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Duke and Michigan State rarely disappoint and this time was no exception as the Blue Devils pulled out an exciting 66-60 win in Breslin. As always though with the Spartans, it wasn’t easy.
Duke faced a lot of adversity in this one, and the peak of it was probably the moments between when Patrick Ngongba was rolling on the floor in agony after falling hard on his butt and Cameron Boozer picking up his third foul shortly thereafter. Down 36-34 with 16:52 against this team and that happens? Didn’t look good.
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But after the TV timeout, Ngongba stayed in the game and Boozer played all but the last :11 seconds before drawing his fifth.
That was just some of the adversity Jon Scheyer’s team faced and, ultimately overcame.
It didn’t start out that way though. For the first few minutes, Duke outplayed Michigan State, building a 19-14 lead and playing with some swagger from behind the line.
But as we all knew they would, Sparty fought back. Jeremiah Fears is an outstanding point guard, as advertised, finishing with 13 assists, Coen Carr is far more athletic than we realized and Carson Cooper finished with a double-double at 16/16.
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And for a good bit of the middle of the game, though it stayed close throughout, it really seemed like Michigan State was the tougher, more aggressive team.
Until it wasn’t.
Duke had real adversity after Ngongba went down and Boozer’s foul trouble became an issue. Shoot, Maliq Brown had three as well – as did Ngongba, for that matter.
But in the second half, Boozer flipped the switch. He started working around the basket, using his extraordinary footwork to maneuver around defenders. He finished with 18 points and 15 rebounds and shut the Breslin crowd up.
What was encouraging about his struggles in this game was that other guys had to step up, and they did.
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Nik Khamenia finished with 10 points and 9 boards and, for the first time really, gave hints that he wasn’t just a good passer but potentially a great one….
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/duke-pulls-past-michigan-state-201452414.html
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Publish date : 2025-12-06 20:14:00
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