Duke was in dire need of a bounce back game after dropping one to Arizona and home as were the Spartans of Michigan State. Like most expected it was a rock fight of runs and defense. Both offenses struggled with turnovers with Duke coughing it up 10 times and the Spartans 9 in the first half. Neither team put up impressive numbers offensively in the first half with combining for 51 points, neither breaking 30% from beyond the arc. Duke would break away for an 11 point lead on the back of free throw shooting where they held a 14 to 2 advantage on attempts and a plus 11 in point differential.
The Spartans began the second half with a 9-4 run to cut the lead to 4. Duke battled back to extend the lead to 12 before Michigan State, on a Tyson walker 3 pointer, cut the lead to 3 with 8:34 left. The Blue Devils iced the game with a 15-8 run over the course of 6 minutes fueled by Caleb Foster.
The Blue Devils had several areas of concern coming in to this game after the Arizona loss, some of it was offensive and some of it was heart and hustle on the glass. The offense delivered 17 assists on 22 made buckets. The ball didn’t stick as much for the Blue Devils but there were turnover issues in the first half that they shored up in the second half only turning the ball over 3 times. Duke also rebounded the basketball much better against Michigan State where the Blue Devils were plus 2 on the boards to the Spartans.
Caleb Foster took control for Duke in the second half on his way to to an 18 point game . The freshman hit huge back-to-back 3’s to cement the game for the Blue Devils. Foster hit on 4 of his 5 attempts from 3 and went 7-8 overall scoring 16 of his 18 in the second half. Kyle Filipoowski added 15 and 8 rebounds on 30 minutes of action. Tyrese Proctor and Mark Mitchell added 13 each with Proctor dishing 6 assists and Mitchell going 9-9 at the free throw line.
Next up for Duke 3 get right games against some lesser competition at home in the Blue Devil Challenge.
