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Duke Basketball: 2019-20 takeaways from Blue Devils win at Michigan State

By Matthew Travis

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 21: Javin DeLaurier #12 and Wendell Moore Jr. #0 celebrate with Alex O'Connell #15 of the Duke Blue Devils after his dunk in the second half of their game against the California Golden Bears at Madison Square Garden on November 21, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 21: Javin DeLaurier #12 and Wendell Moore Jr. #0 celebrate with Alex O'Connell #15 of the Duke Blue Devils after his dunk in the second half of their game against the California Golden Bears at Madison Square Garden on November 21, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images) /
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Duke Basketball
EAST LANSING, MICHIGAN – DECEMBER 03: Head coach Mike Krzyzewski of the Duke Blue Devils (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /

Duke Basketball got their second ranked win of the season on Tuesday night in what was also their first road game as they took down the Michigan State Spartans. Although just about everything went their way, here are three things they did well.

Duke Basketball was FANTASTIC on Tuesday night as they traveled to East Lansing where they gave the Spartans their third loss of the season. Without Cassius Stanley and coming off one of their worst losses in years, no one was quite sure how the Blue Devils would respond.

As a 6.5 point underdog in their first road game of the season, Duke managed to win the game by 12 after being up by as much as 22 including a 45-29 halftime lead.

"“This game was a little personal, obviously they came in the way of what I wanted to accomplish last year so I came in here with a little chip on my shoulder…”-Tre Jones after the huge win."

Just about all of the Blue Devils who were apart of last year’s team had a huge game on Tuesday night including a total of FIVE players notching double-digits in points.

Duke seemed to be doing just about everything right on Tuesday night and if they play even 3/4ths of how they did against any other ranked teams the rest of the season, there is absolutely no way the Blue Devils lose.

After the Kansas game to start the season off, many believed that Duke wasn’t legit because of the fact that Kansas turned the ball over 28 times, but after the win IN East Lansing and without Cassius Stanley, it’s impossible to look at this team and say they’re not a contender.

Now obviously the Blue Devils have some cleaning up to do after their loss to Stephen F. Austin last week, but this was certainly a good start.

Some key numbers from Tuesday night:

  • 45: First half points
  • 11: Total blocks
  • 5: Total players with double-digit points
  • 2: Players with double-doubles and at least 20 points
  • 56.1: Field goal percentage
  • 46.7: Three-point percentage
  • 72.7: Free throw percentage
  • 14: Forced turnovers

These are just some of the ridiculous stats Duke put up against the team who began the season as the number one ranked team in the nation.

So without further ado, here are my three biggest takeaways from Duke’s first road game of the season:

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