NCAA Tournament 2019: Top takeaways from Elite Eight games
By Brian Rauf
Michigan State 68, Duke 67
Cassius Winston is everything
The Spartans are not the most talented or most explosive team left in the tournament field, but they have the best leader remaining in Cassius Winston – who also happens to be playing the best basketball of his career right now.
He scored 20 points and racked up 10 assists against the Blue Devils, which is a huge feat but doesn’t fully encapsulate his impact on the game. The junior scored or assists on 19 of Michigan State’s 30 field goals. Essentially, if the Spartans scored, Winston was at the center of it.
Winston has been doing this all tournament as he averaged 19.0 points and 7.8 assists per game in the regional while also playing 39 or more minutes in three of the four games. He has really stepped his game up since backcourt-mate Joshua Langford was lost for the year with a foot injury a few months ago, yet his game has gone to another level in March – and he has elevated the play of everyone around him.
Why Duke regressed
It became very obvious down the stretch as Duke tried to match and hold off Michigan State that they did not have what it took to do so. That seems jarring based on what we saw from the Blue Devils for most of the season, yet it doesn’t change the fact they simply didn’t have any answers.
Zion Williamson was as good as you would expect him to be and R.J. Barrett played well, too. But outside of those two players, Duke’s offense was non-existent. Role players did not step up and the bench didn’t help the Blue Devils at all. Williamson finished with 24 points, Barrett had 21, and the rest of the roster combined for just 22.
We know about Duke’s lack of three-point shooting and, given their athleticism, it’s important for them to get out into transition. They are unstoppable on the break and used their prowess in that area to look like the juggernaut we thought they were. Yet they’ve played a much more half-court game over much of the last month – perhaps due to a lack of depth.
Duke’s lack of legitimate weapons, offensive versatility, and depth killed them in this game against a sound Michigan State team that was clicking on all cylinders.