3 quick thoughts on Michigan State basketball’s exhibition win over Bowling Green

The first exhibition game of the season is officially in the books, and Michigan State basketball took Bowling Green down at home, 75-66.

The game wasn’t exactly the prettiest, but Bowling Green seems to have the Spartans’ number as the Falcons nearly pulled off the upset a year ago in East Lansing. Tum Tum Nairn seems to have helped with the game plan because the Falcons just hung around all game.

In the end, though, Michigan State was able to clamp down and hold on for an exhibition win that will surely provide some game tape to learn from.

What’d we learn?

1. There’s a lot to work on

Sloppy play is expected from the first live action of the season in front of fans, and Michigan State was no exception to that. The Spartans weren’t exactly on their ‘A’ game against Bowling Green, taking a modest lead into halftime, and then watching as the Falcons cut the lead to four with about 10 minutes left.

Michigan State was able to respond quickly and build an 11-point lead before winning 75-66.

The rebounding, defense, and execution all needs some work, but it’s early still and there’s going to be a lot of improvements after the Spartans watch film.

2. Coen Carr is becoming a star

Bowling Green head coach Todd Simon made sure to praise Coen Carr after the game, stating that he’s going to be “a problem” this year. And he showed that on Thursday.

Carr was doing just about everything, and he looked more comfortable in a go-to scoring role. He finished with 17 points, five rebounds, four assists, five blocks, and he shot 7-for-11 from the floor.

The junior forward is becoming the star we all expected him to be this offseason. It feels like he’s still only scratching the surface, but man, he’s so fun to watch.

Enjoy some of his highlights from the win:

3. Jeremy Fears Jr. will have to play big minutes

We saw two Spartans play over 30 minutes on Thursday night: Carr and Jeremy Fears Jr. And fortunately for the Spartans, Fears played really well in that extended action.

In fact, the Spartans may need him to play around 30 per game this season if they’re going to contend in the Big Ten. He was an impressive +18 on the night.

Fears finished with 12 points and nine assists and was disruptive on the defensive end of the floor, turning some forced turnovers into buckets. He has to keep up this aggressive play, but he also has to be on the floor more often than not. Michigan State is going to rely heavily on him.