An 11-0 run in the second half sparked No. 5 Duke to a 78-69 win against Michigan State in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge Tuesday at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Four Blue Devils scored in double figures, led by junior Grayson Allen's 24 points, and Duke extended its nonconference home winning streak to 130 games.
Revisiting the three keys to the game:
- Stop Miles Bridges: Senior guard Matt Jones played suffocating defense on Michigan State’s star freshman, holding him to only 11 points on 4-of-13 shooting—both below his season averages of 17.4 points per game and 50.0 shooting from the field. Bridges did manage to snag nine rebounds, but his limited offensive presence clearly hurt Michigan State once Duke started to pull away. The Flint, Mich., native fouled out with 12 seconds remaining after picking up all five of his fouls in the second half.
- Contest shooters: Although the Spartans shot 49.1 percent from the floor, the Blue Devils managed to hold them to just 5-of-16 shooting from beyond the arc and allowed only one made 3-pointer in the last 10 minutes of the game. By successfully limiting the deep ball, Duke forced Michigan State out of its comfort zone and prevented any big scoring runs for the Spartans.
- Share the ball: The Blue Devil starters combined for 14 assists and created plenty of opportunities from deep, but only Allen truly capitalized. The junior captain shot 5-of-11 from long distance, but the rest of the team shot a combined 2-of-15 from the 3-point line. Had Duke taken advantage, it could have put the game away well before the decisive run midway through the second half.
Three key stats:
- Duke wins the turnover battle: Led by Jones’ four steals, the Blue Devils generated 18 giveaways while turning it over only nine times themselves. Any time a team wins the turnover battle by such a significant margin, it puts itself in a good position to win, and Duke scored 19 points off turnovers to help take control.
- The Blue Devils shoot only 7-of-26 from deep: Duke had another poor shooting night, with only Allen finding a consistent rhythm from deep. Although it was not the Blue Devils' best performance from the perimeter, they were very efficient with their chances in the paint and shot 57.5 percent on 2-pointers.
- Duke controls the offensive glass: Michigan State won the rebounding battle 39-33, but the Blue Devils managed to track down more offensive rebounds by a margin of 11-8, led by five for forward Amile Jefferson. The Blue Devils converted these rebounds for 16 second-chance points and only allowed two second-chance points for the Spartans.
Three key plays:
- 13:38 remaining, second half: After scoring eight of Duke's first 11 points in the second half, Allen got open for a point-blank layup off an inbounds pass from Frank Jackson and converted it through contact. Allen drained the free throw to put the Blue Devils up 51-48 and spark their 11-0 run, and Duke never trailed again.
- 12:44 remaining, second half: After Jackson made a layup to put Duke in front 55-48, Jones kept the pressure on in the backcourt on the ensuing inbounds pass, stealing the ball from Bridges and throwing it off the freshman out of bounds to force a critical turnover.
- 9:48 remaining, second half: Michigan State had appeared to weather the storm, responding to Duke's 11-0 run with five straight points to trim the deficit to six and getting another stop when Jefferson missed from the inside. But after Bridges got the rebound, he passed up the floor to a teammate who was not paying attention, giving Kennard an easy steal on the loose ball, and the Blue Devils' possession ended with a second-chance triple by Jackson to seize the momentum again.
And the Duke game ball goes to.... Amile Jefferson:
With three of Duke’s five-star freshmen still out with injuries, Jefferson shouldered the load as the Blue Devils' main big man and rose to the occasion with his fourth double-double in five games. The graduate student logged 17 points on 7-of-12 shooting to go along with 13 rebounds, and he also showed off his versatility and veteran leadership by dishing out three assists in his 35 minutes of play.
And the Michigan State game ball goes to.... Eron Harris:
While Jones led Duke's team effort to lock down the Spartans' leading scorer in Bridges, Harris stepped in to pick up the slack. The 6-foot-3 redshirt senior transfer from West Virginia led the team with 14 points, shooting 6-of-11 from the field and 2-of-4 from long distance. He also added two assists and three rebounds to round out the 31 minutes he spent on the floor.
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