Duke walked into Chicago on Tuesday night looking like one of the toughest teams in the country. The Blue Devils were ranked No. 2; they had opened the season with two blowout wins, and they came with one of the deepest rosters in college basketball. Michigan State, ranked No. 5, had other plans. They led from start to finish and won 79-73. Afterward, in an interview, Tom Izzo said something that sounded more like praise for Duke than a victory speech.

“I am a little surprised, ’cause I think they’re a really, really good team, and I feel bad saying that because then it looks like, ‘oh, John didn’t do that,’ you know, what everybody says,” Izzo said.

“It was our night. We made some plays. They didn’t make some plays. They didn’t make some shots. I’m not betting against them to do a lot of damage this year,” he added.

It also helps to see what the win meant for his own team. Izzo said Michigan State had been trying to get something going and needed a result like this. He said his players were challenged and responded, which is exactly what he likes to see at this time of year. He praised the depth, too.

Plenty of players made plays, he said, including Cameron Ward, who scored 14 points off the bench. He also admitted the team is still shaky at center, and that it is his job to fix it.

The numbers back up why Izzo was so happy. Michigan State never trailed and led by as many as 14 points. The Spartans made their first four shots and went on an 11-2 run, forcing Jon Scheyer to call a timeout just 2:33 into the game. Duke missed its first eight three-pointers and turned the ball over four times in the first three minutes.

By halftime, the Blue Devils had made just 7-of-27 shots, and Michigan State led 34-25.

The second half was more of the same. Michigan State opened a 50-36 lead with 13:37 left. Duke did make a push, cutting it to 73-68 on two Caleb Foster free throws with 2:03 to go. But Jordan Scott answered with a driving layup, and Jeremy Fears Jr. sealed it at the free-throw line.

Fears and Scott were the biggest reasons why. Fears finished with 18 points, 11 assists, and seven rebounds. He had eight assists by halftime and scored or set up 22 of Michigan State’s 34 first-half points. Scott scored five points but had nine rebounds and six blocks, five of them in the first half. Izzo said he did not think Scott had six blocks in a game since arriving on campus, and he praised his tenacity. Izzo also said Fears ran the team well, and he told him the night called for “elite good,” not just pretty good.

On the other side, Scheyer did not sugarcoat anything either.

“They outplayed us in every facet of the game I thought. Our lack of connectivity on offense was not good enough. We’re going to fix it. We have things to address and we’ll fix it. It’s a long season ahead,” he said.

The final box score shows what he meant. Duke shot 33.3% (20 of 60) and turned the ball over 13 times. Blackwell led the team with 17 points, but he needed 16 shots to get there. The Blue Devils also went 26-of-37 at the free-throw line. They did win the offensive glass 18-9, but that was not enough to make up for a cold night from the field.

It also meant a lot for the Spartans’ history. This was Michigan State’s first win over Duke since Dec. 1, 2020, and Izzo’s first win over Scheyer. The Spartans also improved to 7-9 in the Champions Classic.

Now both teams get back to work. Duke hosts SIU Edwardsville on Friday and then has Illinois, No. 1 Florida and No. 4 UConn coming up this month. Michigan State hosts Northern Iowa on Friday. That puts Izzo’s words in a clear light.

The winning coach called Duke very good and said he would not bet against it, and the losing coach said his team had been outplayed. Both sounded sure that the Blue Devils have a long season ahead.

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