On a night dominated by the play of a freshman, it was yet another underclassman that quietly had a defining performance in his young Duke career: Mason Plumlee.
After breaking out on the offensive end last week against Marquette, Mason Plumlee’s biggest step forward against the Spartans was on defense, where he finished with zero fouls and a career high five steals. And his team-best 10 rebounds were almost a third of the Blue Devils’ total and came mostly on the offensive glass.
The 6-foot-10 sophomore continued to see his playing time increase Wednesday, and he was able to almost single-handedly shut down the rotating Michigan State frontcourt of Draymond Green, Garrick Sherman, Delvon Roe and Adreian Payne. Besides Green, who finished with 16 points—ten of which came with under a minute remaining—the Spartan big men combined for a paltry 18 points.
“Kyrie may have been sensational, but quietly Mason was right there,” head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “Mason had to play 35 minutes with the foul trouble we had and they keep alternating bigs.... He was outstanding.”
Although Mason Plumlee has improved in leaps and bounds throughout the nonconference season, his older brother continued to regress against Michigan State, riddled by foul trouble from the start. Miles racked up his third foul midway through the first half and played just eight total minutes. The Spartans posted rallies both times Krzyzewski played the elder Plumlee for extended stints, first to take the lead in the opening period, and second to close a 10-point deficit to just two points in the second half.
Ryan Kelly’s night doesn’t look impressive in the stat book after racking up just one basket and a single rebound in 17 minutes of play, but he provided good defense around the inside and off-screen help around the perimeter.
“They need a couple of bigs to get better.... Last year they had that magical chemistry,” Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo said. “They’ve got some growing up to do. There were times where they could have put us away.”
But for the first time all season, Duke proved it could beat an elite team without high-level play from its established star, who struggled to find his rhythm. Kyle Singler shot just 2-of-9 in the first half while trying to find his way around a lightning-quick Michigan State backcourt. Despite his overall struggles, his two 3-pointers, broken up only by two foul shots from Irving, spurred the Blue Devils on an 8-2 run that extended the lead to 12 at the midway point of the second half.
“I didn’t think Kyle [Singler] had a great game, but he made some great plays for us,” Krzyzewski said. “He didn’t have a bad game, but he didn’t have a great game. That’s what a good player does.”
The crowded backcourt picture may have become slightly less cloudy as well, as Seth Curry proved unable to stop either Korie Lucious or Kalin Lucas on the perimeter. The sophomore transfer appears to be losing the battle with Andre Dawkins as the first guard off the bench since Dawkins continues to shoot the ball lights out. Even Dawkins struggled by his recent standards against Michigan State, though. He posted his worst shooting percentage—40 percent on 2-of-5 shooting—of the past five games, a number Krzyzewski and staff can still surely live with.
In the end, only eight Duke players saw court time, including two for under 10 minutes, compared to 11 players who saw the floor for Michigan State. Both of Duke’s closest games—the other being the 82-77 win over Marquette—have only seen eight Blue Devils record multiple minutes of playing time. With the continued poor play of Miles Plumlee, the rotation might shrink even further.
For now, though, there is one known fact about this team: Mason Plumlee is playing unexpectedly great basketball.
“Kyrie was just great,” Krzyzewski said. “But Mason was right up there and [if] we don’t have him playing tonight the way he did, we don’t win.”
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