The Duke Basketball team is 40 minutes away from the Final Four, but the Blue Devils first must defeat the Michigan State Spartans in the Elite 8.
It will be the last Final Four spot up for grabs and it will come down to 40 minutes between the Duke Blue Devils and the Michigan State Spartans.
There are injury questions on both sides, but much more detailed and of a concern on the side of the No. 1 seeded Blue Devils.
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Freshman Cam Reddish did not play in the win over Virginia Tech on Friday night after injuring his knee in practice on Thursday.
Coach K said that Reddish would be a game-time decision on Sunday and labeled the injury as “jumper’s knee” or “tendinitis”.
It was a surprise to many that junior Jack White did play on Friday after being listed as doubtful with a hamstring injury, but White tried to give it a go in the first half, but only played three minutes and did not return to the game.
Duke was led by Zion Williamson, R.J. Barrett, and Tre Jones on Friday night, and if Reddish is unable to play, it will have to be those three again to lead the way for the Blue Devils.
The trio combined for two 63 of Duke’s 75 points against the Hokies, with the only other scoring coming from Javin DeLaurier, Marques Bolden, and Alex O’Connell, who started in place of Reddish.
Michigan State’s Nick Ward has been dealing with a hand injury for the entirety of the post season, but after bruising his hand in the Spartans win over LSU, Ward said he will be fine when game-time comes around on Sunday.
Like Virginia Tech, Michigan State is an excellent shooting team led by an All-American like guard in Cassius Winston.
Winston averages 18.8 points per game and shoots 40.2% from 3-point range.
Duke must be aware of the dynamic shooters of Michigan State in Matt McQuaid and Gabe Brown, who are both over 40% 3-point shooters.
McQuaid struggled against LSU, but it was the freshman Gabe Brown who only averages 2.4 points per game that exploded for 15 points on Friday night.
Recently, Duke has developed a tendency to come off of perimeter shooters in an attempt of clogging the lane, but the Blue Devils cannot do that on Sunday against Michigan State.
With Zion Williamson and either Javin DeLaurier or Marques Bolden down low, the Blue Devils will have plenty of length and space in the paint to alter Michigan State shots at the rim.
Duke must stay connected with the Spartan shooters and that all starts with the elite point guard matchup between Tre Jones and Cassius Winston.
If Jones can win that individual matchup, it will go a long way in deciding who will earn a bid to the Final Four.
On offense it has to be more of the same for Duke.
Yes, Tre Jones had a career game from 3-point territory against Virginia Tech, finishing with 22 points and five 3-pointers, but this Duke team is still at its best when it’s getting to the rim, creating contact, and finishing through that contact.
This will be a war for 40 minutes because all Tom Izzo wants to do is beat his colleague and dear friend Mike Krzyzewski as Coach K is 11-1 in his career against Izzo.
Duke has the superior talent, but that gets thrown out the window in a game like this, it comes down to who wants it more and who will execute better when things get tight down the stretch.
The Blue Devils and Spartans will tip-off in the Elite 8 with a chance to advance to the Final Four at 5:05pm ET from the Capital One Arena in Washington D.C. and the game can be seen on CBS.
PREDICTION: Duke 78, Michigan State 73
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