EAST LANSING, Mich. — No. 6 Michigan State men’s basketball opened its 2026-27 campaign at Breslin Center against Quinnipiac, dismantling the Bobcats 96-59.
“Things haven’t changed in 30 years,” coach Tom Izzo said. “If you guard better, you usually rebound better. If you rebound better, you usually run better and if you defend, rebound and run, you have some success.”
The Spartans played an unselfish, complementary style throughout the contest, with six players reaching double-figures. Junior guard Jeremy Fears Jr. led the way, scoring 13 points. Despite being without junior forward Jesse McCulloch, the bigs were able to make their presence felt down low, out-rebounding the Bobcats 46-27.
“I think our defensive intensity was a lot better than it has been,” Fears said. “Our offensive rebounding was huge. I’m just glad we took a step, and our goal is to keep taking steps.”
Fears got the scoring going, knocking down an open 3-pointer, which began a trend of a positive performance from beyond the arc.
The Bobcats attempted a 3-2 zone defense, trying to force the Spartans to shoot from outside early. However, sophomore forward Jordan Scott instantly burned the defense with a 3-pointer, which pressured Quinnipiac to switch its defensive approach.
MSU’s second unit showed a spark, highlighted by freshman guard Carlos Medlock Jr. heating up from the field.
In Medlock’s first four minutes on the floor, he drilled a step-back triple, beginning a four-minute sequence where the freshman put up nine points.
“Having that confidence, and the way I just played is going to help me at this level,” Medlock said.
After Medlock touched the floor, MSU’s offense stayed hot, scoring eight unanswered points which forced Quinnipiac to take its first timeout.
The Bobcats had no answer for the Spartans’ size defensively, especially in the first half. MSU collected five blocks while holding Quinnipiac to 29% from the field.
The Spartans entered halftime with a 52-26 lead and a plus-15 rebound margin. Fears’ nine points led the Spartans at the break, yet Izzo didn’t approve of his All-American guard’s first half performance.
“Good isn’t good enough anymore,” Izzo said. “He’s gotta play at an elite level and when he started to do that in the second half defensively, it changed the whole game and I thought the rest of the guys rose.”
The all-around defensive success continued in the second half, allowing the Spartans to keep their lead through easy fast break chances and points off turnovers.
After struggling in exhibition play, graduate center Anton Bonke had his best performance in the Green and White, finishing with an 11-point, 13-rebound double-double, capped off by an alley-oop jam.
With two-minutes left and the game well in-hand, Izzo decided to turn to his reserves and bring in senior guard Matthew Watkins. After being a manager last year, Watkins got himself his first official score on a fast-break layup, leading to an eruption from the MSU bench.
“We did a lot of good things, but we just played two games when we didn’t do many good things,” Izzo said. “We got a lot of work to do still.”
The Spartans will remain in East Lansing for their second regular season game against the Toledo Rockets on Thursday, Nov. 5 at 8:00 p.m. The game will air on Peacock.