Michigan State basketball: Pair of Spartans speak on first Breslin Center start

On Thursday, Michigan State basketball opened their season up with their opening exhibition match against the Bowling Green State Falcons. The Spartans, instead of playing a Division II school like years past, jumped straight to Division I competition with the Falcons, who’s assistant coach is former Spartan guard Lourawls “Tum Tum” Nairn Jr.

With the dawn of a near year, it meant that the Spartans had a few new faces. Additionally, with Jaden Akins, Frankie Fidler, Jase Richardson, and Szymon Zapala all gone, there were openings in the starting lineup. All four started multiple games last season, with Akins and Zapala starting every home game.

That opened the door for two players, sophomore guard Kur Teng and junior forward Coen Carr, to receive their first ovation as Spartan starters.

Kur Teng and Coen Carr get their ovations for their first career home starts at the Breslin Center. pic.twitter.com/IcfcGy5EH3

— Emmett Matasovsky (@E_Matasovsky57) October 23, 2025

Kur Teng and Coen Carr become the newest Michigan State basketball starters

For Teng, it was a great moment, as the sophomore received a ton of minutes to help boost his confidence. In his freshman season, the guard had only played in 10 minutes for a single game. In the exhibition game, he recorded 22 minutes played. The big thing Teng is aiming to do from this contest is keep his confidence up.

“I mean, it felt great, especially not playing a ton last year, it felt amazing. I’m staying confident, make sure I got to do what I can for the team, just continue,” Teng said.

Meanwhile, for Coen Carr, it was a unique experience. The junior has had plenty of big moments, from defying gravity for dunks and blocks (he had five of them Thursday night alone) alike, to hitting a crowd-pleasing three last season. However, Thursday became his first career start at home.

Granted, for the Georgia native, it was not the first time he heard the crowd roar for his start. His first career start came during last season’s NCAA Tournament, where Carr started in place of Zapala for a “small ball” lineup to counteract Ole Miss in a victory.

“It felt good, I started one game last year, it was in Atlanta, I got a big roar for that too, for me to come start for the first exhibition game, I feel like it was good. I think it was a big deal, it was good to hear that, for sure,” Carr said.

This will not be the only home starts for the players, and the Breslin Center will give them much more energy to feed off once the real season tips off. For now, however, they got to bask in hearing the crowd scream for their introduction for the first time.