How MSU's Jervis Already Staking Legitimate Claim for Starting Role
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The next week is going to be a big one for Michigan State basketball behind the scenes.
MSU lost both of its exhibition games against legitimate competition, losing to No. 4 UConn at home 78-70 and then falling at Marquette, 86-79. It is very early to assess a team, but the Spartans have hardly looked like the No. 6 team in the country thus far.
Freshman shooting guard Jasiah Jervis has been a bright spot. He finished in double figures as a scorer in all three preseason games. Jervis was really Michigan State's best player on Sunday in Milwaukee, dropping a team-high 19 points with four made three-pointers.
Jervis' Starting Spot
Freshmen don't generally start this quickly for MSU and Tom Izzo. The last instance of a true freshman starting during the season opener was Max Christie during the 2021-22 season. There is a serious chance that Jervis will change that next Monday against Quinnipiac.
One minor surprise from Sunday's exhibition was Jervis' inclusion in the starting five. Izzo inserted him and Jesse McCulloch into the starting lineup while taking out Cam Ward and Anton Bonke. It's a much smaller look than before, as Jordan Scott and Coen Carr were asked to slide down to the three and four, respectively.
It wasn't a good day for Michigan State in Milwaukee against the Golden Eagles, but it wasn't a Jervis problem. He and Scott were the only two players who turned in truly productive performances. Scott also had 18 points on 6-of-13 overall shooting and 3-for-7 from deep. Outside of Jervis and Scott, the Spartans went just 2-of-12 as a team from behind the arc.
A lot may have to be on the shoulders of MSU's backcourt this season. The center position has been the team's biggest concern, and power forward hasn't felt like a real strength with Carr and Ward up to this point. Anton Bonke, the player Izzo brought in via the portal to be the starting center, only recorded three minutes on Sunday and has been benched for the entire second half of back-to-back exhibition games.
MSU's New Backcourt Trio
The trio of Jeremy Fears Jr., Jervis, and Scott may be the three best players Michigan State has right now. Fears and Scott had already earned reputations as players who need to be on the court for extended stretches, given how they played last year, and Jervis has played like a player who deserves to be playing well north of 20 minutes per game. He got 23 minutes during Sunday's exhibition.
Another aspect is that the reinforcements haven't been great so far, either. Carlos Medlock Jr. has largely struggled this preseason, Kur Teng hasn't really seen his shot drop (1-for-7 on Sunday), and Kaleb Glenn hasn't been giving that secondary creation MSU wants from him on the wing.
New weaknesses have emerged, but Jervis looks like the pure scorer at the shooting guard position that Michigan State was missing last year. The Spartans tried several different guys at the two in 2025-26, but none of them truly meshed well with Fears.
Jervis is simply a "bucket," as the kids say. His best attribute is his scoring. MSU hasn't had enough guards lately who can reliably just go score when the team is in an offensive lull, especially beyond the point guard position.
That Fears-Jervis-Scott also has a bit of everything a team could need from its backcourt. Jervis and Scott are both great shooters (we'll see how Fears' shot looks during the season); Fears is the best passer in college basketball, and Michigan State generally gets some pretty good defense from Fears and Scott as well. Jervis will have to hone in on his skills on that end a bit, but some of that could be a freshman learning his way through Izzo's system.
Jervis felt like a player who could eventually work his way into a starting role. He was the team's best get in its highly regarded 2026 recruiting class, after all. The backcourt's successes and the frontcourt's shortcomings are making it difficult to keep Jervis or Scott off the floor, though. It's not technically a three-guard lineup alongside Fears, with Scott being listed as a forward, but it is.
The starting five Izzo goes with will reveal a lot about how this next week went. MSU's three exhibition games have really provided more questions than answers. The answers will have to start soon, beginning with the game against Quinnipiac on Monday, Nov. 2. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET on B1G+.
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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.
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