Michigan State basketball mixes and matches way to rout of Quinnipiac

OK, so the competition level dipped a bit. No one will compare Quinnipiac to Connecticut other than perhaps their home state, or the vague sound of their consonants. Or Marquette, other than sharing a "Q.".

But Tom Izzo learned plenty about No. 6 Michigan State basketball in those losses that didn’t count. And on Monday, Nov. 2, when the games finally counted, the Spartans throttled the Bobcats as they expected, 96-59, to open the regular season with an easy victory at Breslin Center.

MSU saw multiple different combinations and lineups all night, with All-American Jeremy Fears Jr. scoring 13 points with 11 assists and fellow senior captain Coen Carr adding 12 points and eight rebounds. Anton Bonke had 11 points with 13 rebounds, while Jordan Scott added eight of his 11 points in the second half.

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But it was the Spartans’ depth that helped them pull away. Kaleb Glenn and Cam Ward both flashed, while Carlos Medlock and Kur Teng showed to be a capable backcourt duo behind the starters. MSU’s reserves outscored the Bobcats’ backups, 45-17.

The Spartans also did what Izzo wanted to see more of after feeling they failed to do so in going 1-2 in exhibition play. MSU turned up the tempo and had a 36-8 fastbreak advantage Monday, including 19-2 in the first half, and dominated Quinnipiac on the low block rebounding (46-27) and scoring in the post (50-22).

Tayeshawn Cunningham-Pembeton had 11 points and Nate Guerengomba 10 for the Bobcats, who shot 35.7% and were just 6-for-21 from 3-point range. MSU hit 58.1% from the field and went 9-for-23 from beyond the arc.

Izzo, now in his 32nd season, is 24-8 in season openers and 31-1 in home openers at Breslin.

At the beginning, the Spartans had a clear talent and depth advantage over the Bobcats, which is far from a surprise. MSU is just the third Big Ten team to ever play Quinnipiac.

But through the first media timeout, the Bobcats remained scrappy. Izzo yanked starting center Anton Bonke after an ill-advised 3-point attempt, but the Charlotte transfer quickly came back into the game and scored down low. Quinnipiac answered with a driving layup by forward Keith McKnight to make it 10-6. The Spartans had three early turnovers at that point.

Enter Medlock, a freshman, and the veteran Teng, who replaced Fears and Jasiah Jervis (another freshman). The backup backcourt quickly asserted itself, with the 5-foot-11 Medlock hitting a 3-pointer from the top of the key off the dribble, then penetrating and kicking to Teng in the corner for another. A Carr turnaround jumper forced Bobcats coach Tom Pecora to call timeout with 13:14 left in the opening half and MSU’s lead at 18-6.

That mini-burst kickstarted a 25-8 run over a seven-minute-plus stretch. Medlock had nine points in the first 4:04 of that, along with an alley-oop to Ward.

Player of the game: Carlos Medlock

Medlock showed three-level scoring ability, scoring one driving layup through a foul, hitting a midrange jumper in his early stretch and then using his quickness for another downhill layup. The freshman finished with those nine points and four assists with no turnovers over 15 minutes in his official MSU debut, seemingly giving Fears a reliable backup and ability to rest for stretches that he lacked last season. However, when he played alongside Fears in the second half, Medlock missed three free throws after getting fouled on a 3-pointer – free points that Izzo demands his point guards get much more effectively.

Trending up: The (kinda) new guys

Izzo was furious when Bonke launched a 3-pointer and pulled him 3:20 into the game, replacing him with freshman Ethan Taylor. But Bonke’s stay on the bench was brief – long enough for Izzo to give him a tongue-lashing and send him right back to the scorer’s table. The 7-2, 266-pounder attacked the glass aggressively all night from there and finished 5-for-7 from the field.

Glenn also started slow but started to assert himself offensively as a down-low presence, cutting through Quinnipiac’s frontcourt for a pair of first-half layups. Then in the second half, the 6-7 forward – who missed last season with a knee injury after arriving via transfer – hit two more driving buckets in traffic, buried a 3-pointer from the wing and delivered an emphatic blocked shot. Glenn scored 11 points on 5-for-5 shooting.

Trending down: Sickness

It is expected to be a brief dip, but third-year big man Jesse McCulloch sat out the opener with a “minor, minor concussion,” Izzo said on his pregame rradio show. The 6-11, 242-pound forward/center was back practicing over the weekend but sat due to precautionary reasons. McCulloch averaged 10.7 points and 3.7 rebounds in 18.3 minutes during MSU's three exhibition games.

The Spartans get right back to it Thursday as they welcome Toledo to Breslin (8 p.m., Peacock/NBC Sports Network). The Rockets, who also opened Monday night at Arkansas State, went 19-15 and finished fourth in the Mid-American Conference last season. MSU demolished Toledo, 92-69, on Dec. 16 at Breslin and is 4-1 all-time in the series that began in 1999.

Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.