The first punch wasn’t subtle or soft. After the Spartans drained a 3-pointer to open the game, Michigan State’s Coen Carr caught the ball in transition, rose, cocked back his left hand and detonated a dunk. Carr was mid-roar before the ball even dropped through the net, and that tone — physical, loud, aggressive — barely wavered for the next 39 minutes.
North Carolina responded quickly. Caleb Wilson hammered home a slam of his own on the other end. His father, Jerry, rose up from his seat in the crowd. With his UNC visor and general demeanor — leaning forward, clapping and barking words of encouragement — he looked as much assistant coach as parent.
“Yeeeeaahhh!” Jerry Wilson roared. “All day! We want it! We want it!” But Michigan State may have wanted it more. At least, the Spartans played like it Thursday night. In its first loss of the season, No. 16 UNC (6-1) got out-toughed, out-rebounded and ultimately outworked for long, decisive stretches in a 74-58 loss to No. 11 Michigan State (7-0) at the Fort Myers Tip-Off.
“We knew it was going to be a physical game,” North Carolina coach Hubert Davis said. “I felt like we met that challenge at the beginning of the game. It just goes back to being able to sustain it. And that’s something that this group has to do… it just wasn’t where it needed to be to win a game like this.”
To the Tar Heels’ credit, they took it to the Spartans at the beginning of the game. Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said it himself. “I thought they were physical,” Izzo said.
“I thought they bumped us on cuts… I just thought they really denied some things, and we were very stagnant offensively.” North Carolina led 22-15 after roughly 12 minutes of play, with Jarin Stevenson capping an 8-0 UNC run on a layup. Izzo called a timeout. Stevenson smiled as his teammates rushed to swarm him from the bench. Izzo, meanwhile, began to tear into his players.
“We just went after our guys… and then we went on a little run,” Izzo said. A 13-0 run, to be exact. That prompted Davis to call his own 30-second timeout. In the huddle, the head coach threw his clipboard to the floor. The Tar Heels never regained the lead.
The Spartans spent over 31 minutes in front and made North Carolina feel every second of it. Michigan State made up for any lack of finesse with physicality — and plenty of it. And for the first time this season, UNC didn’t have an answer. “Like always, you learn from your opponent, win or lose, and they play physical basketball,” Caleb Wilson said. “They were holding, hooking, grabbing. I just learn from it and [will] be able to apply it to my own game.”
Michigan State scored 46 points in the paint to 34 for UNC. That’s the most paint points for any UNC opponent since the Spartans had 50 in their Maui Invitational matchup last November.
It also marks a stark departure from what this North Carolina team has been able to do defensively this season. UNC entered Thursday ranked first nationally in two-point field goal defense (35.7%) and fifth in opponent shooting percentage. The Tar Heels’ previous six opponents shot a combined 34.3% from the floor. Michigan State, though, shot 51.7% — the highest mark for any UNC opponent this season.
“One of the things we’ve talked about is, when we get to that level that we’re playing at, on both ends of the floor, [we need] to be able to sustain it in order to win,” Davis said. “Games like that, you have to do that for long periods of time.” The Tar Heels’ breakdowns weren’t just technical; they lacked toughness at times.
Davis pointed to loose balls and offensive rebounds as points of weakness. The Spartans, for instance, grabbed 12 offensive boards and recorded 12 second-chance points to six for UNC. Michigan State also outrebounded North Carolina 37-30 — the first time the Tar Heels have lost the rebounding battle this season.
Spartans center Carson Cooper said the physical edge was intentional. Michigan State’s bigs held a meeting at the team hotel ahead of the game to discuss their mentality against UNC.
“[It’s] an honor when you can guard talented forwards like Veesaar, and obviously Caleb Wilson’s a really good player and probably a lottery pick,” Cooper said. “So, those are games that you really mentally and physically prepare for differently than every other game. Kind of a little chip on your shoulder to prove what you can do.
Wilson, as explosive as he was in stretches, certainly felt that chippiness. Izzo instructed the Spartans that, when Wilson caught the ball, there needed to be six eyes on him. Sometimes it didn’t matter, like when Wilson recorded a spin-move dunk late in the game that Izzo called “amazing.”
Still, Michigan State enforced this “Jordan Rules” approach to great effect. Wilson finished with 18 points on a hard-fought 6-for-13 shooting performance. He scored 10 points in the first nine minutes, then nothing until 11:29 remained in the second half — a putback he earned through multiple bodies.
“That kid’s gonna be a hell of a player,” Izzo said. “And I thought Hubert did a very good job of coming at us, you know, physically, and maybe he wore down a little bit. You know, his body might not be ready for that on a day-to-day basis…but you’re not going to hold that guy back much.
He’s really good.” Wilson’s frontcourt partner, Henri Veesaar, finished with 13 points but was limited to 28 minutes after picking up two fouls in the first half.
The second came with 7:13 left before halftime. With Veesaar on the bench, Michigan State ripped off that crucial 13-0 run. Even when the big man returned, the Tar Heels couldn’t return to peak form.
North Carolina shot 34% in the last 27:13 of game action, including an abysmal 1-for-11 performance from deep in the second half. “I think this is the first time that we played against a team who was really physical,” said guard Luka Bogavac, who finished with 11 points and five assists, later adding, “I think two or three times we relaxed for a couple minutes.
Against these kinds of teams, we can’t do this. It’s not possible. So, for me, it’s good that it happened in an early game like this.” The challenge for the Tar Heels was clear, and probably overdue.
Davis said he’s looking forward to breaking down the game film. Now 6-1, UNC carries something new into December: context. North Carolina didn’t get beat on talent per se, but toughness.
And that carries with it a sting, yes, but also a blueprint. “After the game, I told the guys, ‘It’s an opportunity for us to learn and to grow,’” Davis said. “And that’s what we’ll do.” The next punch is coming on Tuesday night in Lexington against No. 19 Kentucky. The question now — is North Carolina ready to swing back?
Bogavac made his answer clear. “We have to learn,” Bogavac said, “because the more we play, we play against better teams. And we can’t sleep for a couple minutes.”
