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Duke Basketball: Blue Devils’ season ends in the Elite 8 once again

By Kevin Connelly

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 31: (L-R) Zion Williamson #1, Cam Reddish #2 and Tre Jones #3 of the Duke Blue Devils react after their teams 68-67 loss to the Michigan State Spartans in the East Regional game of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Capital One Arena on March 31, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 31: (L-R) Zion Williamson #1, Cam Reddish #2 and Tre Jones #3 of the Duke Blue Devils react after their teams 68-67 loss to the Michigan State Spartans in the East Regional game of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Capital One Arena on March 31, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images) /
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The Duke Basketball team’s season ended in the Elite 8 once again as the Blue Devils fell to the Michigan State Spartans.

The last two Elite 8’s won’t be classics if you’re a Duke fan, but in back to back years the Blue Devils dropped absolute heart breakers to end its season.

Tonight it was a 68-67 loss to the Michigan State Spartans that sent Tom Izzo‘s team to the Final Four and Mike Krzyzewski’s back to Durham.

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There’s many things to point out that went wrong for the Blue Devils tonight.

In the first half, Duke led 30-21 with just over five minutes to go with a chance to create even more separation on Michigan State, but the Spartans closed the half on a 13-0 run to take a four point lead into the break.

After a Zion Williamson made layup with 91 seconds to play, Duke led 66-63.

Williamson did not get a shot for the rest of the game.

Michigan State got a layup to cut the led one one and after a missed shot by R.J. Barrett, Tre Jones and Williamson got lost on a screen that led to a wide open Kenny Goins‘ 3-pointer to give the Spartans a two point lead.

Barrett then settled for an ill-advised and long 3-pointer that was way off, but the rebound went off of Michigan State so Duke would have another chance.

After a Blue Devil timeout, R.J. Barrett got into the lane and caused contact, sending him to the line for two free throws, the worst situation possible for Duke.

Barrett missed the first free throw and intentionally tried to miss the second one, but he made it.

Duke trailed 68-67 with less than six seconds to go, but the biggest issue for Duke was that the Blue Devils only had three team fouls in the half.

After using one of those fouls, Cassius Winston got loose and was able to dribble out the clock with no Blue Devils around him.

As a team, Duke also had 17 turnovers.

In what was his last game as a Blue Devi, Williamson led the way with 24 points and 14 rebounds.

Barrett finished with 21 points, six rebounds, and six assists.

Javin DeLaurier played an excellent game, and was the only other Blue Devil in double figures as he finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds.

Returning from his knee injury that kept him out of Friday night’s game against Virginia Tech, Cam Reddish finished with eight points and four rebounds.

Tre Jones had four points, four rebounds, and five assists.

Cassius Winston led the way for Michigan State with 20 points and 10 assists, while Xavier Tillman had 19 points and nine rebounds.

This game marked the last game in a Duke uniform for Zion Williamson, R.J. Barrett, Cam Reddish, Antonio Vrankovic, Brennan Besser, and possibly Tre Jones.

Duke ends the season with an ACC Tournament Championship and a record of 32-6.

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