there remains a long way for Booker to reach to what he believes is a very high ceiling.
For the season, Booker posts 6.8 points and 3.3 rebounds in just 16.3 minutes a game.
“We’re trying to push the pedal a little bit. I think he’s starting to figure out that he needs to push the pedal a little bit,” Izzo said. “But I also think he’s learning that there’s things that he’s done that he’s gotten better at. And now, if he can keep doing them, then he could be a special player.”
That trio – along breakout starts to the season from veterans Jaden Akins (13.3 points), Tre Holloman (7.3 points) and Jaxon Kohler (8.7 points/8.8 rebounds) – gives Izzo’s team an entirely different look and dynamic from a year ago. Add in immediate contributions from freshman guard Jase Richardson (9.9 points) and transfers Szymon Zapala (5.3 points/5.3 rebounds) and Frankie Fidler (9.5 points), and the Spartans boast more depth and balance than a year ago after the departures of Tyson Walker, A.J. Hoggard, Malik Hall and Mady Sissoko.
“Maybe we vetted it good, maybe we got lucky,” Izzo said of the cohesion of his 10-deep rotation on and off the court. “But I’m gonna enjoy the run and see where we can take it. And who knows, we might be able to take it farther than I even thought.”
Prediction
MSU 86, WMU 68: The Broncos have been competitive much of the season under former Spartan star and assistant coach Dwayne Stephens, but they also blew a 22-point lead in the final 6:51 and lost 76-73 at home to Valparaiso on a 3-pointer at the buzzer. Expect MSU to push the pace and wear down WMU for a sixth-straight win and momentum heading to Columbus to begin the new year.
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.
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