Michigan State men's basketball upset at home by James Madison in season opener

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Forget Duke. The Dukes turned out to be too much for Michigan State to handle on Monday night — defeating the Spartans 79-76 in overtime on opening night in an upset that became less surprising with every minute that passed after the opening tip.

Xavier Brown’s 3-pointer with 8.6 seconds left was essentially the dagger in one of MSU’s more memorable non-conference losses in the Tom Izzo era, the first November home loss since 1986.

I haven’t seen many mid-major programs, if any, come into Breslin Center and have that look about them as James Madison did on Monday night.

You could see it in their intensity and confidence from the jump, from the looks on the bench and in their cheering section. The Dukes knew they had the goods to play in this game and planned to come into Breslin Center and get a resume win.

That’s a team you’ll see in the NCAA tournament if they stay healthy. This win might help them get an at-large bid. Their top player, Terrence Edwards Jr., would start on every roster in the Big Ten. Power forward T.J. Bickerstaff would help MSU immensely. They’re picked to win the Sun Belt and I wouldn’t be surprised to see them push someone in the Big Dance.

Perhaps, inadvertently, this was good scheduling by MSU, even if it doesn’t seem like it right now. This won’t be the awful loss it seems as the season begins to play out. It won’t be like this every night. You’ll see the difference Thursday when Southern Indiana visits Breslin.

MSU clearly has some things to work through — who should be on the court and when and how to get more out of everyone, besides Tyson Walker and Coen Carr.

James Madison might have pulled out the win without the drama or overtime if not for one mistake: Their bench got a carried away with the confidence and started chirping at Walker.

Memo to any team that’s taking it to the Spartans: Let Walker be. From the moment Walker heard them, with James Madison leading 25-13 midway through the first half, he perked up. It was the poke he needed. The same confidence you could once see on the faces of the Dukes’ bench disappeared as Walker began going back at them — pointing after each bucket, talking as their lead shrunk. They looked like they knew they’d messed up.

Walker had seven points down the stretch of the first half and was in on every play. From that point, MSU competed differently. Walker finished with 35 points — 18 of MSU’s last 21 — on a night that only he and Carr ever really got it going (more on Carr below).

Folks won’t be happy with this start. But MSU will get a lot out of it.

Freshman thoughts – the James Madison edition

From the astute basketball mind sitting next to me Monday night (not Chris Solari; the other guy next to me): “Coen Carr just makes things happen. They should play him 30 minutes per game.”

Carr played 28 Monday night against James Madison. It was plenty enough to put his imprint on the game. Carr checked in for the second time with 8:03 left in the first half and the Spartans trailing 23-10. He was in for most of the remainder of the half, as MSU outscored the Dukes 17-10 down the stretch to get back in the game and into the half down just 33-27.

Carr’s ability to catch difficult passes and attack the rim with strength is a gift. He had seven points, two rebounds and a block in 11 minutes by halftime and finished with 14 points and six boards, three on the offensive end. MSU needed him on the court at the beginning of overtime. Carr and fellow freshman Jeremy Fears Jr. were the only to MSU players with positive plus-minus numbers in the first half. And Carr’s plus-seven plus-minus in regulation, which he finished, was the best on MSU’s roster.

Carr can give more on the glass — you can see it at times. It’s got to become every time. But he’s such a competent player and athlete in traffic. He’s certainly not going to play less as the season goes along.

Fears delivered MSU’s first moment of swagger Wednesday night — long before Walker started giving it back to the James Madison bench. With MSU trailing 11-4, not long after Fears checked in for the first time, he went at James Madison 6-foot-8, 225-pound forward Julien Wooden on the break and tried to dunk on him. Wooden had to foul Fears to prevent the bucket. From his back, Fears just stared back up at Wooden.

Fears didn’t have a great statistical game — other than MSU was plus-five with him on the court. No other Spartan player was better by the end of OT. Fears only took one shot — that dunk attempt — made one free throw, had one assist, one steal and one block. But you felt his presence out there.

MSU’s other freshman that played, Xavier Booker, played five minutes, all in the first half. He scored his two points on free throws just before the half, didn’t take another shot and had one rebound. I didn’t think he played poorly. This is just where he is in the rotation right now and, in a game that goes down to the wire against a team that has some grownups in the paint, he’s behind Malik Hall, Carr, Mady Sissoko and Carson Cooper at the power forward and center positions.

If Michigan State is going anywhere this year, it has to become a better rebounding team

Credit to Jaden Akins, who hauled in a career-high 11 rebounds. And Coen Carr, who tallied six (four in the second half) and to the entire team for picking up its offensive rebounding, finishing with 17. But the Spartans were out-rebounded by a mid-major opponent in Breslin Center on Monday. I don’t care how seasoned the Dukes are, how up for the challenge physically they were, that shouldn’t happen.

MSU lost this game, in part, because it gave up an offensive rebound late to Edwards on what appeared to be a mistake by Tre Holloman. The Spartans allowed 14 offensive rebounds by James Madison. They got bullied on the glass by Bickerstaff and Edwards and a 6-4 guard named Noah Friedel.

There’s a lot to correct. But it starts there.