Michigan State basketball is getting set to face off against No. 4 UConn in the exhibition finale on Tuesday night in Hartford, Conn., with a chance to improve drastically.
The Spartans cruised to a ho-hum 75-66 win over Bowling Green last week while UConn dominated Boston College by 19. There's nothing on the line in Tuesday's showdown between ranked opponents, but a win will make either side feel a whole lot better heading into the regular season.
Here's what I want to see from the Spartans.
1. Coen Carr building off the Bowling Green performance
Coen Carr was fantastic against Bowling Green, leading the team with 17 points to go along with five rebounds, five blocks, four assists, and a steal. He was 7-for-11 from the field and even attempted a 3-pointer. He looked much more comfortable with the ball in his hands than he did at any point last season.
I would like to see that continue on Tuesday night. I want to see an aggressive Carr on both ends of the floor, and I want to see him hunting for his own shots.
Building off that confidence-boosting performance against Bowling Green would be huge.
2. Some help for Jeremy Fears Jr.
I'll admit, I'm a little worried about the state of the backcourt with Tre Holloman, Jase Richardson, and Jaden Akins all moving on and all the Spartans brought in were Trey Fort and Divine Ugochukwu. Is that concerning? Absolutely, especially when you realize that the backup point guard doesn't have a ton of college experience.
Fears had to play over 30 minutes against Bowling Green to keep the offense flowing, but when he's not on the floor, you can feel the difference.
I want to see Ugochukwu have a larger positive impact against UConn to take some pressure off of Fears.
3. Rebounding
Losing the rebounding battle to Bowling Green was flat-out unacceptable, and you know that Tom Izzo was unhappy with how his team performed on the glass. That can't happen again.
I think a good week of practice leading up to this exhibition probably featured a lot of rebounding and toughness drills, and I think we'll see a more willing team on the glass on Tuesday night -- at least that's what I would like to see.
UConn also got rebounded in its exhibition opener, but Michigan State prides itself on being a menace on the glass, and that needs to happen on Tuesday night.