Michigan State walks into Tuesday’s Champions Classic with a familiar kind of problem: Duke is loaded, and Tom Izzo has to find a way to drag this thing into the kind of game the Spartans can actually win.
The No. 5 Spartans have Final Four potential, but that label only matters if they can handle No.
2 Duke and its stacked roster. Michigan State has looked balanced through its first two games, with nobody topping 13 points per game.
That balance is nice. Against Duke, it may not be enough unless a few specific things break the Spartans’ way.
The biggest one starts with Jeremy Fears. He has been the engine so far, leading Michigan State with 12.5 points and 10 assists per game, which ranks second in the nation.
The preseason All-American has already shown he can take over scoring nights on his own, including nine games of at least 20 points last season. If the Spartans are going to pull off the upset, they may need something close to a 20-point, 10-assist performance from him Tuesday night.
Michigan State also needs real production from the center spot on both ends. Anton Bonke’s start to the season has been uneven.
He played very little after a rough debut against UConn, then responded with 20 points and 20 rebounds in 32 combined minutes against weaker competition. Duke is a different animal entirely, especially with its collection of big men.
The Spartans will need Bonke to hold up, and they’ll also need backup Ethan Taylor to give them meaningful minutes.
Then there’s the question of who else can score. Michigan State wants this game to get ugly, not turn into a track meet.
But beyond Fears, the Spartans need someone to emerge as a double-digit threat. Jordan Scott, Coen Carr and freshman Jasiah Jervis are the names in the mix, and Duke’s defense will be trying to shut all of them down.
If nobody breaks through individually, Michigan State’s other path is collective: around 9-10 players chipping in at least five points apiece.
That’s the tall task for Izzo and the Spartans. To beat Duke, they’ll need Fears to shine, the frontcourt to survive, and enough scoring depth to make the Blue Devils work for every stop.
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Michigan State brings the usual Izzo edge, and junior guard Jeremy Fears gives the Spartans a steadying presence in the backcourt as they prepare for one of the seasons biggest nonconference games. For Duke, the matchup is less about the hype around the ranking and more about handling the pressure points that come with a rivalry-caliber test, from the guard battle to the physicality that tends to define these meetings. The betting line and prediction only add to the intrigue, but the real story is whether the Blue Devils can answer an elite opponent right away. [Read more 🡒]