Duke Basketball: 3 biggest takeaways from win over Michigan State

Mark Mitchell & Kyle Filipowski proving to be a burden in the frontcourt

The Blue Devils frontcourt duo of Mark Mitchell and Kyle Filipowski kept the Spartans on their heels all night long. Malik Hall battled foul trouble throughout and appeared in just 26 minutes of action. Mady Sissoko was held to just two points across 18 minutes of action.

Both Mitchell and Filipowski did a good job of keeping pressure on the Spartans’ defense to defend the painted area. They finished shooting a combined 14-of-16 from the free-throw line as Mitchell went 9-of-9 from the stripe and Filipowski went 5-of-7. As a team, the Blue Devils shot 24-for-30 from the stripe while Michigan State shot just 7-of-12.

Mitchell racked up 13 points, four rebounds and two steals while Filipowski poured in 15 points, eight rebounds, three assists, two blocks and a steal.

Despite Malik Hall’s 18 points, the Blue Devils never let anybody else in the frontcourt find their rhythm offensively and it showed in the end result. They held Sissoko to just a field goal and limited Coen Carr’s touches on offense. He had one big dunk down the stretch on an alley-oop from Tyson Walker, but outside of that, Duke did well to weather the scoring runs with runs of their own. Their style of spreading the ball around essentially wore Michigan State down until the very end.