After redshirting as a true freshman, Jesse McCulloch assumed a small role in 2025-26 for the 27-8 Michigan State Spartans.
The big man from Cleveland, Ohio, didn’t expect to see a huge role given that Jaxon Kohler and Carson Cooper were back and they were going to eat up a lot of minutes in the post, but he probably also didn’t expect to see his role disappear as the season progressed.
McCulloch started the season quietly with four straight games of fewer than 10 minutes played, and then Tom Izzo let him loose a bit. Over the next 11 games, McCulloch played 10-plus minutes eight times and he provided a bit of a spark offensively despite not even playing 20-plus minutes. His highest minutes played in 2025-26 was 17 and that came in a 71-52 win over Iowa where he also scored a season-best nine points with two rebounds.
The redshirt freshman finished his first season of action averaging just 2.4 points and 1.3 rebounds in 7.4 minutes. He did show a ton of promise offensively, shooting 47.9% from the floor, 50% from deep, and 92.9% from the line.
With Cooper and Kohler now gone, it’s likely that we see a role increase and there was actually a point this offseason where it was looking like he’d be the team’s starting center even though he projects more as a power forward. The addition of Anton Bonke changed that.
He’ll have a larger role as a sophomore either way.
What will Jesse McCulloch’s role look like?
I believe that the 6-foot-10, 240-pound freshman is versatile enough to play a little center in a small-ball, offensively-focused lineup. He needs to work a lot on his defense if he’s going to see his minutes multiply and I do believe that will happen.
The power forwards that are currently on the roster for next season are Julius Avent, Cam Ward, and maybe guys like Coen Carr and Kaleb Glenn in a pinch — Glenn more likely than Carr.
I see Ward starting and McCulloch coming off the bench as his backup but still playing a good chunk of those power forward minutes. I can also see him being the backup center seeing as Izzo doesn’t often trust true freshmen to play huge minutes unless he knows for a fact that they’re ready. Outside of the fact that Ethan Taylor made Team USA’s U18 squad, I think he’ll be a work in progress.
My projection? I think McCulloch doubles his minutes to around 15 per game, shoots around 40 percent from three as he becomes one of the team’s best 3-point shooters again, and averages somewhere in the ballpark of 5-7 points and 3-5 rebounds. I see a decent jump from him.
This is right on track for a backup Izzo big as a sophomore.
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