Dunks are always worth two points, or at most three if you’re fouled, complete the dunk and add the free throw.
The math is different for Coen Carr and Michigan State.
“Like, his dunks are worth 10 points because they bring so much to the entire team,” Spartans guard Trey Fort said.
Or “more than two, at least,” said freshman forward Jordan Scott.
Their math is iffy, but this much is certain: Carr, a 6-foot-6 junior and first-year starter, brings a certain explosiveness that triggers the Spartans’ momentum, giving Michigan State a puncher’s chance of surviving and advancing through a loaded East region.
He had one of the best games of his career in the second round against No. 6 Louisville, posting 21 points and 10 rebounds to pace the 77-69 win and send the Spartans back to the Sweet 16 for the 17th time under Tom Izzo.
“Coen Carr played like the player we've all been waiting for," Izzo said. “Coen was like an ever-ready bunny, he just kept going and going and going."
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As proved over the first weekend of tournament play, an active and aggressive Carr could give the Spartans the jolt they need to make the program’s ninth Final Four under Izzo.
“Just to be in March Madness, one of the greatest stages on earth, and to have a game like this, I just credit it to my coaches, my teammates, just for always believing in me,” Carr after the Louisville win. “They want me to go out there and be aggressive, and that's what I tried to focus on.”
Carr begins to thrive in Michigan State’s culture
Given the team’s depth of options, it may be a stretch to say the Spartans go only as far as Carr takes them. Michigan State’s transition game runs through point guard Jeremy Fears Jr., who averages 15.3 points and an NCAA-best 9.4 assists per game, and the halfcourt offense can often focus on the two-man game between Fears and forward Jaxon Kohler (12.6 points and 8.9 rebounds per game).
Still, Carr fits snugly into the Spartans’ scheme on both ends of the court as a high-flying human highlight reel who has harnessed his hops to become a far more complete player in his junior season.
After averaging 3.1 points in limited action as a freshman, he posted 8.1 points and 3.6 rebounds as a sophomore, when his playing time climbed to 20.1 minutes per game.
“For some guys, it takes a little bit of an adjustment period,” said MSU assistant coach Saddi Washington, who tutors the Spartans’ big men. “We’re just proud of him for sticking to it. That’s what it’s all about. We’re all trying to put these guys in position to be help us and ultimately help themselves.”
As a junior, Carr has started all 34 games while averaging 12.0 points and 5.5 rebounds. He’s also become a more complete defender, using his athleticism to race around the perimeter, defend the paint and pound the glass, helping MSU rank fourth nationally in average rebounding margin.
“Coen showed himself,” Fears said after the Louisville win. “He's been putting in time on his free throws, his shooting. His defense was something that me and him talked about. Like, in order for our team and us to take another step, that we needed to take our defense to another level.”
His slow progression across three seasons makes Carr a bit of a throwback: Once a top-tier recruit out of Greenville, South Carolina, he stayed the course at MSU instead of following a national trend that often sees potential impact players hop, skip and jump across multiple programs in search of increased minutes.
“Just got to realize that there is a process to everything, and some guys it takes a little longer, and some guys a little shorter,” Izzo said.
That Carr stayed the course is a testament to the program’s culture built across Izzo’s 30-plus years in charge, said Washington.
“I think the culture of the program has a big deal to helping guys stay around. Because that’s part of the secret sauce of Michigan State.”
Big plays, dunks boost Michigan State’s Final Four odds
What Carr brings to the table is infectious energy.
“It’s critical for him, it’s critical for our team,” Washington said. “It has a rippling effect for our opponents, our fans. It’s just so explosive when it happens. And we’re able to build off of those moments, because normally it comes after a big defensive stop, and then we’re blitzing and breaking on the other end.”
There’s a reason teammates joke that his dunks count for more than just the standard two points: MSU feeds off the momentum shifts that Carr can create in a flash — making a block on one end of the court, racing into transition and then throwing down an electrifying, rim-shaking slam.
“For me, I would say the energy it brings to everybody, the crowd, the little kids, the band section, the coaches, the bench, just everybody,” Carr said. “It's for me, but also it's for everybody else. I like to see the gym have energy, and that's what I try to bring every time.”
These moments have become “routine,” Scott said. “He’s got these crazy dunks. I don’t think people understand just how crazy some of the stuff he’s doing is. Like, even the top athletes in the world aren’t doing what he’s doing.”
His explosiveness sparked two key sequences in the second half against the Cardinals. After Louisville made it 38-33 a minute into the half, Carr scored on an alley-oop from Fears, made a steal on the other end and then added another dunk on an assist from Fears, pushing the Spartans in front 42-33 less than a minute later.
“The runs that Coen can create when he’s playing well, especially offensively, feels more than two or four or six points, or whatever he’s putting up,” said center Carson Cooper.
With about eight minutes to play and the lead down to 55-50, Carr was fouled while drilling a short jumper and added the free throw. On the Cardinals’ ensuing drive down the court, Carr blocked a shot and corralled the defensive rebound, leading to a pair of Kohler free throws off a Louisville flagrant foul. Carr then missed a jumper and gathered the offensive rebound, leading to a Kohler 3-pointer than put MSU in front 63-50 with 6:30 remaining.
“When you talk about energy, it’s like a hurricane,” Washington said. “Sometimes, it’s comes out of nowhere. Sometimes, it comes with great anticipation, because 15,000 people can kind of see it evolving as it happens.”
This impact will have to continue if MSU hopes to steer through a star-studded East region, beginning with Friday’s matchup against No. 2 Connecticut. With a win, the Spartans would take on the winner of No. 1 Duke and No. 5 St. John’s in the Elite Eight.
Given his recent tournament production, Carr’s ability to flip the script and spark game-changing runs makes him perhaps the biggest wild card and potential influencer of any player left in the field.
“Just seeing him doing what he does, it brings everybody with him,” Fort said. “It motivates everybody. His energy kind of fuels the entire team.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Michigan State embraces Coen Carr's rise before March Madness Sweet 16
