A brief history of Duke basketball’s recent dominance over Michigan State
The three Duke basketball games against Michigan State from 2017 to 2019
2017 – The third installment of Duke versus Michigan State in the Champions Classic ended with yet another Blue Devil victory. This was the only matchup where both teams were ranked in the top two (Duke at No. 1, MSU at No. 2). The Spartans had an impressive roster, which included Jaren Jackson Jr., Miles Bridges, Cassius Winston, and big man Nick Ward.
But the Blue Devils had the No. 1 recruiting class, highlighted by Marvin Bagley III, Wendell Carter Jr., and Gary Trent Jr. Duke also returned Grayson Allen for his senior year. Bagley went down with an eye injury early in the game and never returned. Despite that, the Blue Devils pulled away late behind Allen’s 37 points to beat MSU, 88-81.
2019 – 2020 has been a crazy year, but in one respect, 2019 was even crazier because it was the only time that Michigan State beat Duke across the past decade. Duke fell to MSU, 68-67, in the Elite Eight, and it was one of the more surprising upsets in recent memory given that the Blue Devils were the heavy favorites to win the national title.
Duke and its highly talented roster, featuring Zion Williamson, RJ Barrett, Cam Reddish, and Tre Jones, fell just short to a scrappy, hard-nosed Spartan squad. Cassius Winston had 20 points and 10 assists while redshirt senior Kenny Goins hit a late go-ahead 3-pointer to ultimately win it.
2019 – While both teams looked very different, the Blue Devils got their shot at revenge in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge. The Blue Devils traveled to East Lansing and pulled out a convincing victory in a tough road environment.
Duke played that game without its third-leading scorer in Cassius Stanley. The Blue Devils cruised to a 12-point win behind a 26-point, 11-rebound performance from Vernon Carey Jr. Tre Jones also had a big game with 20 points, 12 assists, and three steals. It was arguably Duke’s most impressive win of the 2019-20 season.
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