Duke and Michigan State rarely disappoint and this time was no exception as the Blue Devils pulled out an exciting 66-60 win in Breslin. As always though with the Spartans, it wasn’t easy.
Duke faced a lot of adversity in this one, and the peak of it was probably the moments between when Patrick Ngongba was rolling on the floor in agony after falling hard on his butt and Cameron Boozer picking up his third foul shortly thereafter. Down 36-34 with 16:52 against this team and that happens? Didn’t look
good.
But after the TV timeout, Ngongba stayed in the game and Boozer played all but the last :11 seconds before drawing his fifth.
That was just some of the adversity Jon Scheyer’s team faced and, ultimately overcame.
It didn’t start out that way though. For the first few minutes, Duke outplayed Michigan State, building a 19-14 lead and playing with some swagger from behind the line.
But as we all knew they would, Sparty fought back. Jeremiah Fears is an outstanding point guard, as advertised, finishing with 13 assists, Coen Carr is far more athletic than we realized and Carson Cooper finished with a double-double at 16/16.
And for a good bit of the middle of the game, though it stayed close throughout, it really seemed like Michigan State was the tougher, more aggressive team.
Until it wasn’t.
Duke had real adversity after Ngongba went down and Boozer’s foul trouble became an issue. Shoot, Maliq Brown had three as well – as did Ngongba, for that matter.
But in the second half, Boozer flipped the switch. He started working around the basket, using his extraordinary footwork to maneuver around defenders. He finished with 18 points and 15 rebounds and shut the Breslin crowd up.
What was encouraging about his struggles in this game was that other guys had to step up, and they did.
Nik Khamenia finished with 10 points and 9 boards and, for the first time really, gave hints that he wasn’t just a good passer but potentially a great one. We saw some of that when he was in Lausanne this summer with Team USA, but he hasn’t done a lot of it in games at Duke. He made some real beauties today.
Isaiah Evans had a somewhat quiet game in many ways, but he played well, particularly in critical moments. He hit a critical three with 3:59 left to play and Duke up just 53-52, and with :58 left to play, he drew a foul on a three point attempt and then converted all three.
But increasingly, Duke knows it can rely on Caleb Foster, and he came through again. Foster finished with 12 points, including some very heady penetration, but none were more important, or more clutch, than the three he hit with :15 to play. That came with Duke up by just three, 60-57.
And while there are few schools we respect more than Michigan State, it’s not a school that tends to get late miracles. For the most part – and this is meant as a compliment – Izzo’s teams are methodical and consistent. You don’t see a lot of lows, but you don’t see a lot of highs (aka late-game miracles) like you might from, say, a Rick Pitino coached team). Michigan State tends to grind and that typically translates into a lot of wins and deep post-season runs.
Generally speaking though, can you think of a game that Michigan State won late with something unusual? Duke you get The Shot by Christian Laettner, or the halfcourt heave by Sean Dockery. UNC has the 8-points-in-16-seconds game against Duke in 1974. Kentucky didn’t win the Laettner game, but they had a spectacular game nonetheless.
It’s unusual for the Spartans to do something like that. This is a methodical program and Izzo’s teams are not going to do things that are out of character very often.
The other thing that was particularly impressive for Duke is that they closed the game on a 15-7 run. Did you catch the second-half play when someone from Michigan State – possibly Cooper – made a pass between his legs and his teammate hit an open three?
At that point, with foul trouble for Boozer, with Ngongba banged up and three fouls for him and Brown too, it looked like Michigan State could have just exploded and Duke would have been collateral damage.
Didn’t happen though. The Blue Devils, playing in a zone to protect Boozer, more than doubled up the Spartans in the home stretch.
In winning time.
Just like Florida, there were some real ups and downs in this game, but this one was on the road and not in Cameron. Duke was knocked back on occasion, but in the end, when it counted, the Blue Devils were dominant.
The brutal non-conference gauntlet is nearly done. Duke hosts Lipscomb on Tuesday and then faces Texas Tech in the Garden next week. After that, the only non-conference game is against Michigan in late February.
Notes – this could always change, but as of now, the much-vaunted point guard battle is kind of one-sided…Fears passed brilliantly for Michigan State- 13 assists to just one turnover – but Duke held him to 0-10 from the floor…backcourt mate Kur Teng was held scoreless…free throw shooting got better down the stretch but was not good overall…before going 7-8 from the line in the last 1:35, Duke was (much) closer to 50%….finished at 65%…we had a glimpse of Khamenia and Sarr on the court together too…
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