Michigan State will face East Carolina tomorrow and North Carolina on Thanksgiving Day in the Ft. Myers Classic.
The Spartans head to Florida with a 5-0 record which includes impressive wins over Arkansas
at home and Kentucky in the Champions Classic. Michigan State is coming off a 84-56 win against Detroit Mercy on Friday.
Though they caught flack from Tom Izzo after an unimpressive second half against San Jose State – the game sandwiched in between Arkansas and Kentucky – the Spartans have relied heavily on their four captains so far this season. Jeremy Fears (32), Jaxon Kohler (30), Coen Carr (29), and Carson Cooper (24) are the only Spartans averaging over 20 minutes per game through the first five games. Freshman Jordan Scott is next on the team with 17.5 mpg while fellow freshman Cam Ward and transfer Trey Fort both average 16. Redshirt freshman Jesse McCulloch has only been playing eight minutes per game but is pushing for more time after impressive performances against Kentucky and Detroit.
The four captains are all scoring in double figures for MSU, led by Kohler averaging 14 per game. Fears, after a career high 18 against Detroit Mercy, is averaging 12.8 while Carr and Cooper are at 12.
The Spartans rank 11th in the country with nearly 21 assists per game and Fears leads the nation with 10.4 per game.
Despite a tremendous performance in the Champions Classic, which saw MSU go 11-22 on three point attempts, the Spartans continue to struggle to shoot the ball. Michigan State has made just 24% of their three pointers but is shooting 44% overall through five games. Instead, MSU is winning with their long-held program priorities of defense and rebounding. Opponents are shooting just 40% overall and 30% on three pointers against MSU while the Spartans are out rebounding opponents by nearly 16 per game, good for eighth in the nation.
East Carolina is 2-3 entering tomorrow’s game with narrow wins over Georgia Southern (92-89) and Elizabeth City State (71-70). The Pirates have dropped games to Richmond (87-72), UNC Wilmington (85-60), and are coming off a 77-65 loss to Charleston Southern on Friday.
Senior guard Jordan Riley leads the team with 18.5 points per game. Riley previously played at Georgetown and Temple. Center Giovanni Emejuru, a transfer from George Mason, averages nearly a double-double with 17 points and 9.8 rebounds for the Pirates.
There are not many Division 1 teams hitting three pointers at a lower percentage than MSU but East Carolina is one of them. So far, the Pirates are just under 21% from beyond the arc while allowing opponents to shoot nearly 40% from three. Maybe this will be a game where the Spartans can find their stride again from deep.
ECU is coached by Michael Schwartz, who spent time at Tennessee as an assistant under Rick Barnes.
North Carolina also comes to Fort Myers with a 5-0 record and will face St. Bonaventure on Tuesday before the Thanksgiving tip with the Spartans. The Tar Heels’ most impressive win so far is an 87-74 win over Kansas in Chapel Hill on November 7. The only other real marquee opponent UNC has faced this year was in an exhibition game – a 78-76 loss to BYU in Salt Lake City on October 24.
The Tar Heels appear to use an eight man rotation so far with five players averaging between 25-30 minutes per game and three more between nine and 16 minutes. UNC will be without senior guard Seth Trimble when they face the Spartans. Trimble recently had surgery on a broken arm after suffering the injury in a weight room accident.
North Carolina has some size and international influence on their roster this year.
Caleb Wilson (#8), a 6-10 freshman, leads UNC with 20.6 and 10 boards per game. He’s scored 20 or more in every game but one (against Radford) so far.
Next is Henri Veesaar (#13), a 7-0 junior transfer from Arizona and native of Estonia. Veesaar averages nearly 15 points and 8 rebounds per game and has scored in double figures in all five games for UNC. His season high was 20 in the win against Kansas.
Jarin Stevenson (#15), is another big man transfer for the Tar Heels. He comes to Chapel Hill from Alabama and is averaging 8 points and 5 boards in 25 minutes so far this year.
With Trimble out, the UNC backcourt and wings are led by 6-6 junior Luka Bogavac (#44), 6-2 junior Kyan Evans (#0), 6-5 freshman Derek Dixon (#3), and 6-6 sophomore Jonathan Powell (#11).
Bogavac, from Montenegro, averages 12.6 points, 3.4 boards, and 3 assists for UNC. Evans is a Colorado State transfer who contributes 8 points and 5 assists per game. Dixon has hit on 50% of his three point attempts and has seen double digit minutes in four of five games for UNC but only played eight minutes and didn’t attempt a field goal against Kansas. Powell is a West Virginia transfer who also saw limited action (six minutes) against Kansas.
Rebounding could be a key for the Spartans against Carolina, who are also strong on the boards and outrebounding their opponents nearly 14 per game. The Tar Heels are sound defensively, limiting opponents to just 33% shooting from the field and 31% from three in giving up 63 points per game. North Carolina has made 48% of their field goal attempts and hits at a rate of 33% from deep.
Hubert Davis is a UNC alum and is in his fifth season as head coach at North Carolina after serving as an assistant on Roy Williams’ staff from 2012-2021. Davis already has a win over Izzo in the second round of the 2024 NCAA tournament and led UNC to the 2022 Final Four. Izzo and the Spartans returned the favor last year, however, with an overtime win in the Maui Invitational.
Hopefully MSU is able to take care of business against East Carolina prior to facing UNC in what should be a match up of 6-0 teams. The Thanksgiving game could be a physical one where points could be hard to come by and every possession is important. Both teams have impressive wins in the early going of the season but MSU has the advantage of scoring one on a neutral floor.
This has all the makings of an early season classic where whoever can utilize their strengths (defense and rebounding) the best could come out on top and return from Florida still undefeated.
