Jordan Scott was quiet on offense — and loud everywhere else.
Scott scored just five points for No. 5 Michigan State on Tuesday night, but he played a major role in a 79-73 win over No. 2 Duke in the Champions Classic. The 6-foot-8 sophomore grabbed nine rebounds, blocked six shots and collected two steals.
“That was about as good a game as you can have for a guy that went 2 for 7 (from the field), 1 for 4 from the 3,” Spartans coach Tom Izzo said. “Not impressive, and yet he probably changed the whole game himself with his defense, with his rebounding, with his effort-related stats.”
Scott's length and athleticism contributed to Duke shooting just 33.3% from the field. He pulled down all nine of his boards on defense.
“It just boils down to defend, rebound and run,” Scott said. “I thought we did that at a high level, and going into the game, we knew whoever executed defending, rebounding and running was going to win this game, and that’s what we did.”
Scott, a four-star recruit from Northern Virginia, played in each of Michigan State's 35 games as a freshman, starting the final 13. He averaged 5.8 points and 3.1 rebounds.
He scored a total of 23 points in Michigan State's first two games this season, home wins over Quinnipiac and Toledo. He made a 3-pointer in the first half and a late layup against Duke, but he impacted the game in a variety of ways.
“You see it every game. Jordan is the X-factor on defense,” teammate Cam Ward said. “He does it all. He had six blocks tonight. Just he’s everywhere all the time. It’s just like a luxury to have him on our team, especially when he can be that guy for us.”
Scott and Michigan State opened the game with an 11-2 run. He had five blocks and five rebounds at the break, helping the Spartans to a 34-25 halftime lead.
“In an atmosphere like this, going against a team like that, you can’t sit around and wait,” Scott said. “So we knew we had to get off to a good start and then keep it moving from there.”
Duke coach Jon Scheyer said he thought his team was bothered by Scott's size.
“He just impacts winning,” Scheyer said. “He just really impacts winning. You’ve got to give him a lot of credit.”
