Duke Basketball: 3 takeaways from the Blue Devils’ 88-81 win over Michigan State

Even with an injury to a big-time player, Duke basketball lived up to the preseason hype in their first major test. What were the key takeaways?

The first half started as one would expect from a young and inexperienced team playing in the spotlight. Duke started out shooting 2-for-15 from the field and took some questionable at best shots. What got them in the hunt the first ten minutes was the numerous offensive rebounds that freshman Marvin Bagley III was bringing down.

For Michigan State, the game plan was simple: just feed the ball inside. Duke went into a 2/3 zone throughout the first half in order to dare a reluctant Spartans team to shoot over them. However, there were several times the veteran-laden Michigan State squad found the sweet spot in the zone, setting up some easy inside finishes.

Then, the Blue Devils started to find their rhythm. They forced several turnovers from the zone, creating instant offense in the other direction. Michigan State went ice cold for a long stretch and this was in large part due to a struggling Miles Bridges, who only had three first half points on 1-for-3 shooting.

Duke stretched the lead to ten before Bagley was hit in the eye accidentally by a teammate and had to be taken to the locker room (It was announced early in the second half that he wouldn’t return to the game).

Michigan State took advantage of it and, led by freshman Jaren Jackson and his ten points and five rebounds, they stormed back and retook the lead before Grayson Allen hit a 30-foot buzzer beater to take the halftime lead.

The second half started with both teams trading blows from the frontcourt. Allen continued his hot start with seven additional points in the first four minutes, extending the lead to 52-44. The Blue Devils were able to get the lead back to double-figures before the Spartans tied it up after a Nick Ward and-1.

Foul trouble started to creep up for Duke with both Gary Trent and Javin DeLaurier both having four fouls with over ten minutes to go, though.

However, just a few minutes later the whistles start to blow the other way with the bigs for Michigan State racking up the fouls, including Jackson getting his fourth under eight minutes to go.

Bridges’ aggressiveness was paying off a 3-point make gave Michigan State the lead with less than five minutes to go. Soon after, though, Allen found Trent open for a three, which ended in his first make in seven attempts. Then Allen himself nailed a three to push the Duke lead to six under just two minutes.

After Allen’s seventh 3-pointer of the night and another steal and a basket by DeLaurier, Duke prevailed without their best overall player Bagley with a 88-81 victory thanks in large part to Allen’s career-high 37 points while playing every moment.

While Duke’s Trent struggled mightily from the field (3-for-14), he played 35 full minutes and was a big factor on the defensive end. Wendell Carter took up the responsibilities down low after Bagley left and finished with a 12 and 12 double-double. Trevon Duval also struggled shooting the ball, but was tremendous everywhere else and had a double-double of his own with 17 points and 10 assists.

The Spartans were led by the three-headed frontcourt monster of Bridges, Jackson, and Ward, who each finished with 19 points and combined for 17 total rebounds between the three of them. There was a huge rebounding disadvantage for Izzo and team, with Duke holding a 42-25 edge. Besides the rebounding, here’s some other takeaways from this game.