EAST LANSING – John Calipari felt like Tom Izzo devised a perfect plan.
Give Cam Ward and Jordan Scott more minutes to maximize Michigan State basketball’s defensive presence against Arkansas.
“I think they were thinking about us, and they wanted more length on my guards,” Calipari said Saturday, Nov. 8. “And that’s why he probably did it.”
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The benefit was clear, but the reality was far more nuanced in how one Hall of Fame coach stumbled into a formula to get the best of the other.
Izzo’s 21st-ranked Spartans rode the breakout performances of their two freshmen to a thrilling and gritty 69-66 victory over Calipari’s 15th-ranked Razorbacks at Breslin Center.
Yes, Ward and Scott emerged as game-changers – at least in this one – with their size, rebounding and youthful strength. The two freshmen combined for 24 points, 17 rebounds, two steals and a block while each logged significant and critical minutes in their second real collegiate games (25:46 for Scott between shooting guard and small forward, and 22:53 for Ward between the wing and power forward).
The duo played together for the final 9:08 of the first half and combined 5:47 on the floor in the second half, with Izzo showing enough trust in their defense to have both on the floor for the final 4 seconds together and splitting their time over much of the final 2 minutes in a one-possession game.
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“That’s something we’ve been working on” said Ward, who led both teams with 18 points and 10 rebounds, three of those on the offensive glass. “We knew that they were gonna have a bigger lineup at one point. … And when they did, we adjusted.”
Finding that combination – blending those two with starters Jeremy Fears Jr., Coen Carr, Jaxon Kohler and Carson Cooper – started with foul trouble inside and a few mistakes outside by others.
Cooper went to the bench with his second foul just 3:32 into the game. The 6-foot-9, 230-pound Ward took over at power forward, with Jaxon Kohler moving to center. Quickly, Ward asserted himself with a dunk off a Coen Carr interior pass and a backdown layup to put MSU up by eight points at the 13:32 mark.
Michigan State’s Cam Ward, center, celebrates after a score against Arkansas during the first half on Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025, at the Breslin Center in East Lansing.
“Coach just told me, ‘Hey, you go in there right now, and we need a spark,’” Ward said.
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Said Calipari: “We knew who (Ward) was, obviously, but he killed us. At halftime, it was like, ‘Hey dudes, he’s just going and getting every ball.’”
Izzo started 6-4 Trey Fort for the first time this season and got an early jumper. Kur Teng, who started the two exhibition games and the opener vs. Colgate, replaced Fort at 15:30 and missed two shots after checking in. Then, Teng nearly lost the ball with a mishandled dribble, then got the ball back from Fears and did commit a turnover. It was an off-target bounce pass to double-teamed Kohler in the post that the big man fumbled trying to collect as it was heading out of bounds.
Teng checked out for the final time with 9:58 left in the first half and didn’t return. Fort returned to join Fears, Kohler, Carr and Scott.
Then with a little over 4 minutes to go before halftime, it was Fort’s turn for a sequence that frustrated Izzo. The sixth-year senior drifted defensively into the lane and lost his man, Meleek Thomas, on the left wing. That allowed Arkansas’ Nick Pringle to set a sturdy screen that Fort couldn’t climb over and give Thomas a wide-open, game-tying 3-pointer.
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Immediately at the other end of the floor, Fort tried to make up for it and rushed an early shot-clock 3-pointer that clanged and rebounded long to Thomas, who fed it ahead to D.J. Wagner on the break. Fort retreated and fouled Wagner, and he then drew the ire of Izzo and a seat on the bench during the ensuing timeout as Scott slid over from the wing to shooting guard for the rest of the half.
Michigan State’s Jordan Scott, center, guards Arkansas’ Malique Ewin during the second half on Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025, at the Breslin Center in East Lansing.
Scott quickly denied a pass and knocked it out of bounds on Arkansas’ next possession, the type of perimeter defense Izzo was seeking.
And he would start the second half with Fears, Carr, Kohler and Cooper. The growing 6-8 freshman with the 6-9 wingspan – 3 inches longer than both Teng and Fort – would play 25:46 of the final 31:16 in the game.
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“The length helps, especially in Jordan’s case,” Izzo said. “At 6-6, 6-7, he has some length, he’s a pretty good athlete, he goes in there and gets rebounds. We thought he wasn’t gonna be very tough, we thought he would struggle defensively. And he has surprised us.”
Cooper, who returned to the fold and had all nine of his points in the second half, said the newcomers’ energy and effort was noticed and felt across the rest of MSU’s veterans.
“I don’t think we’ve ever played with that lineup before,” the senior center said. “All that just comes down to the team camaraderie and trusting one another. At the end of the day, we’re gonna play guys at the end of games that play hard and play defense. Jordan’s been playing his butt off on the defensive end, and Cam was playing his really good game. We’re just gonna reward those guys that are gonna play defense at a high level.”
After opening the game 6-for-12, the Razorbacks were 16-for-44 after Scott checked into the game. They made 3 of 17 from 3-point range after Scott took over the primary shooting guard role with inside 4 minutes left in the first half. Izzo likened Scott’s defensive ability to what former MSU one-and-done Max Christie provided in 2020-21.
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“They have a lot of amazing offensive talent on their team. They love to get downhill, and they make some shots, too. And they’re a quick team as well,” said Scott, who finished 2-for-4 with six points to go with his seven rebounds, three of them on the offensive glass. “And we knew that (our) length and being able to be in the right position would be able to slow it down a little bit.”
Fort finished with five points and two rebounds in 14:45, but he played just 5:43 in the second half. Teng was scoreless in his 5:32, and he did not play after his one stint.
Whether this was a matchup-based situation or if Izzo plans to stick with using Ward and Scott more in a tighter rotation remains to be seen, starting with Thursday’s visit from San Jose State (6:30 p.m./BTN).
But their teammates fed off Ward and Scott’s ebullience. Particularly as MSU owned the glass, 45-33, and turned 19 offensive rebounds into 18 second-chance points. The Spartans also dominated on the block with a 46-28 scoring advantage in the paint.
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“When one person gets going, the energy is contagious,” Scott said. “So that gets everybody going and everybody crashing the boards. We were just playing with a lot of energy today.”
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State basketball bets big on freshmen in win vs Arkansas
