Beating Duke will always be a massive achievement in the college basketball world. That's extra true in a year where the Blue Devils are ranked No. 2 in the country, with future NBA players all over their roster. That's what Michigan State basketball accomplished on Tuesday night in Chicago, when they knocked off Duke in the State Farm Champions Classic 79-73.
After the game, Duke head coach Jon Scheyer was highly complimentary of the Spartans. You can see his comments below:
Overall credit to Michigan State
- “Congrats to Michigan State. They 100% deserved to win. I thought they outcompeted us. They played more together. Fears controlled the whole game.”
- “I thought the difference was their role players were incredible. Ward, what he did in the first half changed the game. Carr, they were really solid.”
- “Credit all the world to Coach Izzo and Michigan State.”
On Jeremy Fears
- “I think you’ve got to tip your cap to him. He controlled the whole game… They have scoring from different places, but he set so much of that up, and he draws so much attention.”
- “We did the worst of both. You either want to try to make him score and take away others, or you want to try to make him playmake and take away his scoring. We did neither.”
- “He plays with amazing control over the game, and it’s hard to stop a guy if you give him 17 free throws.”
On Jordan Scott
- “Coming in, I thought Scott was their second-best player. He didn’t even have that good of a scoring night. Nine rebounds, six blocked shots. He just impacts winning.”
- “His size on the perimeter, that’s usually what we have. His size, I think, bothered us. Six blocks, I think that tells the story.”
On MSU’s depth
- “Their other guys, Scott, Carr, Ward, Jervis, they just played within themselves, and I thought Medlock, when he came in, gave them a big lift.”
On MSU’s defense and physicality
- “They’re physical. They have great experience, and I thought that showed tonight.”
- “The amount of times we just went one-on-one against a set defense, put our head down, got our shot blocked, turned the ball over. I thought that’s how they got separation.”
- “Michigan State has one of the best defenses. Some things that might have worked last week aren’t going to work this week.”
On Duke’s own performance
- “For me, a little bit of an out-of-body experience… The bottom line, we weren’t connected.”
- “That wasn’t Duke basketball. We did not play together.”
- “Our pick-and-roll defense was the worst it’s been since I can remember… We gave them freedom. Way too much freedom.”
- “Anytime you lose, it’s finger-pointing time… We can take collective responsibility. That’s what I’m going to do. I’m responsible for how we played tonight.”
- “Our fans deserve better.”
Contact/Follow us @The SpartansWire on X, and like our page on Facebookto follow ongoing coverage of Michigan State news, notes, and opinion.
You can also follow Andrew Brewster on Twitter @IAmBrewster.
This article originally appeared on Spartans Wire: What Duke coach Jon Scheyer said about MSU basketball after loss
