For a few minutes on Tuesday night, it looked like Michigan State basketball might fall victim to a surprising upset against Indiana. Fortunately, the Spartans woke up in the final 10 minutes of the second half to put the Hoosiers away, 81-60.
With the win, Michigan State improved to 15-2 on the season and 5-1 in Big Ten play. On the flip side, Indiana fell to 12-5 and 3-3 in the league.
The Hoosiers put up a nice fight for about 30 minutes, but Michigan State went on a 19-0 run late in the second half that was the difference. That run put the game out of reach, and it ended up ballooning to a 26-2 run before the game reached the final minutes.
What do the grades look like from Tuesday’s win?
Jeremy Fears — A
I’m not sure that I remember a better offensive game from Jeremy Fears, but this follows up one of his more clutch performances against Northwestern last Thursday. He’s piecing together quality games, and he’s becoming more of a scoring threat. Fears had a game-high 23 points to go along with 10 assists, four rebounds, and two steals. Arguably the best game of Fears’ Spartan career.
Coen Carr — B-
Only taking four shots and finishing with six points and three rebounds just isn’t going to cut it against the big boys of the Big Ten, but fortunately, Fears stepped up on Tuesday night so Coen Carr didn’t have to. He improved his grade from a C+ to a B- thanks to that massive dunk that forced Indiana to take a timeout and really supercharged that 19-0 run.
Jaxon Kohler — A-
Jaxon Kohler has gotten so much better and he’s arguably the most consistent player on the team, so much so that a 16-point, 10-rebound game is now considered just an A-. In previous seasons, this would’ve gotten an A+ for Jaxon, but he’s almost expected to do that every time out. He was a little off from deep, hitting just 1-of-4, but he was 5-for-9 from the floor.
Divine Ugochukwu — C
Divine Ugochukwu plays solid defense, and he’ll make the occasional clutch bucket (usually on a drive to the basket), but he’s been very quiet lately. He finished with just two points and an assist in 23 minutes. He was just 1-for-4 from the floor — all three of his misses were from deep.
Carson Cooper — B
For about 30 minutes, Carson Cooper was having one of his worst games of the season. Fresh off his career performance against Northwestern, Cooper was held scoreless for about three-fourths of Tuesday’s game before free throws got him into the scoring column. He finished with seven points, seven rebounds, three assists, a steal, and a block, but he took only two shots.
Jordan Scott — A-
This was one of the best games of Jordan Scott’s young career, and it’s a big reason he played 21 minutes off the bench. Outside of the starters, Scott was the player with the most minutes. He made the most of them, scoring 11 points, grabbing three boards, and stealing two passes. He was an impressive 3-for-4 from deep, really igniting the offense.
Kur Teng — B+
Watching Kur Teng grow has been one of my favorite developments from this season so far, and he looks like he could be a legit sixth man for a Big Ten title contender. He could very well start at the two, but Tom Izzo is sticking with Ugochukwu there. Teng got hot from deep in the first half and he finished 4-for-10 from three and had 11 points in 17 minutes.
Cam Ward — B
Outside of a couple of turnovers, Cam Ward played well. He was aggressive when he got fed the ball in the post, finishing with two and-ones, and converting one of them. He had five points and three rebounds, and it looks like that wrist is no longer an issue.
Wojcik/Fort/McCulloch — Incomplete
I’m not giving the walk-ons a grade because they all played just one minute, and I can’t really give one to Denham Wojcik, Trey Fort, nor Jesse McCulloch as they combined for eight minutes and none of them did anything noteworthy.