Duke makes plays down the stretch to survive 7-seed Michigan State, 85-76
Posted March 20, 2022 6:13 p.m. EDT
Updated March 20, 2022 11:41 p.m. EDT
 Michigan State Spartans |
76 |
 9Duke Blue Devils |
85 |
| Final | |
Greenville, S.C. — Duke (30-6) hadn't held on more than won some of its recent close games, if it had won them at all. The knock on the Blue Devils had become that they can be rattled.
With 7-seed Michigan State (23-13) refusing to go away, Duke found itself staring elimination in the face. And it said not today, sending the Spartans packing with an 85-76 win to advance to Mike Krzyzewski's 26th Sweet 16.
Duke's 7-point lead with 10:43 to go quickly evaporated and Michigan State went on a 16-4 run that saw them up 70-65 with just 5:10 to go.
Suddenly, Duke was staring defeat in the face.
But in a true team effort, Duke made every play it needed to down the stretch.
Things didn't look good, either, especially after A.J. Griffin went down with an ankle injury with 8:30 to go and did not return.
Duke still trailed 74-72 when A.J. Hoggard got an errant pass as the shot clock was running down and dribbled his way through Duke defenders to the basket for a layup with 2:51 to go.
Michigan State would score just two more points the rest of the way, and Duke closed the game on a 13-2 run.
The Spartans scored with 40 seconds left to cut Duke's lead to four, but Duke made 5 of 6 free throws in the final 39 seconds to secure Duke's win.
The game itself was exciting throughout. The biggest lead by either team was 9, and that was by Duke in the second half.
Michigan State hit 11 of 22 3-point tries and Duke went into halftime up by five in spite of the fact that the Spartans hit 7 of 10 from distance.
Michigan State followed up a streak of 11 straight missed shots with seven made shots in a row, while Duke had a stretch where it made eight in a row in a stretch spanning both halves at one point.
The shot-making was at a high level, and Duke shot 57.1% from the floor, a number that increased to 60.7% in the second half. Duke was 5 of 13 from 3 but 2 of 5 in the second half, and Duke made 16 of 21 free throws as well. Duke also out-rebounded Michigan State, 35-31.
Jeremy Roach made arguably the biggest shot of the game — with Duke clinging to a 1-point lead, Roach hit a 3-pointer as the shot clock ran down to put Duke up by 4 with 1:16 to go.
Banchero led all scorers with 19 points on 8 of 14 shooting, adding seven rebounds, four assists and a block. Mark Williams had 15 points, eight rebounds and five blocks, while Roach had 15 points on 6 of 10 shooting. Wendell Moore Jr. also had 15 points, four assists and two steals, while Trevor Keels had a get-right game with 12 points.
Gabe Brown led Michigan State with 18 points in his final game, going 7 of 11 from the floor and 4 of 6 from 3. Marcus Bingham, Jr. played well against Duke's twin towers, finishing with 16 points, 10 rebound and three blocks. Tyson Walker added 13 points.
Duke will now travel to San Francisco for the West Regional Finals next weekend. The Blue Devils will face the winner of the game between 3-seed Texas Tech and 11-seed Notre Dame.
