No. 5 Michigan State passed its first major test of the season with an impressive victory over second-ranked Duke.
Now comes the challenge of building on that performance.
The Spartans (3-0) host Northern Iowa (2-1) Friday night in East Lansing, Mich., looking to carry over the defensive intensity that helped them beat the Blue Devils.
Michigan State never trailed in its 79-73 victory over Duke on Tuesday at the Champions Classic in Chicago, holding the Blue Devils to 33.3% shooting and blocking eight shots.
“What we’ve been talking about for 20 years: defend, rebound, and run,” Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said. “If you defend, you usually rebound better. The first half, we defended better, we rebounded better, we ran better and we got some easy buckets.”
The Spartans held their first three opponents to 64.3 points per game and 34.1% shooting while outrebounding them by an average of 14 per game.
Jeremy Fears Jr., who leads Michigan State with 14.3 points and 10.3 assists per game, had 18 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds against Duke. Cam Ward added 14 points, while Jordan Scott blocked six shots and grabbed nine rebounds.
Izzo was encouraged by the contributions from his younger players but acknowledged that the Spartans are still lacking with interior defense.
“We’ve just got to get those bigs better at the ball screens and the things they’ve got to do defensively,” Izzo said. “Right now, that’s a little bit of a work in progress.”
Fears said the victory showed how far the Spartans have come since their exhibition games, although he believes there’s still plenty of room for improvement.
“We got a long way to go and we can keep getting better,” Fears said. “Just to see the growth and the progress from the exhibitions (to) our third game of the season is huge. I think we’re a lot deeper this year.”
Northern Iowa brings a high-scoring offense to East Lansing, averaging 92.7 points through its first three games while shooting 50.5% from the field.
The Panthers opened with a 106-70 victory over Division III Cornell College, lost 98-83 at Furman and bounced back Tuesday with an 89-76 victory over Green Bay. Northern Iowa shot 67.3% from the field and made 10 of 19 3-pointers against Green Bay.
Greyson Uelmen scored 27 points against Green Bay and leads the Panthers with 19.7 points, 5.7 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game. Carson Vis averages 17.3 points, followed by Isaiah Johnson-Arigu at 15.3.
Northern Iowa has forced an average of 17.3 turnovers but has allowed 81.3 points per game and has been outrebounded by an average of 2.4 per game.
Johnson-Arigu welcomes the opportunity to face one of the nation’s top teams.
“I’m excited because it tests our ability,” Johnson-Arigu said. “We’ve been working a lot all summer. We scrimmaged Iowa State in the fall. I think we’re ready for the challenge.”
First-year Northern Iowa coach Kyle Green believes the challenging early schedule will benefit his team.
“It’s a great opportunity for our guys to learn and get better,” Green said. “That’s only going to make us better. To put ourselves in those situations, it’s what it’s all about.”