Michigan State is getting ready to (un)officially tip off its 2026-27 season with an exhibition opener on Friday night against Incarnate Word. This event is more of a gift for the Izzone members at the annual Campout as well as season ticket holders because those are the only people who can attend.
It’s still a cool opportunity for fans to watch on BTN+ and get their first look at the hyped-up Spartans who many believe give Tom Izzo his best chance to win a national title since Cassius Winston.
Here are the three storylines that I’ll be keeping monitoring on Friday night.
1. Jesse McCulloch in the starting lineup
Izzo said earlier this week that Cam Ward would be out for the first exhibition game and that Jesse McCulloch would step in and start at power forward because he thinks his third-year big man has earned the opportunity after a strong summer.
The 6-foot-10, 240-pound forward from Ohio is entering his second season as a role player after redshirting as a true freshman and he’s shown flashes. However, he couldn’t exactly show enough to make fans feel great about him being the No. 1 in the event of an injury in just 7.4 minutes per game in 2025-26, but he has a floor-stretching ability that Ward does not possess.
Will McCulloch look comfortable out there with the ones or will he look out of place and be delegated back to the bench when Ward comes back? The second part of that likely happens even if he plays well against Incarnate Word.
2. The early roles of the freshmen
Carlos Medlock Jr., Jasiah Jervis, Ethan Taylor, Julis Avent.
We’re going to witness quite the freshman class in its first-ever college basketball action against Incarnate World and it’ll be interesting to see which role each one of them assumes.
Medlock is going to be Jeremy Fears’ primary backup, Jervis should see plenty of time at the two, Taylor is going to get some run behind Anton Bonke, and Avent is going to be better than expected in the post but he may be more of a project in year one. How many minutes will each of them play? Who comes off the bench first? Does Izzo trust them on the court together at the same time?
So many questions that may not be fully answered on Friday night, but we’ll have more clarity.
3. Coen Carr’s development
A big key to this season’s success is going to be the development of Coen Carr who Izzo says has improved tremendously. He said the same thing last offseason about Carr and while he did improve, he still had a ways to go.
Carr can be an NBA draft prospect if he improves his ball-handling, ability to create offense for himself, his defense, and his mid-to-long range shooting.
If he looks more comfortable with the ball in his hands on Friday night, that’ll be the first really good sign that he has really worked on his craft this summer and is in for a huge year.
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