Michigan State's coach Tom Izzo looks on during the first day of basketball practice on Monday, Sept. 22, 2025, at the Breslin Center in East Lansing. Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

MSU's Tom Izzo Calls Two New Players 'Pleasant Surprises'

Originally posted on Michigan State Spartans on SI
By Jacob Cotsonika | Last updated Oct 31, 2025 7:00 AM ET

Michigan State basketball has wrapped up its exhibition games, beating Bowling Green, 75-66, on Oct. 23 and falling at UConn on Tuesday, 76-69.

Those were the first opportunities to see all of MSU's new players in a Spartan uniform for the first time. But the games count now, and the stakes become very real.

Head coach Tom Izzo ended up taking in four transfers from the portal, but also got four-stars Jordan Scott and Cam Ward, who were ranked No. 56 and No. 58 in the class of 2025 on the 247Sports Composite, respectively.

Izzo sees a bright future for both of his youngest players.

What Izzo Said

"Both of those freshmen [Scott and Ward] have been pleasant surprises," Izzo said Thursday. "They both play hard as hell. They're both really smart kids. That's been a big plus so far."

Scott seemed to put together some solid run during the UConn exhibition, scoring six points and grabbing four rebounds in 14 minutes. He's done well enough that he probably deserves some consideration to be the team's starting two-guard, even though it seemed like that would come down to either Trey Fort or Kur Teng.

"We're trying to find our two-guard; it's no secret," Izzo said. "And we could put him some there, too. But we've been struggling a little bit, so we've got to make sure we shore that up both offensively and defensively."

It remains to be seen what Michigan State's first real starting five will be on Monday, Nov. 3, against Colgate (7 p.m. ET, B1G+). But there is only so much time to figure it out.

Colgate is No. 207 on KenPom and has a mere 3% chance to win in East Lansing, but the second game will be a clash with AP No. 14 Arkansas. The non-conference slate alone also features No. 9 Kentucky on Nov. 18, No. 25 North Carolina on Nov. 27, and No. 6 Duke on Dec. 6.

"I'd like it if I had my old schedules," Izzo said. "Well, they're always good, but I usually had more games that you could work with. And now we've got quite a few of them; not in a row, but pretty close to in a row.

"And then the other thing that's changed that a little bit is adding the two Big Ten games into December. Now, all of a sudden, we have, if you want to include them [the exhibitions]... we have six big games in, what, a month? And that's not the norm. So, every time you have a pattern down or something you want to do, they change the rules, and so I've got to adjust a little better."