John Niyo: Michigan State freshman knows March Madness is no time for stage fright

John Niyo, The Detroit News on Mar 18, 2026

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BUFFALO, N.Y. — Jordan Scott wasn’t sure what to expect, really.

But as Michigan State’s freshman guard sat in the corner of a cramped locker room at Buffalo’s KeyBank Center, with some of his teammates busy rifling through a box of NCAA Tournament swag nearby, the nervous energy was obvious.

“I haven't even been out there on the court yet,” Scott said Wednesday, shortly before he followed his teammates out for their open practice session. “So I guess I’m just gonna feel it out.”

That’s to be expected, though. Just ask Tom Izzo, the Hall of Famer who is making his 28th consecutive trip to the NCAA tourney as the Spartans’ head coach and his 35th time overall.

“Everybody is nervous,” he said. “Hell, I'm nervous, and I've been in 28 of them.”

But then he added this caveat.

“Sometimes freshmen are scared,” Izzo said. “It's OK to be nervous, it's not OK to be scared. It's just something new.”

So while this is nothing new for most of these Spartans — four of Izzo’s starters have played a combined 29 NCAA Tournament games — it is for Scott, the four-star recruit who was inserted into the lineup in early February and then has been asked to fill an even bigger role after a season-ending injury to sophomore transfer Divine Ugochukwu.

And now? Well, it’s hardly a stretch to suggest this team’s postseason fate will depend a great deal on how well Scott and fellow freshman Cam Ward both handle the pressure that awaits.

“I've got two freshmen that are very smart school-wise, and I think very grounded, and I think they'll adjust just fine,” said Izzo, whose team will tip off Thursday against No. 14 seed North Dakota State. “But as you say, when the lights go on, the lights go on, and that's the exciting part of it.”

Izzo can point to plenty of MSU freshmen that’ve adjusted well to the bright lights of the postseason. Jase Richardson just last season, for one. But there are others going all the way back to Andre Hutson at the start of this historic NCAA streak for the Spartans.

Maybe the most applicable — and encouraging — comparison for Scott, though, would be Aaron Henry, whose freshman season followed a similar trajectory. Named a starter in mid-January, the athletic wing scored in double figures just twice in the regular season. But then Henry had a breakout March Madness performance, including a 20-point outburst against LSU in the Sweet 16, as Michigan State made another Final Four run in 2019.

Izzo isn’t putting those kind of expectations on Scott or Ward, but he has pulled them aside to let them know what the calendar says about their status.

“Yeah, we've had that conversation a few times,” Scott said, laughing. “Just to let us know that we're not freshmen anymore. We have to be able to contribute consistently for the team.”

It’s not just the head coach, either. It’s the more experienced leaders on the team, and specifically point guard Jeremy Fears Jr., who didn't hesitate when asked Wednesday what his message to the freshmen has been this week.

“I need you,” Fears said. “We need you to be who you are. Be focused and be confident. Be a little nervous, yeah. But at the end of the day, understand that you've got a job to do. So we need you to just take care of your job.”

Scott’s job depends on the opponent or the moment. The 6-foot-7 forward is probably better suited to playing on the wing, but he’s being asked to fill more of a shooting guard role in Ugochukwu’s absence.

His length can be an asset there, as he showed in just his second start back February, helping limit Illinois star Keaton Wagler to a season-worst 2-for-16 shooting night. His shooting touch adds even more value for a team that’s lacking floor-spacing threats, at times.

In his first five starts, Scott averaged 11.8 points and 3.4 rebounds while logging nearly 28 minutes per game. He shot better than 50 percent from 3-point range (11 of 21) and scored in double figures in each of those outings. But the last five starts have been a different story. The workload has been the same (28.2 minutes) but Scott has averaged 5.2 points while shooting 32 percent from the field and committing 10 turnovers.

“I think through the course of my freshman year, there's definitely been some highs and definitely some lows,” Scott said. “I wouldn’t say it’s a wall. It’s just a lot of ups and downs. So you gotta take two steps forward, one step back and just keep making progress.”

He knows that next step is a doozy, though. So does his head coach, who knows they can talk about it all they want. But when the ball is tipped, as that familiar song begins, there you are.

“Only time will tell,” Izzo said. “Everybody handles it differently. But it's all part of the process. It's all part of the journey."

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