NEW YORK — When it was all over, Mike Krzyzewski pushed through the crowd of photographers surrounding him to find Bob Knight, his former coach and the man whose record he had just broken. The two embraced courtside, laughing, before Krzyzewski disappeared back into the throng.
“I just told him… ‘Coach, I’m not sure people tell you this, but I love you, and I love what you’ve done for me, and thank you,’” Krzyzewski said. “And he says, ‘Boy, you’ve done pretty good for a kid who couldn’t shoot.’ I think that meant he loves me too.”
More than four decades after Krzyzewski took the floor for Army as Knight’s point guard, the disciple passed his mentor with the 903rd head coaching victory of his career in a 74-69 win over Michigan State at Madison Square Garden in front of dozens of former Blue Devils. The victory breaks Knight’s NCAA Division I record, a mark that had stood since 2008.
“It’s special,” said Seth Curry, who had 20 points and a team-high seven rebounds. “It’s something I’m going to remember for the rest of my life, and I hope college basketball will [too].”
Despite the narrow final margin, the game was never in doubt after Duke broke away with a 16-1 run early in the second half, sparked by three consecutive 3-pointers from Andre Dawkins, Ryan Kelly and Curry. The Spartans were held without a field goal for over seven minutes as Duke extended its lead to 19.
“For fifteen minutes I thought we played beautiful basketball,” Krzyzewski said. “We executed well and our defense was very, very good.”
The first half, though, was an entirely different story. From the start, the Blue Devils came out “tight or tentative,” Krzyzewski said, and struggled to find their rhythm on offense. They shot just 9-of-22 from the field, but were carried by a career performance from Dawkins, who had 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting—including 4-of-6 from 3-point range—in the opening period alone. The junior would finish with a game-high 26 points, including six 3-pointers.
“I thought Dawkins played his tail off,” Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo said. “He was a difference maker with hitting some tough threes.”
Although Dawkins dominated from the perimeter, Spartan big men Draymond Green and Branden Dawson were almost equally successful on the interior, scoring the bulk of their team’s 16 points in the paint and holding Duke to just four in the half.
The teams traded the lead five times in the first period and went into halftime with Duke up one, 34-33.
After the break, however, the pair would combine to shoot just 2-for-10 as Kelly and Mason Plumlee began helping on defense more aggressively in the post.
“[Green] tried to do a little bit too much making those plays,” Izzo said. “I go through [the big men] a lot so I would not blame [Green]. I would blame me. I am the one that wants him to have the ball more… and he is going to have to grow on that.”
Duke provided extensive pressure in the backcourt as well, holding Michigan State, which shot 20 3-pointers against North Carolina last week, to only 12 attempts—and just four makes.
With 16:24 remaining and the Blue Devils leading 41-40, Dawkins started the most lopsided portion of the game with a 3-pointer from the wing. Two minutes later, the score was 50-40—the smallest Spartan deficit until there was just 73 seconds left in the game.
“I thought we played really well, especially in the second half,” Curry said. “We kind of imposed our will.”
In those final minutes, sloppy play from the Blue Devils gave Michigan State a chance at a last-ditch comeback effort. Keith Appling had four straight baskets on his team’s final four possessions, but Duke made 7-of-8 free throws down the stretch to ice the landmark victory.
“I don’t know yet [what the record means to me],” Krzyzewski said. “I think it will mean a lot when it’s all over.”
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