HOLT – Without playing a single game this summer, Jesse McCulloch was one of Michigan State basketball’s biggest buzzes of the Moneyball Pro-Am summer league.
When play began a little more than a month ago, the redshirt freshman big man arrived in a walking boot. A stress fracture in his right foot required a six-week rehab, limiting him during offseason workouts with the Spartans and keeping him from joining his teammates on the court in the fun-and-gun pro-am, even though he frequently showed up to support them during their two games a week in the Lansing area.
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As Moneyball winds up its playoffs, though, McCulloch is back healthy and practicing with MSU.
Michigan State’s Jesse McCulloch shoots in practice during men’s basketball media day on Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024, at the Breslin Center in East Lansing.
“I’m feeling great. I’m feeling a lot better than I was before,” the 6-foot-10, 240-pound Cleveland native said Tuesday, July 29, after rejoining the Spartans’ workouts a few days earlier. “I’m just trying to get back in the best shape as possible. Just getting back into the best shape, being as athletic as I was – just getting back to the old me, for real.”
McCulloch again sat on the sidelines at Holt High School’s gymnasium for the semifinals Tuesday, with the championship and final games of the summer league set for Thursday, July 31. Admission is free.
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While Jaxon Kohler and Carson Cooper dominated their competition there, McCulloch watched and eagerly waited to join them on the court when the Spartans’ season tips off in November.
McCulloch quietly played a big behind-the-scenes role in MSU winning the Big Ten title and advancing to the Elite Eight, which included two NCAA tournament wins in his hometown to get there. Kohler felt there were points early last season when he thought the Spartans might have pulled McCulloch’s redshirt when needing more toughness on the block. But he added his young teammate’s performance on MSU’s scout team helped push himself, Cooper and since-graduated Szymon Zapala to be better.
“He just brings a fire to our team,” Kohler said Tuesday. “The fact that he’s through a little bit of the process as a redshirt, he knows what to expect. He knows in terms of day-to-day practice how tough the daily grind is gonna be. He’s putting in the work. And he brings us a unique post-scoring ability and a defensive toughness.”
Kohler said one area where McCulloch will need to adjust in transitioning from practice to games is in not getting overly aggressive, which showed with fouls during his two exhibition game appearances before taking the redshirt. But McCulloch has proven to be a sponge receiving information from the veterans.
Michigan State Spartans forward Jesse McCulloch (35) and center Szymon Zapala (10) bump chests during practice at Rocket Arena in Cleveland on Thursday, March 20, 2025.
“Last year really helped me a lot, just learning from Szymon, Coop and Jaxon,” he said. “Learning from those guys, watching how they played, and I added that to my game. And in the middle of the year, I really felt good about my game. And that just helped me so much last year. I feel like last year just helped my overall game in every aspect. In putting the ball on the floor, facing up, shooting, defense. It just helped me in every aspect of my game.”
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A three-star prospect in 2024, McCulloch averaged 22.4 points, 14.1 rebounds, 4.3 blocks and 2.0 assists per game as a senior for Lutheran East High in Cleveland.
“He’s gonna give us that good post presence that we need and physicality that’s gonna wear people out,” Cooper said Tuesday. “He’s gonna be a pest on the boards. And offensively and defensively, he’s gonna bring that energy we need off the bench to come in and help us win games.”
MSU coach Tom Izzo, in announcing McCulloch’s redshirt in November, gushed about the potential for his big man and compared him to “Al Anagonye, except he can shoot 3s” – though Kohler, who began taking more deep shots last season, cautioned that McCulloch will need learn like he did about how and when to take them in game situations and within the flow of MSU’s offense.
“I think he has the greenlight, because in practice, he’s a very good midrange and 3-point shooter,” Kohler said. “I think the only reason why I backtrack that is just because he hasn’t played in a game quite yet. And shooting in a game is different than shooting in practice. I’d say in the preseason, maybe he tries it out. And if he stays consistent in working on his shot and it looks good in practice, I think he’ll have the greenlight, too.
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“The farther you can play away from the basket the better in terms of bigs. And I think Jesse has the ability to do that.”
After giving Xavier Booker two years worth of chances, MSU lost the former five-star recruit to transfer to UCLA after the season ended. Izzo added size on the perimeter with Kaleb Glenn (now out for the year with a knee injury), and both incoming freshmen Cam Ward and Jordan Scott also are more wing players at 6-7. But after bringing in Zapala last year as a transfer, the Spartans did not add another post player this offseason to offset the Booker departure – another sign Izzo is banking on McCulloch to be in the mix for minutes with Kohler, Cooper and Ward on the block.
“It means a lot to me personally just knowing that he has trust in me. And he has trust in our whole big man crew this year,” McCulloch said. “We’re gonna make him proud.”
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Healthy Jesse McCulloch big key for Michigan State basketball’s future
