 looked like one of the top teams in the country and not a rebuilding one a week after losing at home to Stephen F. Austin.“If we played like this last week, we would’ve won two games instead of one,” coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “But we didn’t because we’re learning.”Blue Devils guard Tre Jones scored 20 points, matched a career high with 12 assists and made three steals as part of a defensive effort that forced several turnovers early in the game and a total of 14.“The way we fought and the way we defended is something that we’ve done almost all season except last week,” Jones said. “So we’ve got to keep that up.”The Spartans (5-3) went into the game “a little fragile,” according to Izzo, and they looked out of sync and overmatched.“Outcoached, outplayed, outworked,” Izzo said.Duke went on an 8-1 run midway through the first half to build a double-digit cushion and led 45-29 at halftime.“We got it taken to us early and we didn’t respond,” Izzo said, noting he was embarrassed by the performance.Cassius Winston made a 3-pointer to pull the Spartans within eight early in the second half.Carey answered the surge with a three-point play and a layup to restore a double-digit advantage the Blue Devils had no trouble maintaining.Winston had 12 points on 4-of-14 shooting.“They did a good job of trapping me and getting the ball out of my hands and forcing other guys to make plays,” he said.Xavier Tillman, perhaps wearing No. 23 for the last time because Draymond Green’s jersey was retired by Michigan State at halftime, scored 20 points and Marcus Bingham added 13.Aaron Henry was held to two points after entering the game averaging 12-plus for the Spartans.STEPPING UPDuke played without high-flying guard Cassius Stanley, who is out indefinitely with a muscular injury in his left leg. The team had more than enough to make up for the nearly 13 points he averages a game.Matthew Hurt scored 10 points for the Blue Devils, who got 11 from Joey Baker and 10 from fellow reserve Javin DeLaurier.BIG PICTUREDuke: Carey and Jones looked like the sort of stars the Blue Devils can build around to become one of the best teams in the country.“We’ve got to be more consistent with this play now,” Jones said. “We can’t have any lapse like we did last week.“We know the type of team we can be, and getting a road win like this is big for us.”Michigan State: Izzo has a lot of work to do in trying to rally a team that has been reeling since Winston’s brother died last month.“It’s my job to get them ready and I’m going to do a better job of getting them ready,” Izzo said. “I won’t panic like most fans because I’ve been here before.”POLL IMPLICATIONSThe Blue Devils will likely get a boost in next week’s poll, while the Spartans will continue to fall from their No. 1 ranking in the preseason.IN THE RAFTERSGreen’s jersey was retired during a halftime ceremony that included a slew of former Spartans, including Steve Smith, whose No. 21 has also been retired.The Golden State Warriors star said he isn’t sure if he’ll let Tillman continue to wear his number, adding he isn’t sure he has that much power.UP NEXTDuke: Plays at Virginia Tech on Friday night.Michigan State: Hosts Rutgers on Sunday night.---More college basketball: https://apnews.com/Collegebasketball and https://twitter.com/-Top25)
Dec 03, 2019The last time Duke and Michigan State met on the court, it was for the right to go to the 2019 Final Four.The Spartans got the best of the Blue Devils that day in the East Regional final of the NCAA Tournament, knocking off a Duke team that was a heavy favorite to win the national championship.The teams will meet again on Tuesday night at the Breslin Center in East Lansing, Mich., as part of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. While the stakes aren't nearly as high, the buzz around the game has hardly been dampened, even as both teams saw a drop in the polls after upset losses last week.Duke (7-1) fell from No. 1 to No. 10 while Michigan State (5-2) dropped from No. 3 to No. 11."Breslin is gonna be at a different level," Michigan State sophomore Aaron Henry said. "I can only imagine what it's gonna be like on Tuesday, and it's good for our fans. We get Big Ten games that are good here on our court, and now you get Duke coming here."It's gonna be fun for us to play, and it's gonna be a chance to see where we're at." Where the teams are at is the big question a month into the season.Expectations, of course, are typically high for both teams, and that hasn't changed. The Spartans opened the season as the top-ranked team in the country, a spot Duke took over after Michigan State and Kentucky both faltered. Now Duke has ceded the top spot after a home loss last week to Stephen F. Austin.Entering such a high-level game, it seems neither team is sure where it stands."I think we've got a golden opportunity to play against a very good team that's doing just like us," Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said. "They're trying to find themselves." The Blue Devils have been getting solid play out of sophomore point guard Tre Jones and freshman big man Vernon Carey Jr. But with freshman guard Cassius Stanley likely out with a leg injury, getting consistency from the rest of the rotation has been a struggle.For Mike Krzyzewski, it's been about building confidence so the Blue Devils are in the position they expect to be late in the season."We're going to have to work through a bunch of things like that with this group," the legendary Duke coach said. "It'll take time, and we're going to try to muck it out and we know we're not a top five team -- maybe not even a top 25 team in the country right now."It's a different journey for our fans, for me, and it's a much different journey. We're not pounding our chests, but we have a great group of kids and they're working hard. We have a really tough week next week that would be tough even if you were a top five team." For Michigan State, holes in the rotation exist, but the emotional toll has been tough early as senior guard Cassius Winston has continued to play even after the sudden death of his brother. It's had an effect on the entire team, but considering that and the loss of senior guard Joshua Langford to a foot injury, Izzo believes the Spartans have been OK."Let me tell you, we're a work in progress yet," Izzo said. "We're actually doing pretty good under everything we've gone through." --Field Level Media
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