MSU Basketball: Standouts From Moneyball Pro-Am Week 4
In this story:
The annual Moneyball Pro-Am just wrapped up its penultimate week of games.
Week 3 of games was essentially cancelled due to unsafe court conditions, but everything was full-go this past Tuesday and Thursday. These Michigan State players were the ones who stood out the most from the latest round of games:
Carlos Medlock Jr.
MSU's newest point guard only played on Tuesday during Week 4, but he did enough to make the list. Freshman Carlos Medlock Jr. dropped 48 points that day against Team SPS, though Team Motorcars fell in overtime during a 99-95 result. The highlight of Medlock's big night happened during the first half, when he heated up and made three or four threes in a row.
Medlock has averaged 32.8 points per game through his four total appearances at Moneyball this summer. That is only behind Coen Carr (33.3 points per game) among members of the Spartans. Medlock has also averaged 4.0 made three-pointers per game; that's tied with Jeremy Fears Jr. for the most on the team thus far.
Medlock has been one of the biggest winners for the entire event. He's probably been the most exciting newcomer to watch during the pro-am, and Medlock has reassured Michigan State fans in attendance that the future of the point guard position in East Lansing is in good hands. He's been good enough that Tom Izzo may be forced to give Medlock more minutes than just the ones that come available when Fears is on the bench.
The excitement surrounding Medlock largely has to do with how creative he can be offensively. He's able to score at all three levels and create space for himself despite a smaller 5'11" frame. Medlock also provides a nice change of pace as a score-first guard from Fears. Just having another point guard with a different skill set gives MSU's opponents another thing to account for.
Matthew Watkins
Recent addition Matthew Watkins also had a pretty nice week. In case you haven't heard, Michigan State elevated Watkins from his role as team manager to walk-on this offseason. Watkins, who is from Perrysburg, Ohio, had been in his role as a manager for the past few seasons. He also had some Division III offers coming out of high school, according to a recent article from Lucas Gentilia of The State News.
Watkins has shown that he belongs out on the court with everybody else this summer. He's averaged 18.0 points per game through seven games this summer, but his last two have been his best. Watkins dropped 24 points on Tuesday against Team LAFCU (Fears, Ethan Taylor), but he then followed that up with a 35-point performance on Thursday against Team Tri-Star Trust (Carr, Jesse McCulloch).
Shooting definitely appears to be one of the strengths of Watkins' game. He's averaged 3.3 made threes per game this summer, and his 23 total made threes are just one behind Fears for the most on the team. Watkins made nine of his threes during that 35-point outburst Thursday. That's the most made threes in a game by anybody at Moneyball this summer. Nobody else has even made eight, and Cam Ward, surprisingly, has the second-most threes in a game with seven.
Watkins probably isn't going to be a member of the regular playing group at Michigan State, but his play this summer has shown that his spot on the team isn't just meant to be a feel-good story. There wasn't even supposed to be any path for him to get a walk-on spot in the first place. He's looked like somebody who has certainly earned what he has received.
Coen Carr
Carr has dominated this annual event. He scored the most points per game last year, and he's in the lead this year, too. His 200 total points in six games are the most in the event up to this point. There have been four performances of at least 45 points up to this point, and Carr has two of them.
One of those big games happened Thursday, when Carr scored 45 against Team BLT's (Kaleb Glenn, Watkins). He also scored 31 points on Tuesday in an overtime game against Team Faygo.
Carr's three-point shot also looks more confident. He's made 2.7 threes per game thus far, which is pretty much the same number as last year (2.8), but Carr's form looks smoother, and it just feels more likely that the shot is going in than it was last year.
An improvement from behind the arc would be massive for Carr. Last season was the first year he truly started shooting threes regularly, but Carr only made them at a 27.6% clip and was regularly left alone on the perimeter. Some more respect in that department would be huge for MSU's spacing and Carr's draft stock.
Add us as a preferred source on Google
A 2025 graduate from Michigan State University, Cotsonika brings a wealth of experience covering the Spartans from Rivals and On3 to his role as Michigan State Spartans Beat Writer on SI. At Michigan State, he was also a member of the world-renowned Spartan marching band for two seasons.
Follow jacobcotsonika