Moneyball was canceled on Thursday night after some poor court conditions stemming from the insane heat and humidity that has pounded Michigan over the past week but the annual pro-am is expected to resume next Tuesday, barring another weather emergency.
When it does resume, there is going to be a Spartan-heavy chase for this year’s scoring title and the current leader should be a pleasant surprise for Michigan State fans.
You would think it would be the most likely culprit in Jeremy Fears Jr. or even a veteran like Coen Carr or Kaleb Glenn or even one of the star freshmen like Carlos Medlock Jr., Jasiah Jervis, or Ethan Taylor (heck, even Julius Avent), but it’s actually a rising sophomore who many have high hopes for.
Cam Ward is the leading scorer at this year’s event through four games (not including the canceled games on Tuesday where part of the first game took place). He has 124 points through four games and while he’s not the points per game leader, his point total shows that he’s been the most consistent even though he’s flown under the radar while everyone else has been talking about Fears, Carr, Jervis, Medlock, Taylor, Glenn, and even Avent.
Through four games, Ward is averaging 31 points and that’s right behind Carr’s 35 points per game but he’s only participated in three games.
This shows that Ward is becoming more of a dominant presence in the post and while it might seem like he’s just taking advantage of poor defense in the post during Moneyball, he’s also hitting some threes. In fact, he ranks sixth at Moneyball with 10 made threes. That’s right, the player who could barely hit a free throw and was 0-for-2 from three as a freshman is averaging 2.5 per game during Moneyball.
Has he found a shot? That would be a scary-good development.
Cam Ward is aiming to avoid the dreaded sophomore slump
Ward averaged 5.1 points and 4.2 rebounds as a freshman and was nearly automatic around the rim, but where he really struggled was outside of 10 feet and he knows that has to change if he’s going to avoid the dreaded sophomore slump that affects many talented players.
The sophomore forward got a taste of the Big Ten and had some really good games along the way against ranked opponents, showing that he’s a key piece to the Spartans’ title puzzle.
If this improvement during Moneyball is any indication of what we can expect from Ward during the 2026-27 season and not just some Tum Tum Nairn-shaped mirage, I think we can safely say that we’re about to see a sophomore breakout. I already believe in a Jordan Scott breakout, but I feel strongly about both second-year players at this point.
An automatic Ward near the rim who can also step out and hit the occasional three? Defenses are not going to know how to defend this dude.
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