Coen Carr scores 20, Michigan State pounds Valencia, 105-59, in Spain

Coen Carr soared his way to a game-high 20 points, almost all of them on dunks, as Michigan State trounced the Valencia All-Stars, 105-59, Sunday in Valencia, Spain, at L’Alqueria Del Basket gymnasium. It was game two of the Spartans’ three-game tour of Spain.

Jaden Akins and Frankie Fidler scored 11 points apiece while Jaxon Kohler and Szymon Zapala each scored 10 for the Spartans.

Michigan State will finish the tour with a game in Barcelona on Tuesday afternoon, time to be announced.

HOW IT WENT DOWN

How easy and casual was this game? When Carr missed a driving dunk with 4:39 left and Michigan State up 93-43, Carr paused during a brief stoppage and did a few penalty push-ups, drawing laughter from the from the few dozen Spartan spectators in attendance.

Michigan State took control with a 15-0 run in the first quarter, with Carr scoring eight of the 15.

Valencia didn’t offer much of a challenge. Their players were thick, slowish and rarely tried to do anything off the dribble on offense, trying instead to create opening with flare screens. Frankly, Michigan State hasn’t played a regular season college basketball game against a poorer team in years.

Michigan State did damage with runouts off of steals and rebounds, enjoying a much easier game than Thursday’s 94-87 victory over the Madrid All-Stars. Carr had a free runway and airspace throughout the game.

Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo subbed players in and out in groups of five, every four or five minutes. Michigan State started Tre Holloman , Jase Richardson , Coen Carr , Jaxon Kohler and Carson Cooper . Thursday’s starting lineup of Jaden Akins , Jeremy Fears , Frankie Fidler , Xavier Booker and Szymon Zapala was the first five off the bench in this game. Izzo told media during a press briefing two weeks ago not to look too deeply into the meaning of the starting lineups in Spain. Michigan State did not release any postgame quotes or sound bites from Izzo or players in Valencia.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

Photo via Michigan State Basketball Instagram.

Coen Carr was 10-of-11 from the floor, with nine dunks in a demonstration that more closely resembled a Moneyball run than a regular season college basketball game.

His lone field goal that didn’t come via a dunk was a 15-footer from the foul line which he unintentionally banked in.

Carr’s first four field goals of the second half came via alley-oop jams, with Jeremy Fears and Akins each feeding him twice.

Carr played the four and the three in this game, signaling that he and the Spartan lineup should be more versatile that way in the 2024-25 season.

Jeremy Fears had six assists. He scored four points on 2-of-6 shooting. He drained a 16-footer off a high screen in the first half. He also hit a lay-up on a coast-to-coast drive after controlling a defensive rebound at the other end. That bucket gave Michigan State a 70-31 lead.

In the second half, Fears missed a 15-footer and a driving, pump-faking 10-footer.

Jaden Akins scored 11 points on 5-of-10 shooting, bouncing back from a poor, scoreless outing in Madrid. Akins was 1-of-3 from 3-point range, hitting a spot-up triple from the left wing which gave the Spartans an 84-39 lead.

Akins had three rebounds and two steals.

His nicest play might have been a 16-footer off the dribble, beating the shot clock to give Michigan State a 76-34 lead. He also finished a nice lefty lay-up off a crossover dribble to make it 28-13, knifing through a defense that didn’t offer much resistance.

Frankie Fidler was 3-of-6 from the field for 11 points. The senior transfer from Omaha had four rebounds, two assists and two steals. He was 2-of-4 from 3-point range.

Fidler’s spot up 3-pointer from the left wing gave Michigan State a 35-18 lead. Earlier, he hit a nice, pull-up 15-footer to make it 30-15.

Szymon Zapala , a transfer from Longwood, moved decently well in ball screen defense and was functional in manning his space on the glass, collecting eight rebounds.

Zapala was 5-of-8 from the floor, including three late garbage buckets. He had three dunks in the final 2:55, including one at the end of a press breaker, marking the first time Valencia pressed the entire game.

Fears fed Zapala with a lob for a dunk in transition, and then deferred a lay-up to Zapala in the final minute. Zapala worked for a nice put-back earlier in the second half.

Jaxon Kohler scored 10 points on 3-of-7 shooting. He had three rebounds, two blocks and three turnovers. He was 2-of-4 from 3-point range.

Kohler’s improving face-up skills also were demonstrated when he hit a 15-footer in the zone offense, via a pass from Zapala.

Freshman wing Kur Teng scored 9 points on 3-of-7 shooting. He was 2-of-3 from 3-point range, and pulled down four rebounds.

Teng would hav easily hit double figures if he hadn’t missed a pair of put-backs in the second half, and a free throw. He was active.

Teng’s best moment came on a 3-pointer from the right wing to bust the Valencia zone and give Michigan State an 87-41 lead.

Valencia played man-to-man more than 80 percent of its defensive possessions, and occasionally mixed in some zone defense.

Sophomore stretch four Xavier Booker scored 5 points on 2-of-5 shooting, much quieter than his 21-point performance on Thursday.

Booker had two rebounds, two steals, one block and one assist. Booker was 1-of-4 from 3-point range. Fears fed him for both buckets in the late going, including a dunk and the 3-pointer. He commands his space with more a little more strength than last year, but was late with weak side reactions on both ends of the court on a few occasions in this game.

Tre Holloman scored 6 points on 2-of-6 shooting. He had a game-high eight assists. Holloman was 2-of-4 from 3-point range, including a triple from the top of the key in the early offense which gave Michigan State a 46-24 lead.

Holloman’s nicest pass was a drive-and-dish to freshman Jess McCulloch for a lay-up to end the first half. Holloman had two rebounds and two steals.

McCulloch had 2 points on 1-of-3 shooting, and had three rebounds. He moved well and didn’t look out of place.

Carson Cooper scored 2 points on 1-of-3 shooting. His bucket came on a post-up in the early offense, via Akins, giving Michigan State a 52-24 lead in the first half. Moments later, Cooper failed to finish an alley-oop.

Cooper had six rebounds, one assist and one steal.

Redshirt-freshman Gehrig Normand scored 3 points on 1-of-6 shooting. He was 1-of-5 from 3-point range. He added two rebounds and two steals.

Walk-on guard Nick Sanders had 3 points, hitting a 3-pointer in the final minute.

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