Jeremy Fears is getting his rightful recognition from Michigan State’s win over Rutgers on Tuesday night because, without his late-game heroics, the Spartans are 18-3 on the season with a shocking upset loss to the Scarlet Knights on their resume.
There was one other Spartan who played the role of hero on Tuesday night, not named Divine Ugochukwu, that isn’t getting the love and recognition he deserves.
Coen Carr hit some massive shots against Rutgers, including a 3-pointer with the shot clock winding down and under four minutes left in the game down by eight that gave Michigan State some life. Without that 3-pointer, Michigan State likely isn’t winning the game in the final minutes.
The ice water in Carr’s veins during this attempt were on full display:
This was the shot.
— Don (@nickdonstar13) January 28, 2026
It’s curtains if this doesn’t go in. pic.twitter.com/ZpZF77dkf0
The whole play was disjointed, Michigan State was reeling because it couldn’t get a stop, and time was melting away in the game. Everything looked to be working against Michigan State, but Carr didn’t panic when Fears passed up a shot to find him in the corner for a contested three, and he made it look clean — he looked more than comfortable.
A year ago, Carr would have air-balled this shot, or maybe he would’ve slightly grazed the rim, but this make just goes to show how hard he’s worked on his jumper.
Michigan State doesn’t win Tuesday’s game without this make.
Coen Carr is hitting his stride as a shooter
During Moneyball over the summer, we got the annual hype tease regarding Carr’s shooting ability. It was like the old Tum Tum Moneyball hype where we heard every summer that he was adding a 3-point shot to his game, but the Carr hype felt the same.
No way Carr was going to be able to consistently hit jumpers and threes, right?
Through non-conference play, Carr showed flashes of being an improved shooter, but there wasn’t a big enough sample size to really call him a threat to make jumpers — especially since defenders were giving him five feet of space. Then, he seemed to shy away from shooting the ball, but the past four games have seen him really turn a corner.
Carr has made seven of his last 11 attempts from three and he’s up to 30 percent on the year.
If he continues to shoot the ball like this and hit big shots here and there, the Spartans are going to be a legit Final Four favorite — if they aren’t already.