Why Serious Role Awaits Medlock Jr. As Freshman at MSU

Tom Izzo's answer for backup point guard next season is Carlos Medlock Jr. The Wayne, Mich., native is currently a 4-star prospect ranked 49th overall on the 247Sports Composite and fifth among point guards. Medlock just spent his senior season in high school at Link Academy, where he was teammates with fellow incoming MSU freshman Ethan Taylor.

Medlock is ranked below Taylor, but I think he's a more ready-made player for the Big Ten. Taylor has physical gifts as a big man that make him very projectable. Medlock is all the way up there despite being listed at just 5-foot-11. He'll be the only player less than six feet tall on the roster next season, but he's athletic enough to rise up and dunk on unsuspecting defenders.

The main reason I think Medlock gels well with the current roster is that he is a gifted scorer. Fears is, of course, more of a pass-first player. He can score, but it's not the main thing he's looking to do.

Medlock, on the other hand, wants to score. During the recent EYBL season for Link Academy, Medlock led his team with 16.9 points per game. He shot 44% from three while also adding 3.1 assists per game.

Added Lineup Flexibility

Something I'd be interested in is the possibility of lineups that feature both Medlock and Fears. It wasn't uncommon, even before a more focused shift to the two, for Ugochukwu and Fears to play next to each other. Having two great creators and ball-handlers out there at the same time could allow Tom Izzo and his staff to draw up some creative offensive plays.

Even when it's just Medlock, though, there is plenty of reason to feel good. Michigan State was just 178th in the nation in bench points per game after being seventh the year prior. No one who came off the bench could really create their own shot, which is partially why MSU's assist-to-field goal ratio of 67.6% was so high at second in the country.

Medlock can give Fears a breather and be an actual threat to score the ball himself. He can do a bit of what Fears does and navigate around a few defenders, around screens, and somehow find a path towards an open mid-range shot or a layup. He can also stick off-the-dribble threes well, something nobody was really doing much last season.

Fellow freshman Jasiah Jervis can also provide some of these things, though he might be the starting shooting guard at some point next season, if not immediately. He'll probably be that third point guard option on the periphery.