No. 9 Duke edged No. 18 Michigan State 74-65 in the Champions Classic on Tuesday night, bouncing back from a home loss Friday against Arizona to pick up a quality victory against a team expected to compete for the Big Ten title. The Spartans fell to 1-2 as they struggled to overcome a poor shooting start, despite a huge second half from Tyson Walker, who scored 18 of his game-high 22 points after halftime.
Freshman guard Caleb Foster led Duke off the bench, scoring 16 of 18 his points in the second half as he provided a major lift with his outside shooting. Aside from Foster, who was 4 of 5 from beyond the arc, the rest of the Blue Devils combined to shoot just 2 of 16 from 3-point range. But with a 24-7 edge in free throws, Duke overcame its uninspired outside shooting and 11-1 deficit in fast break points. Kyle Filipowski added 15 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two blocks for the Blue Devils.
The Spartans cut their deficit to 55-52 on a Malik Hall bucket with 6:07 remaining, but Filipowski followed up with a 3-point play 17 seconds later. When Hall cut the deficit to 62-56 with 3:34 remaining, Foster answered with a pair of 3-pointers to help build Duke's lead back to double-digits with under two minutes remaining.
Mark Mitchell added 13 points for the Blue Devils as he shot a perfect 9 of 9 from the free-throw line.
- Duke improved to 15-4 all-time against Michigan State.
- The Blue Devils outscored the Spartans 24-7 at the free-throw line.
- Michigan State is 1-2 for the first time since 2016.
- The Spartans shot only 29% from the floor in the first half.