Jeremy Fears Jr.'s 18 Points and 11 Assists Lift No. 5 Michigan State Past No. 2 Duke 79-73

CHICAGO. Jeremy Fears Jr. scored 18 points with 11 assists and seven rebounds, and No. 5 Michigan State beat No. 2 Duke 79-73 on Tuesday night at United Center in the State Farm Champions Classic. The Spartans moved to 3-0 in their first game away from the Breslin Center. Duke fell to 2-1 and never led.

Fears, a redshirt junior guard listed as the Big Ten preseason player of the year in Michigan State's official preview, went 3 of 9 from the field and 12 of 17 at the free throw line. He added seven rebounds in 33 minutes and spent the last minute at the stripe after Duke finally punched back. Cam Ward scored 14 points off the bench on 5 of 7 shooting. Jordan Scott had five points, nine rebounds and six blocks. Freshman Jasiah Jervis scored 10.

John Blackwell led Duke with 17 points on 6 of 16 shooting, including 4 of 11 from 3-point range. Patrick Ngongba II finished with 11 points, seven rebounds, six assists and four blocks, but he went 2 of 7 from the field and 7 of 13 at the line. The Blue Devils shot 20 of 60 from the field (33 percent) and 7 of 29 from 3-point range. They pulled down 18 offensive rebounds and still could not get a lead.

Michigan State scored first, with senior center Anton Bonke dunking 33 seconds in on an assist from Scott. Blackwell tied the game at 2-2 with a 12-foot turnaround jumper at the 19:00 mark, the only time Duke was even. Fears made a free throw, Jervis hit a 21-foot jumper, Coen Carr knocked down a 24-foot 3, and Jervis added a 23-foot 3. Fears assisted on all three field goals. It was 11-2 with 17:30 left in the first half, and Duke did not catch the Spartans again.

Dame Sarr made two free throws to make it 11-4, and Duke slowly climbed back into contact. After Ward's alley-oop dunk from Fears made it 15-6 at 11:14, the Blue Devils scored the next seven, capped by a Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje three-point play at 9:29 that cut the deficit to 15-13. It was the closest Duke would get until the final minutes. Jervis answered with a floater, Scott buried a 23-foot 3, and Ward added a floater for a 22-14 lead.

Duke made another push late in the half. Blackwell's 24-foot 3 and a 25-foot 3 from Caleb Foster trimmed it to 27-24 with 2:16 remaining. Ward answered with a layup and a free throw, Fears knocked down an 8-foot floater, and Ethan Taylor finished a three-point play with 42 seconds left. Michigan State took a 34-25 lead into the locker room.

Fears opened the second half with two free throws, and the lead reached its largest of the night at 50-36 when he made another free throw with 13:37 to play. Duke spent the next several minutes hunting a first lead that never came.

The Blue Devils outscored Michigan State 48-45 in the second half and finally made it a game in the last five minutes. Ward's three-point play with 4:59 left made it 73-60. Boumtje Boumtje scored inside, Blackwell hit a 3, and free throws from Blackwell and Foster got Duke within 73-68 with 2:03 to go. Scott answered with a driving layup at 1:50, and Fears made two free throws at 0:39 for a 77-68 lead.

Duke still had one more burst. After Fears made 1 of 2 free throws at 0:23, Ngongba made both of his at 0:22, and Blackwell drilled a 23-foot 3 with 13 seconds left to make it 78-73. Fears then made the first of two free throws with 12 seconds remaining and missed the second. Boumtje Boumtje rebounded, and Duke had a last look. Ngongba missed a 27-foot 3. Blackwell missed a 26-footer after an offensive rebound. Foster came down with one more offensive board as time expired.

Fears finished two rebounds shy of a triple-double and did most of his scoring at the line. Michigan State's preview already had him at 12.5 points and 10.0 assists per game through two wins, and this fit that profile, even with four turnovers. Ward's 14 points in 20 minutes gave the Spartans a second scorer when the game tightened. Michigan State shot 25 of 56 from the field (45 percent), 7 of 20 from 3-point range and 22 of 28 from the line. The Spartans scored 16 points off 13 Duke turnovers, 34 in the paint and 12 on the fast break, and they blocked eight shots.

Duke won the rebound battle 40-38 because of those 18 offensive boards and finished with 18 assists. The problem was the shooting. Twenty made field goals on 60 attempts is a long night against a Tom Izzo defense, and 26 of 37 at the line could not cover 33 percent shooting. Foster scored nine points on 2 of 10 shooting, and Sarr was held to six on 1 of 5. Sebastian Wilkins added nine points, and Drew Scharnowski had eight points and six rebounds in 15 minutes off the bench. Jon Scheyer's team had opened 2-0 with wins over Army West Point (84-50) and Coastal Carolina (113-52).

Tuesday was the 21st meeting in the series. Duke entered leading it 16-4 and had won the last three, including a 66-60 victory at the Breslin Center on Dec. 6, 2025. Michigan State ended that streak and improved the all-time series to 16-5 in Duke's favor. It was also the fifth Champions Classic meeting between the programs, a series Duke had led 4-1. Izzo, in his 32nd season, entered the night 3-15 against Duke. Scheyer is in his fifth season as head coach.

Michigan State is 3-0 after beating Quinnipiac 96-59 and Toledo 91-61 at home to open the season. The Spartans host Northern Iowa on Friday at the Breslin Center at 7 p.m. ET. Duke is 2-1 and hosts SIU Edwardsville on Friday at Cameron Indoor Stadium at 8 p.m. ET.

For the full numbers, see the ESPN box score (opens in a new tab) and play-by-play (opens in a new tab), plus Michigan State's Champions Classic preview (opens in a new tab) and Duke's game preview (opens in a new tab). Official recaps had not been posted at the time this story was published.

Sources: ESPN, Michigan State Athletics, Duke Athletics. More men's college basketball coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: Matthew Mitchell Photography / Michigan State Athletics (file photo from Nov. 5, 2026, vs. Toledo)