As Michigan State men’s basketball continued to extend their lead over the No. 6 Blue Devils Tuesday evening, sophomore forward Julius Marble made a rush on transition. 

Turning towards the basket, he looked back to find junior forward Aaron Henry just behind him - Marble called for the ball, Henry bounced a pass right to him, he found it and launched himself up to slam it in over Duke’s Matthew Hurt.

“Honestly, I didn’t think he was going to pass it to me at first because I was a little too close,” Marble said, grinning as he reflected back on the moment that was not planned, but will be remembered by Spartan fans this season and beyond. “I didn’t think I got high enough at first but I said, ‘alright I got to go up and go for it’ and so I went and did it. And it felt really good because we’re at Duke and kind of hate Duke so in order to do that it felt really good.”

Marble put up a career-high 12 points in Tuesday night's 75-69 Spartan victory. He shot a perfect 5-for-5 from the field to go along with a pair of shots from the line to round out his best game in college. 

The sophomore has been timid thus far. He hasn't seen many minutes on the court, averaging just 1.7 points per game and putting in a 2019-20 season-high 11 minutes during a game against Charleston Southern.

But if you asked Izzo, he saw this one coming. 

“... Julius didn’t do it in this game, he’s done it the last two weeks in practice, ... he’s prepared for it,” Izzo said, adding that Marble probably saw this coming too.

The Dallas, Texas native met with Izzo during the past several weeks to talk about his role on the team. Marble was looking for more, as he had made great strides in practice but saw a total of just six minutes combined in the Spartans' two games this season.

“... I felt like if I was making strides I should get a little bit more minutes so I talked to him (Izzo) about it, trying to see what I was doing wrong and what was keeping me off the court," Marble said. "He just said it’s just about managing rotations and giving other guys chances and just telling me to stay ready and that’s what I did today."

And that’s exactly what Izzo told him the night before the Spartans game at Duke: ‘Be ready.’

The Spartans deep roster this season is something the team is still navigating through. Izzo said he's had to talk with his team about how in some games certain guys will be needed while in other games those pivotal players may defer, and tonight was Marble's time.

“... It’s another guy that I’m so proud of because he’s kind of weathered the storm,” Izzo said, citing Marble’s growth after the coaching staff put him on the scout team for extra practice “So, is it a surprise? No, I’ve seen this for two weeks and I just kept saying ‘I got to get Julius in there' and it just wasn’t the right timing.”

“He’s smart, he’s athletic and he’s got the one thing I love, he’s tough … he deserved everything he got, he earned it.”