'His thing is special': Incoming Spartan Coen Carr's dunks wow Moneyball crowds, teammates

HOLT – Coen Carr remembers being just under 6-feet tall in ninth grade — the first time he dunked a basketball.

An eight-inch growth-spurt hit Carr in 10th grade, and from there, he slowly turned into one of the most explosive dunkers in high school basketball. He ultimately won the Ballislife All-American Dunk Contest this past May.

For the past two weeks, Carr — Michigan State's 6-7, 200-pound four-star recruit out of Greenville, S.C. — has been one of the stars, and the undisputed crowd favorite, of the 2023 Moneyball Pro-Am, showcasing his array of highlight-reel finishes in front of fans at Holt High School.

Carr's slams have included heavy-hitting tomahawks, 360 spins and Carr's personal favorite he calls the "East Bay" — which entails putting the ball between his legs in the air on the way to a power dunk, popularized in the 1994 NBA Dunk Contest by Isaiah Rider.

Carr even had one dunk at Moneyball where he pressed the ball against the backboard before throwing it down with authority.

"It's all instinct, I don't really think about nothing when I go up," Carr said. "Whatever happens, happens. I'm just having fun really."

Carr's MSU teammates have yet to attempt contesting his dunks in practice. And at Moneyball, if a defender sees Carr barreling toward the rim and taking flight, it's a quick business decision to step out of the way.

"People don't jump with me too often, but in the Big Ten they don't care, they'll jump with you," Carr said. "I'm looking forward to that and just playing against college players in general. It's what I've been waiting for my whole life."

Fellow incoming MSU freshman Gehrig Normand, Carr's teammate with Team Five Star Zone in Moneyball, has been enjoying the fact that he doesn't have to work too hard when Carr is on the floor.

"It's so easy for me, I can just stay back, don't even have to rebound or nothing," Normand said. "He just flies up, gets the rebound, takes four dribbles and dunks it on the other end somehow. It's a blast watching him go and have fun out there."

Carr insists he is more than just a dunker. He trusts MSU fans will see the effort and hustle that he puts into both sides of the floor. But before he takes the floor for his first game at the Breslin Center, he has no problem wearing that label.

"I know there's more to my game and it probably overshadows it a little bit, but I know scouts and coaches know who I am and I don't listen to the outside noise," Carr said. "That's what they are going to say anyways. It's about the highlights and that's what everybody loves. But I know if I make a dunk like that in the game, it's going to bring energy to the bench and crowd."

As for a potential in-house dunk contest? Spartan junior guard Jaden Akins would be one of the candidates who could challenge Carr, but not even Akins thinks that is possible.

"Nah, he got it, I'm not even gonna challenge him on that," Akins said, jokingly. "I'll do my thing and he can do his thing.

"And his thing is special."

Contact Nathaniel Bott at nbott@lsj.com and follow him on Twitter @Nathaniel_Bott

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Michigan State basketball: Coen Carr dazzles crowds at Moneyball