No. 17 Michigan State Faces East Carolina in Fort Myers Tip-Off on Tuesday Afternoon

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Michigan State's men's basketball team plays East Carolina on Tuesday, Nov. 25 in the first round of the Fort Myers Tip-Off Beach Division (1 p.m., FS2).

The Spartans will play North Carolina on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, Nov. 27 (4:30 p.m., FOX). UNC opens the tournament with a game against St. Bonaventure on Tuesday. This is MSU's first trip to play in the Fort Myers Tip-Off.

Tuesday afternoon's game will air live on FS2, with Jeff Levering and LaPhonso Ellis calling all of the action. The Spartan Media Network radio call can be heard state-wide and on the web at MSUSpartans.com, with Will Tieman handling the play-by-play, Matt Steigenga serving as the color analyst and Zach Surdenik as the studio host. The game can also be heard on channels 136 or 195 on SiriusXM or on the SiriusXM app.

About the Spartans

Michigan State finished the 2024-25 season with a 30-7 overall record, including a 17-3 mark in the Big Ten Conference, winning the league's regular season title by three games.
It was the 11th time Big Ten regular season title under Head Coach Tom Izzo ... The Spartans were selected to the NCAA Tournament for the 27th-straight season and advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament for the 11th time, finishing the year ranked No. 7 in the Associated Press Top 25.
The Spartans are coming off an 84-56 win over Detroit Mercy at home on Friday, its fifth-straight win to start the season ... This is the first time MSU has opened with five-straight wins since winning the first six games of the 2020-21 season.
The Spartans are No. 11 in the country in assists per game (20.8), with Jeremy Fears Jr. leading the country with 10.4 dimes per game ... MSU ranks No. 8 in the country in rebound margin (+15.6) and ranks No. 9 nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency per KenPom.
Through five games, the Spartans have four players scoring in double figures, seven averaging at least 6.0 ppg and eight averaging at least 15.0 minutes.
Jaxon Kohler leads the team in scoring with 15.2 ppg and tops the team with 9.8 rpg (7th B1G, #39 nationally) ... Kohler, who has two double-doubles, grabbed 18 rebounds against San Jose State, the most by an MSU player since Miles Bridges had 21 against Savannah State in 2018 … He had 20 points against Kentucky, his first career 20-point game.
Jeremy Fears Jr., who leads the team with 31.6 minutes played, is second on the team with 11.8 ppg and is handing out 10.4 assists per game, leading all of Division I.
Coen Carr, one of the most athletic players in all of college basketball, is third on the team with 10.8 ppg, and is second on the team with 5.4 rpg and 2.4 apg in 29.4 mpg.
Carson Cooper is playing a career-high 23.8 minutes, is fourth on the team with 10.0 ppg and fourth with 5.4 rpg.
Sophomore guard Kur Teng, who scored a career-high 15 points against Kentucky, is averaging 6.6 points and 1.0 assists.
Freshmen forward Cam Ward is fifth on the team with 8.6 ppg and second with 6.0 rpg and classmate Jordan Scott, who is tied fifth on the team in minutes per game at 16.4, is averaging 3.0 ppg and 3.8 rpg.
The Spartans played a pair of exhibition games ahead of the season opener, beating Bowling Green, 75-66, at home on Oct. 23, before falling to preseason No. 4 UConn, 76-69, on Oct. 28 in Connecticut.

MSU in Preseason Tournaments

Michigan State has had success in preseason tournaments in recent years.
Last year, the Spartans beat North Carolina, 94-91 in overtime, to finish in fourth place at the Maui Invitational.
In 2021, the Spartans beat Loyola-Chicago in the Battle 4 Atlantis and then-No. 25 UConn before losing to No. 5 Baylor in the Battle 4 Atlantis title game.
In 2018, the Spartans won the Las Vegas Invitational, beating then-No.17 UCLA 87-67 in the opening game, before topping Texas in the title game.
In 2017, MSU won the Victory Bracket of the PK80 Invitational in Portland, Ore., beating North Carolina, 81-63, in the title game.
MSU won the 2013 Coaches vs. Cancer Classic in Brooklyn and the 2015 Wooden Legacy in California, while finishing second in the 2014 Orlando Classic.

About East Carolina

East Carolina enters the game on Tuesday night with a 2-3 overall record following a 77-65 loss at home to Charleston Southern on Friday night.
The Pirates have losses at Richmond (87-72) and at UNCW (85-60), with wins in the season opener against Georgia Southern (92-89) and against Elizabeth City State (71-70).
Senior guard Jordan Riley, who played at Georgetown and Temple previously, was the top returning scorer from last year (14.5 ppg, third on the team), and leads the Pirates with 18.5 ppg.
6-10, 262-pound center Giovanni Emejuru, a transfer from George Mason, is second on the team with 17.0 ppg and leads the team with 9.8 rpg.
ECU Head Coach Michael Schwartz, who was an assistant at Tennessee under Rick Barnes before the move to Greenville, added nine newcomers to this year's roster, five transfers and four freshmen.

Against ECU, The American

Michigan State and East Carolina will play for the first time when they meet on Tuesday, Nov. 25 at the Fort Myers Tip-Off.
The Spartans have an all-time record of 23-17 against teams that currently make up the American Conference (formerly the American Athletic Conference).
The last game against a team from The American was an 86-69 win at home against Florida Atlantic on Dec. 21, 2024 ... That was the second game against a team from The American, following a 71-63 loss to Memphis in the second round of the 2024 Maui Invitational.
The most-often played opponents in the league are Wichita State (6-3), including three wins under current MSU Head Coach Tom Izzo and Temple (6-6) ... Izzo often credited long-time Hall of Fame Coach John Chaney for scheduling the Spartans early in his career and encourage the MSU coach to continue playing the toughest schedule he could.
The Spartans have played all but four teams in the league (Charlotte, East Carolina, North Texas and UTSA) The Spartans won the last game played, 83-76, at the Breslin Center on Dec. 4, 2020.

No. 17 Michigan State Faces East Carolina in Fort Myers Tip-Off on Tuesday Afternoon

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Players Mentioned

Coen Carr

Carson Cooper

Jeremy Fears Jr.

Jaxon Kohler

Jordan Scott

Kur Teng

Cam Ward

No. 17 Michigan State Faces East Carolina in Fort Myers Tip-Off on Tuesday Afternoon

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Next Event

Players Mentioned

Coen Carr

Carson Cooper

Jeremy Fears Jr.

Jaxon Kohler

Jordan Scott

Kur Teng

Cam Ward

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