The Breslin Center crowd was ready to greet Duke for the Blue Devils’ first true road game of the season but Michigan State’s offense struggled in the early going. Kur Teng started at the 2-guard for MSU
but was 0-4 from the field at the first media timeout. The Spartans were only able to manage a Jeremy Fears to Carson Cooper alley-oop in the first four minutes while Duke got a corner three from Nikolas Khamenia and a finish in the paint from Caleb Foster to claim the early 5-2 lead.
The second four minute segment featured a little more offensive excitement but every time MSU made a play, Duke had an answer. Carson Cooper turned an offensive rebound into a putback but Maliq Carr answered with a dunk on the other end. Dame Sarr followed a Coen Carr dunk with a triple. Cam Ward returned after sitting out the Iowa game with a wrist injury and dove on the floor for a loose ball on the defensive end. His effort led to a Trey Fort alley-oop dunk for the Spartans. MSU followed that with a Fears steal leading to a layup for Carr but Khamenia responded with another three as Duke led 16-11 at the 11:31 mark.
Jaxon Kohler and Divine Ugocukwu both hit threes for the Spartans and these were sandwiched around Darren Harris triple for the Blue Devils as MSU cut Duke’s lead to 19-17 with 7:50 left in the first half.
Kohler struck again from deep off an inbounds play to give MSU its first lead at 20-19 but Patrick Ngongba put Duke back in front with a tough shot over Kohler in the paint. Another Kohler triple tied it at 23, this time off a nicely executed screen and roll with Fears. Jordan Scott had a big impact on both ends of the floor, leading to a sequence that put MSU back in front. Scott stole the ball from Duke and then claimed an offensive rebound on the other end, eventually leading to a triple from Jesse McCulloch and a 26-23 Spartan lead with 4:30 to go.
Two Fears free throws extended an 8-0 MSU run but a Cayden Boozer layup after a Fears turnover ended the run and made it 28-25 MSU. Cameron Boozer got his first bucket of the game on a putback off a missed free throw to get the Blue Devils within one at 29-28. Kohler and Khamenia traded triples, with the referees missing a travel on Sarr before he dished to Khamenia, before Fears hit two free throws to end the half. It was 34-31 MSU at the break.
The Spartans held Cameron Boozer to just the single bucket and the Blue Devils to 37% shooting in the first half. But Michigan State only shot 33% en route to the narrow lead. Kohler had 12 points at the break on 4-5 three point shooting. MSU overall hit 6-13 from deep, but only five of their 20 two point attempts, and had an 8-2 advantage on second chance points. Khamenia hit 3-4 from three point range to lead Duke with nine points at the break.
Another Fears to Cooper dunk got things started in the second half but Duke made more of an effort to get Cameron Boozer involved coming out of the break. It paid off. Boozer had Duke’s first three points of the half but also committed his third foul of the game. A Foster layup for Duke tied it at 36 at the 16:24 mark.
Duke began positioning Boozer more in the post and he hit over Carr to give the lead back to Duke at 38-37. After Carr converted in the paint, Boozer hit again from inside to make it 40-39 Duke. Jordan Scott had a huge answer for MSU though, hitting threes from both corners to make it 45-40 MSU a forcing a Duke time out from John Scheyer with 12:43 to go.
The Blue Devils responded immediately coming out of the timeout to tie it at 45 after a layup and triple from Boozer, who was suddenly up to 14 points.
Boozer struck again with an offensive rebound and a putback for Duke. But Cooper hit from the elbow for MSU and Kohler and Carr worked for some tough buckets in the paint. The Spartans had the lead back at 51-48 with 7:49 to go.
In an important sequence coming after the media timeout, Ngongba missed two free throws for Duke and Boozer picked up his fourth foul on the box out. Duke went into a 3-2 zone to protect Boozer and stayed in it even as Boozer went to the bench with MSU holding a 51-49 lead.
The Spartans couldn’t crack the Duke zone or capitalize with Boozer on the bench. An Isaiah Evans triple gave Duke the lead at 55-53 with 3:59 to go and that margin held until the last media timeout which came with 2:54 left.
It was all free throws from here until just under the one minute mark. Carr grabbed an offensive rebound and drew a foul on a drive but missed the front end of a one and one. Fears was fouled hauling in an offensive rebound and hit both to tie it at 55. The referees gave Boozer the benefit of the doubt on a shot over Kohler, where it appeared Kohler was vertical, and sent Boozer to the line. Duke’s star hit both and, on the Blue Devil’s next possession, Evans was fouled on a three point attempt. He hit all three from the strip to make it 60-55 Duke with 55 seconds to go.
MSU went inside to Cooper and he delivered to draw the Spartans within three but that’s as close as MSU would get. Duke went inside to Boozer on their next possession, MSU doubled, and Boozer kicked out to Foster, who drained a killer three to put Duke up 63-57. Boozer eventually fouled out but it was too late for MSU.
It ended 66-60 as Duke stayed undefeated and handed MSU its first loss of the season.
Boozer was as advertised in the second half, finishing with 18 points and 15 boards to lead Duke. Cooper finished with 16 on 7-13 shooting and added 16 boards for MSU.
MSU missed several shots near the basket and finished only 21-62 (32%) from the floor. This included 0-10 from Jeremy Fears, although the MSU point guard did contribute 13 assists against only one turnover. Duke wasn’t much better at 38% but the Blue Devils went 15-23 from the free throw line while MSU was 10-14. Duke also narrowly won the rebounding battle 44-43.
Surprisingly, the turning point for Duke, and against MSU, seemed to be when Boozer picked up his fourth foul and Duke went into a zone defense. The Spartans had trouble all day converting near the basket and struggled even more after this point in the game.
It’s still been a strong start to the season for the Spartans but this loss has to sting. MSU’s struggles against Duke are well documented and the opportunity was there to score a huge win in front of the home crowd. With the MSU Athletic Department recently riding high with a $390 million donation from Greg and Dawn Williams and the hiring of Pat Fitzgerald as the next football coach, it would have been nice to punctuate all of that with a win against Duke, but it’s the Blue Devils that leave with the win. While this may have spoiled MSU’s day, it should not spoil their season.
The Spartans will have to wait a week for a chance to get back in the win column. They face Penn State next Saturday in State College.
