In what was slated as a long-awaited battle between two top-college basketball programs, Duke marched into Breslin Center on Wednesday night and embarrassed MSU in front of an ESPN audience.
Turnovers plagued the Spartans all evening, preventing them from establishing any momentum on offense. The Blue Devils took advantage of 20 MSU turnovers en route to a 72-50 shellacking.
"That was a disgusting display of basketball," said MSU head coach Tom Izzo, who hid his anger underneath a visible scowl behind the microphone. "We played scared. I couldn't believe the first 10 minutes of that game.
"I don't think I've been more disappointed in my nine years here in a team's performance.
Nearly every attempt to guide the ball down low ended with Duke poking it away. Duke finished the game with 16 steals.
Not one Spartan finished the game with double-digit points. Junior guards Chris Hill and Kelvin Torbert each had eight points while sophomore center Paul Davis and senior guard Rashi Johnson added seven each.
"We can see how far we are off from where we want to be," Hill said. "We didn't think we were that far off."
Forward Shelden Williams paced the Blue Devils with 16 points, eight rebounds and five blocked shots. Guard J.J. Redick added 13 while freshman sensation Luol Deng had six points, six boards and five steals.
"I'm sure Michigan State didn't play their best tonight," Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "We feel fortunate. We would have been ecstatic over a one-point win."
The game ultimately was decided in a 5:25 span in the first half. After sophomore guard Maurice Ager knotted the score at 13 with an aggressive offensive rebound put-back, the Blue Devils caught fire.
Duke scored nine straight points capped off by a Redick triple. After a freshman guard Shannon Brown pull-up jumper seemingly ended the bleeding, Duke widened the wound with 11 straight points.
"I think they saw weakness and they went after the weakness," Izzo said.
The Spartans committed 17 first-half turnovers, allowing Duke to take a 38-24 halftime lead.
"We just threw the ball away, threw the ball away, threw the ball away," Izzo said.
Despite their poor ball control, the Spartans were able to stay in the game early with tough perimeter defense and an opportunistic offense.
But then the Blue Devils went on the 20-2 run. Their outside shooting heated up and their dribble penetration created easy buckets.
Meanwhile, MSU couldn't build any momentum on offense. MSU's passes were repeatedly tipped or intercepted and the Blue Devils stifled its penetration by stripping the ball multiple times.
This was the first matchup between the two college basketball titans since Duke beat MSU, 68-62, in the 1999 Final Four. The Spartans loss was their first in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, dropping them to 3-1 in the conference battle. Duke remains undefeated.
The Spartans pair up with No. 14 Oklahoma (4-0) on Saturday at the Palace of Auburn Hills.
"We got to fix this quick," Torbert said. "Because we got another big-time top-10 team coming up here."
