Michigan State basketball falls short to Coach K, Duke, 85-76, in NCAA tournament

GREENVILLE, S.C. — Michigan State basketball put Mike Krzyzewski on the brink of retirement.

Instead, Duke found one final flourish to keep their coach’s career alive.

The seventh-seeded Spartans rallied to build a five-point lead with 5-plus minutes to play, but the No. 2 seed Blue Devils put together 15-4 run, including eight straight points, to advance to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament West region with an 85-76 win Sunday at Bon Secours Wellness Arena.

"A lot of mixed emotions," said senior center Marcus Bingham Jr., who went out with 16 points, 10 rebounds, three blocks and two steals in what potentially is his last game at MSU. "I want to be proud, but at the same time, mad that we're not playing another night. I think the guys went out there and played hard from the first half into the second half. We fought. Just some situations, we just didn't pull through."

MSU ended its 23-13 roller coaster season with a valiant and well-rounded performance, fighting into the final frantic minutes that revived memories of the Spartans’ upset of Duke to advance to the 2019 Final Four – but with the Blue Devils coming out on top.

"It told me a lot about our team and our program," MSU coach Tom Izzo said. "Our program is right where it needs to be. Now, we've got to take another step. ...

"So it was a tough locker room. Last year, it was different. That doesn't mean anything bad. It's just this year, we did everything we could do except maybe guard a little better at the end, take a little better shots a couple times. But we'll learn from it, we'll get better from it."

A 3-pointer by Duke’s Trevor Keels tied the game with 3:22 to play, but A.J. Hoggard drove into traffic and gave the Spartans back a 74-72 lead with 2:50 left.

After a Keels free throw, Blue Devils star Paolo Banchero converted a layup that put them back up 75-74 with a little more than two minutes to play.

With 1:15 remaining, Jeremy Roach swished a 3-pointer. Then Wendell Moore Jr. intercepted Max Christie’s sideline pass, got fouled and made it 80-74 with 59.4 seconds remaining.

Tyson Walker, who scored all 13 of his points in the second half, penetrated for a layup with 40.2 seconds to go. But Duke’s Mark Williams, Moore and Keels went 5-for-6 at the free throw line from there to keep Krzyzewski’s career alive for at least another weekend. He previously announced he will retire after the season, his 47th overall and 42nd with the Blue Devils (30-6).

"After (MSU took the lead), it was just, 'Let's get a stop, let's score again,'" Walker said. "Just wanted to build on the lead, but we couldn't. (The Blue Devils) made some tough plays. They played well, they ran their stuff well. We let them get to their spots, and that's what hurt us the last four minutes."

In what likely is their final games with the Spartans, seniors Bingham and Gabe Brown combined for 34 points, with Brown scoring 18 (including four 3-pointers). Walker added five assists, while Christie had nine points.

"I put everything I had into being here, playing at Michigan State, everything I put into it for coach Izzo, my teammates, for the staff, for everybody," Brown said. "I'm sad that I can't play another night, but it's motivation. It's motivation for sure for next year."

Five Duke players reached double figures, led by potential lottery pick Banchero’s 19 points with seven rebounds. Williams had 15 points and eight rebounds, and Moore and Roach both scored 15.

The win was Krzyzewski’s 1,200th, the most in college basketball history. Tom Izzo is 3-13 against Krzyzewski, while MSU is 4-14 against the Blue Devils all-time.

"I don't look at records against coaches. Tom Izzo is one of the great coaches, Hall of Fame coach and a great friend," Krzyzewski said. "I'm not going to put that up on my wall, like a record. But the 1,200 wins is substantial. Obviously, it's a lot of wins. But it's a lot of wins against quality competition, and that's what I'm most proud of. ... Today was a good example of it."

Duke outscored the Spartans, 20-6, over the final 4:55 and finished with a 44-28 scoring advantage in the paint, predominantly on dribble-drive penetration. MSU committed just seven turnovers, its fourth straight game with single-digit turnovers.

The Spartans turned in a blow-for-blow start, and a Hauser 3-pointer to open a five-point lead in the first three-plus minutes.

Slowly, Duke began chipping away at it, even with Brown burying another 3-pointer and Christie’s putback keeping MSU in front, 16-13.

After that, the Spartans’ shooting disappeared. They went 5:58 without a basket, missing 11 straight. Williams went to work during the Blue Devils’ 10-0 run that put them in front by seven.

MSU’s season-long streakiness continued, with the switch flipping to hot shooting over the next 5:49. The Spartans hit seven shots in a row, including five straight possessions with 3-pointers. Banchero answered almost every one with a 3 of his own, but Brown’s third 3 in a row with 1:37 left in the half pulled MSU back into a 33-all tie.

"We just kept chipping away," Brown said. "My teammates happened to find me, and I happened to knock down shots."

But the Spartans suffered two defensive breakdowns late, allowing Williams to get free for a pair of dunks in the final 49 seconds that sent the Blue Devils into the locker room leading 39-35.

Brown went 4-for-4 from 3-point range and had 14 points, while Bingham had seven points and three boards at halftime. Williams scored 12 points on 6-for-7 shooting for Duke, while Banchero had 10 points and three assists but also committed three turnovers.

Everything was fairly even in the half, with the Blue Devils shooting 53.6% but MSU countering that by going 7-for-10 from 3-point range. Williams’ late Williams gave Duke a 14-10 edge in paint scoring, and the Spartans only trailed 16-14 on the boards but had a 5-4 edge in offensive rebounds.

The Blue Devils came out of halftime and scored the first five points, but Izzo did not call a timeout and MSU didn’t flinch.

Bingham tipped in a Christie miss, then the freshman heated up for the first time since the Big Ten tournament opener against Maryland. He hit a 3-pointer after a Hauser offensive rebound and kickout to the right corner. Then Christie got a long defensive board and sent it ahead to Brown for a breakaway dunk. On MSU’s next possession coming out of a media timeout, Walker hit a cutting Christie along the baseline for another dunk, turning a a nine-point hole to 48-44 with 15:16 left.

It was MSU’s turn to chip away as Walker came to life. He scored eight straight Spartan points, but Duke still led by five. Then Bingham drained a 3-pointer, followed a Hoggard miss with a putback dunk and got a blocked shot that fell into Hauser’s hands. Hauser sent a long pass ahead to Brown for another transition dunk. Just like that, MSU trailed by a basket.

It became Hoggard’s turn for a run, with a layup through a pair of Blue Devils, then drawing more contact on a drive and hitting free throws to tie it 65-all with 6:09 to play and set up another classic finish between the two blueblood programs.

"I felt like they gave me just about everything they could," Izzo said. "We made some mistakes. Basketball is a game of mistakes. But I never thought they gave up, gave in, or didn't believe we could win, and that was a good sign."

Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari. Read more on the Michigan State Spartans and sign up for our Spartans newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State basketball falls to Duke, 85-76, in NCAA tournament