Michigan State scored first at the United Center on Tuesday night and never gave the lead back. No. 5 Michigan State beat No. 2 Duke 79-73 in the Champions Classic opener, a wire-to-wire win that ran through its point guard and a defense that held the Blue Devils to 20-for-60 from the field.
Fears had the ball, so Michigan State had the game
Jeremy Fears Jr. finished with 18 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds in 33 minutes. The assists are the tell. Michigan State recorded 13 as a team, and 11 of them were his. Eight came before halftime, while the game was being shaped. When a Spartans possession needed organizing, the ball was in his hands, and Duke never found a way to make him give it up on their terms.
He did the rest at the line. Fears shot 3-for-9 from the field and 12-for-17 on free throws, because Duke's guards could not stay in front of him without fouling. Those trips stacked up all night, and they owned the finish. With the lead down to five inside the last two minutes, the ball kept going back to Fears, and each trip took the clock with it.
Duke shot 33 percent, and Jordan Scott kept meeting them at the rim
Duke shot 20-for-60, and 7-for-29 from three. Some of that is a cold night. A lot of it was Jordan Scott. The sophomore scored five points and owned the other end: six blocked shots, nine rebounds, two steals. At one point late in the first half, Scott had five blocks by himself. Duke had five made field goals as a team.
The Spartans led 34-25 at halftime and by as many as 14 in the second half. Duke won the rebounding 40-38 and took 37 free throws, and still spent the entire night shooting over length. Michigan State's defense traveled with its point guard's poise, and for 40 minutes Duke played a game that was always one possession too far away.
The push came with two minutes left
Duke scored 48 points in the second half and finally made it a game. John Blackwell, the Wisconsin transfer, led the Blue Devils with 17 points. Patrick Ngongba II added 11 points, seven rebounds, six assists and four blocks while playing 29 minutes on four fouls. With 2:03 left, the lead was 73-68, and the building got loud.
Scott answered with a driving layup, the biggest of his five points. Fears closed the rest at the line. It is Duke's first loss of the season, and it came with the ball kept finding the one player the Blue Devils could not speed up.
Duke nearly stole it at the stripe anyway. The Blue Devils went 26-for-37 on free throws against Michigan State's 22-for-28, which is how a team that made 20 shots stayed within five at the two-minute mark. Caleb Foster shot 2-for-10 for nine points, and the shots Duke needed from its guards never came.
The bench held the middle of the game
Ward's 14 came on 5-for-7 shooting with a perfect 4-for-4 at the line, including an and-one at the rim with 4:59 left that pushed back Duke's first real run. Jasiah Jervis scored 10 and Coen Carr nine, and the finishing showed up above the rim too — Ward's lob, and Carr's jam off a Fears dime that became the night's loudest play.
It is Michigan State's first win over Duke since December 2020. That one also came in the Champions Classic, played in an empty arena in Durham in the pandemic season. This one came in a full building in Chicago, with the Spartans in front for 39 of the 40 minutes, and it moves Michigan State to 3-0. Both teams play Friday: Michigan State hosts Northern Iowa, and Duke goes home to face SIU Edwardsville.
UPDATE — Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2026: The nightcap is final at the United Center — Kansas 89, Kentucky 69. Tre White scored 30 for the Jayhawks, and Tyran Stokes, the No. 1 recruit who picked Kansas over Kentucky in April, added 23 points and 10 rebounds. Kansas led 46-36 at halftime and opened the second half on a 17-5 run that ended it as a contest. Kentucky gave the ball away 16 times and watched Kansas turn those into 22 points; Kansas's own 10 turnovers became zero points the other way. Kansas is 3-0. Kentucky is 2-1. Previously previewed the full doubleheader here, and the Michigan State–Duke Game Center carries the full box score.
Sources: ESPN game summary and box score (event 401909564); Duke's official Game Center; Associated Press recap; Big Ten Network highlights; Lansing State Journal and 247Sports reporting from the United Center.
