First thoughts after Duke’s win in the national semi-final.
By PAUL GOTHAM
When it changed
In 1:38, Duke turned a two-point edge into a nine-point advantage. Amile Jefferson converted one of two from the free throw, Quinn Cook converted a turnover into a 3-pointer. Tyus Jones went the length of the floor for a layup, and Marshall Plumlee hit a free throw. Duke led 29-20 with 4:05 to go in the half. Ninety seconds later, Duke pushed the lead to double digits, and the Spartans never made it single-digit game again.
A winning correlation
During the first half, Duke limited Michigan State to eight field goals on 27 attempts while causing seven turnovers. The Blue Devils caused 14 ballhandling miscues for the game while allowing 22 field goals. Michigan State entered the game handing out assists on 64 percent of their made baskets. The Spartans collected 10 dimes Saturday night.
They said it
Duke
Coach K: “Yeah, a little bit more of a reaction to what was there for us. I think they came into the game taking away our threes. They did a good job of it. But it opened up some driving lanes. Once we started driving, you know, we put them in some foul trouble because we were trying to drive every time. We got a few steals where they fouled us in transition, which got us into the bonus earlier. But it changed. We didn’t come into the game thinking we would drive that much. But we came into the game thinking we could drive. It just worked out that way.”
Quinn Cook: “I mean, yeah, just make reads. We have a lot of weapons beyond the arc, so guys were staying home. We saw seams we could take advantage of. Coach gives us the freedom to make the right read at the right time. Guys played confidently out there.”
Justise Winslow: “We knew how we started the last half against Gonzaga. We came out with a lot of energy. We just wanted to execute and get some buckets. The offensive end took care of itself. But we always say it’s the defensive end. We play with a lot of energy and compete on that end of the floor, the game comes so much easier for us.”
Michigan State
Tom Izzo: I think it’s just a drive and get fouled. You know, you’re not allowed to touch anybody anymore. I was here when we had smash mouth basketball. I totally agree. I don’t think that’s the right way to do it. But I also don’t think — I don’t think anybody wants to see the best players on the bench. I mean, I don’t blame the officials. I blame me. I’m on the board. It’s not as much fun to coach when you’re constantly telling guys, Don’t touch ’em, don’t move. We had some fouls we deserved, but there were to me probably some right calls, but bizarre.”
Tom Izzo: “This whole game came down to two things in that first half, we took a couple bad shots, those were like turnovers. We didn’t do as good a job in our transition D and we got in foul trouble and we had different lineups in there. The foul trouble, I got to do a better job of coaching. It’s the way it’s going to be called. I got to do a better job of recruiting because I’m just going to get guys that can drive. That’s the way the game has changed. I give Winslow credit. But he’s five for seven. It’s the free throws that killed us.”
Travis Trice: “They were denying us on the wings, kind of turning us down. Any time they had an opportunity, they switched. That’s what made it rough for us to get it on the wings.”
Travis Trice: “Our main problem in the first half was we were starting our offense out too far. Most of that was my fault. It was kind of getting us out of our rhythm. It forced us into bad shots because we were so late in the shot clock, we’re 40, 50 feet from the rim. We got pushed out too far. We should have started our offense in closer.”
Beyond the box score
Jahlil Okafor scored 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting with zero assists. Zero. Zero? That number suggests the Duke freshman center did little passing, but it was anything but that. Surrounded by double and triple teams, Okafor frequently kicked the ball out of the post to teammates who took advantage off the dribble.
4-of-4 and 3-of-16
Michigan State opened the game connecting on their first four attempts behind the arc (Denzel Valentine hit three of those treys) and opened a 14-6 lead less than four minutes into the game. The Spartans connected on just three of 16 for the remainder of the game. When asked at halftime about the adjustment, Duke assistant coach Jeff Capel noted the Blue Devils’ defense doing a better job of finding shooters coming off screens. MSU stayed true to their numbers. The Spartans average 19.5 long range attempts per game. Worth noting, the Spartans average 18 free throw attempts per game. They took 16 in the loss.
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