EAST LANSING – Coen Carr has a way of making people shake their heads in amazement with every breathtaking slam.
This time, it wasn’t just the Michigan State basketball sophomore taking lob after lob for dunk after dunk. And Purdue coach Matt Painter certainly wasn’t as in awe as he was in fits.
The prevailing theme after the Spartans took out the Boilermakers with a slam: Which alley-oop are you talking about?
No. 13 MSU preyed in the paint on the Zach Edey-less Boilermakers, getting 42 points inside along with 10 dunks Tuesday night in a 75-66 victory over No. 14 Purdue. Six of those came on alley-oops – two apiece for Carr, Szymon Zapala and Carson Cooper – while three of Carr’s four buckets came on dunks.
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“When he dunks (three) times, it’s hard to know which dunk, right?” Painter said of Carr.
“The dunk?” MSU coach Tom Izzo added. “Which one?”
The one that changed the game, seizing early momentum from the Boilermakers and giving the Spartans (21-5, 12-3) the lead for good and a sole spot in second place in the Big Ten standings.
MSU already built some momentum after Purdue (19-8, 11-5) opened a 21-14 lead midway through the first half, with Carr getting two free throws after getting knocked to the ground attacking the basket with inside four minutes to play. The sophomore forward already had a highlight reel clip for most people after missing a put-back jam attempt, grabbing the offensive board and pogoing back up quickly for a two-handed dunk early in the game.
As the Spartans’ defense started to force turnovers – they had 10 steals in the game, their most in Big Ten play this season – it opened up fast-break opportunities for a transition offense that hit a rough patch in recent weeks. MSU finished with 21 points on the break, its most since getting the same against Rutgers at Madison Square Garden on Jan. 25.
After Carr’s free throws, Jase Richardson got a poked a steal away from Fletcher Loyer and beat the Purdue guard to the ball. Out of the corner of his eye, Richardson spotted Coen Carr racing toward the basket.
“I was thinking, initially, bounce pass, chest pass, some type of pass,” Richardson said. “And I saw how fast he was running and I was like, ‘There’s no way he’s gonna catch a regular pass. I gotta throw this up.’”
He did. And the ball soared high. Richardson estimated his off-balance, underhand toss went “40 feet” toward the Breslin Center roof.
“I was like, ‘God, I threw it too high to Coen,’” he said. “’What am I doing?’”
Carr joked that it felt like “a minute” that the ball hung in the air. He was surprised Richardson was able to get the pass off from his position.
“He flipped it up,” Carr said. “I mean, he did his job, so I just gotta do my job.”
That job: hanging in midair, collecting the ball after a bobble midflight, and throwing down a two-handed thunderclap that electrified Breslin Center and tied the game at 26-26.
“I was like, ‘Oh my God,’ and then he dunked it. I was, ‘whoa,’” said Richardson, who led MSU with 12 points. “I see it every day, and it still impresses me how high he can do that and where he can get those balls.”
Carr finished with 10 points on 4-for-4 shooting, with a layup in transition off one of two Frankie Fidler steals in the second half. Fidler also had a breakaway dunk of his own after the other and finished with 11 points.
Zapala had three dunks, two of them off lobs from Tre Holloman and Jaden Akins. Holloman and Jeremy Fears Jr. delivered second-half alley-oops to Cooper, part of 20 assists by MSU on 28 baskets.
“You can’t go on the road and give up 10 dunks. And that’s what they did,” Painter said. “Our main focus was to keep them out of the paint and not let the ball get in there. And that’s exactly what they did. Easier said than done.”
MSU hadn’t beaten Purdue since the 7-foot-4 Edey’s sophomore year in 2022, having lost five in a row and 10 of 11 entering Tuesday, and it took full advantage of his departure for the NBA.
“Not having him is definitely a big difference,” Carr said. “The rim, it looks a lot more open than it did if he was there.”
Richardson, who also had a breakaway dunk early in the second half and Carr connected one final time for an exclamation point with 35.8 seconds remaining. It was Carr’s team-high 46th dunk of the season.
“I’m just trying to impact the game whichever way I can,” said Carr, who added four rebounds and an assist. “Whether I get the lob or not, I’m still gonna cut regardless. I’m always ready for it. So if it comes, then it comes.”
The second-place Spartans, who three days earlier won a tough game on the road at Illinois in coming back from a 16-point deficit, make another quick turnaround and head to Ann Arbor to face league-leading Michigan at 8 p.m. Friday (Fox). The Wolverines (20-5, 12-2) won at Ohio State on Sunday but don’t play again until MSU visits Crisler Center.
“It’s a tough time, but what an exciting time. What an opportunity for us,” Izzo said. “We have an opportunity of a lifetime. And (Wednesday), I’ll talk about the next opponent.
“But definitely, George (Perles) will turn over in his grave, because it ain’t gonna be the … 24-hour (rule), not the 18-hour – this is the two-hour enjoyment. So don’t ruin my two hours, all right. I’m gonna take the two hours.”
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Coen Carr delivers as Michigan State basketball dunks all over Purdue
