Couch: Coen Carr knows he needs to be more than a dazzling high-wire act for MSU's basketball team

HOLT – Coen Carr still enjoys putting on a show at the Moneyball Pro-Am. He knows his acrobatic dunks are part of what people come to see on Tuesday and Thursday nights at Holt High School. And that this might be their only chance to see him and his Michigan State teammates up close.

“Some people can't really afford (MSU games) or don't really come to the games, so it’s the only thing that they come to,” Carr said after a recent pro-am game. “Just having people out there, people waiting to watch me play …”

Carr is happy to entertain them.

He also knows that his dazzling high-wire act — while perfect for the pro-am — isn’t enough on its own to have a fulfilling sophomore season at MSU this winter, that he needs a more complete offensive game to have a meaningful career.

“Making people respect my shot and know that I can get to the rim off the dribble,” Carr said. “It’s kind of my confidence, too — knowing that I can hit the shot, knowing that I put the work in to make the shot and just being out there and being comfortable. I feel like I’ll be way more comfortable than I was last year.”

Carr was not the highest-rated recruit in MSU’s 2023 class. But after last summer, fans’ anticipation for Carr was at a five-star level. His dunks did that. The rest of his game, however, needed seasoning. He didn't have a bad freshman season. He just wasn’t ready to give a flawed MSU roster what it needed — someone who could create offense, stretch defenses and guard multiple positions.

Carr played in all 35 games — the only member of MSU’s acclaimed 2023 class to do so — averaging 11.6 minutes, while producing 3.1 points, 1.8 rebounds, half a block per game and shooting 65%, mostly from near the rim. He did not attempt a 3-pointer all season.

In football terms, he looked like a quarterback who’s speed had allowed him to dominate at the high school level but was not yet ready to make college defenses respect his passing ability, which, in turn, hampered even his ability to run the ball.

Carr is not a bad shooter. We saw him hit a few jump shots last season — and he didn’t take many. He just didn’t have the confidence to let them fly.

“If you're not playing (much), you kind of get down on yourself a little bit,” Carr said. “I’m just trying to make sure I stay focused and put the work in. Last year just wasn't my time. We had older guys and, shoot, all the older guys deserved to play. I wasn't complaining or anything like that. I feel like the coaches put the best lineup out there. Now is kind of like a fresh start (for me to) come in and play a way bigger role than I did last year.”

While he wasn’t in a lot of MSU's best lineups last season, the lineups themselves also made life harder on Carr. MSU needed spacing offensively. Had the Spartans’ roster featured a Joey Hauser type or perhaps Frankie Fidler, who’s joined this roster as a transfer, or a stretch 4-man like sophomore Xavier Booker is expected to be this season for the Spartans, Carr might have fit as a garbage guy, cleaning up rebounds and running the floor. Instead, he too often found himself as a cog in an offense that didn’t have enough juice when he was out there.

This year, Carr hopes to be more equipped for that and the pieces around him also have a chance to complement his strengths, rather than exacerbate his weaknesses.

“It feels a lot different,” Carr said. “The whole locker room looks different. You’ve got to learn everybody, try to kind of learn the team over again. … We’re just kind of building chemistry right now.”

Carr said he’s splitting time in workouts between the guards and big men, planning for a role as both a wing and power forward. He’s likely to be a sixth or seventh man, coming in behind Booker at power forward and Fidler on the wing.

“Just being the versatile player I am, guarding more positions, playing multiple positions on offense and just being aggressive, not passing up shots, not passing up driving lanes,” Carr said. “Just playing my game and playing the way that (Tom Izzo) knows I can play.

“I learned (last year) to just believe in myself — while I'm on the court, while I'm at practice, having that belief in myself that I can play with these guys and play against all the best teams.”

Contact Graham Couch at gcouch@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @Graham_Couch.