Adam Zagoria covers basketball at all levels. He is the author of two books and an award-winning journalist whose articles have appeared in ESPN The Magazine, SLAM, Sheridan Hoops, Sports Illustrated, Basketball Times and in newspapers nationwide.
Duke Rolls Into NCAA Championship Game As Freshmen Prove Too Much for Michigan State’s Upperclassmen
INDIANAPOLIS — Duke’s cadre of one-and-done freshmen proved too much for Michigan State’s core of upperclassmen and the Blue Devils rolled into Monday night’s NCAA championship game.
Freshmen Jahlil Okafor, Justise Winslow and Tyus Jones combined for 46 points, 17 rebounds, 6 steals and 6 assists as the Devils overcame a slow start in the early minutes to whip Michigan State, 81-61, in the national semifinals at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Duke (34-4) will play for its fifth national title under head coach Mike Krzyzewski against the Kentucky/Wisconsin winner here on Monday.
“Well, we beat a heck of a team, a championship team, championship program in Tom’s program,” Coach K said. “Our guys knew how difficult a game it was going to be.”
The victory marked career win No. 1,017 for Coach K. He also improved to 9-1 against Michigan State coach Tom Izzo, including 2-0 in the Final Four.
“We got our butts beat. I still say most of it was our fault,” Izzo said. “They didn’t turn the ball over, the officials or the rules. They didn’t take bad shots. That was us. We did. As proud as I am of my team, I’m disappointed about that.
The 6-foot-11 Okafor, a projected top-2 pick in the NBA Draft, overpowered Michigan State in the paint, finishing with 18 points, 6 rebounds and 2 blocks.
Winslow played well in transition and the half court and added 19 points and 9 boards, and the calm and collected Jones controlled Duke’s offense with 9 points and 4 assists. Senior guard Quinn Cook tallied 17 points and freshman two guard Grayson Allen chipped in with 9 points and 5 rebounds.
“Since we’ve been on campus, coach never treated us as freshmen…and I think that’s why we’ve been playing so well lately,” Winslow said.
“I love Okafor and Winslow, but my favorite player on that team is Cook,” Izzo said.
Duke shot 27-of-37 from the line, while the Spartans made 10-of-16.
“It’s the free throws that killed us,” Izzo said.
Michigan State (27-12), which won the East Region as a No. 7 seed and was the only non-No. 1 seed to advance to the Final Four, simply didn’t bring enough offense to compete in the biggest game of their surprising season.
The Spartans raced out to a quick 14-6 lead behind nine of junior guard Denzel Valentine’s game-high 22 points, but it was all downhill after that. Valentine added 11 rebounds for the game.
Duke closed the half on a 30-11 run to take the half 36-25. Okafor had 10 points at the break and all eight of Duke’s rotation players had scored.
Michigan State, meantime, got 21 of their 25 points from Valentine, Branden Dawson and Travis Trice. Trice finished the game with 16 points, and Dawsen added 12 and 7 rebounds.
“I got hot and they started denying a little bit,” Valentine said. “They started forcing us to take some bad shots and the next thing you know they had a lead.”
Duke opened the second half on an 18-9 spurt, going up by 20, 54-34, on a pair of foul shots byCook.
“The last 36 minutes we played great basketball, that’s the best we’ve played in the tournament,” Krzyzewski said.
It was never closer than 13 points in the second half.
“We got to tip our hat off to Duke, they were the better team today,” Valentine said.
Photo: USA Today Sports
Adam Zagoria is a Basketball Insider who covers basketball at all levels. A contributor to The New York Times and SportsNet New York (SNY), he is also the author of two books and is an award-winning journalist and filmmaker. His articles have appeared in ESPN The Magazine, SLAM, Sheridan Hoops, Basketball Times and in newspapers nationwide. He also won an Emmy award for his work on the SNY mini-documentary on Syracuse guard Tyus Battle.
A veteran Ultimate Frisbee player, he has competed in numerous National and World Championships and, perhaps more importantly, his teams won the Westchester Summer League (WSL) championships in 2011 and 2013.
He lives in Manhattan with his wife and children.
INDIANAPOLIS — Duke’s cadre of one-and-done freshmen proved too much for Michigan State’s core of upperclassmen and the Blue Devils rolled into Monday night’s NCAA championship game.
Freshmen Jahlil Okafor, Justise Winslow and Tyus Jones combined for 46 points, 17 rebounds, 6 steals and 6 assists as the Devils overcame a slow start in the early minutes to whip Michigan State, 81-61, in the national semifinals at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Duke (34-4) will play for its fifth national title under head coach Mike Krzyzewski against the Kentucky/Wisconsin winner here on Monday.
“Well, we beat a heck of a team, a championship team, championship program in Tom’s program,” Coach K said. “Our guys knew how difficult a game it was going to be.”
The victory marked career win No. 1,017 for Coach K. He also improved to 9-1 against Michigan State coach Tom Izzo, including 2-0 in the Final Four.
“We got our butts beat. I still say most of it was our fault,” Izzo said. “They didn’t turn the ball over, the officials or the rules. They didn’t take bad shots. That was us. We did. As proud as I am of my team, I’m disappointed about that.
The 6-foot-11 Okafor, a projected top-2 pick in the NBA Draft, overpowered Michigan State in the paint, finishing with 18 points, 6 rebounds and 2 blocks.
Winslow played well in transition and the half court and added 19 points and 9 boards, and the calm and collected Jones controlled Duke’s offense with 9 points and 4 assists. Senior guard Quinn Cook tallied 17 points and freshman two guard Grayson Allen chipped in with 9 points and 5 rebounds.
“Since we’ve been on campus, coach never treated us as freshmen…and I think that’s why we’ve been playing so well lately,” Winslow said.
“I love Okafor and Winslow, but my favorite player on that team is Cook,” Izzo said.
Duke shot 27-of-37 from the line, while the Spartans made 10-of-16.
“It’s the free throws that killed us,” Izzo said.
Michigan State (27-12), which won the East Region as a No. 7 seed and was the only non-No. 1 seed to advance to the Final Four, simply didn’t bring enough offense to compete in the biggest game of their surprising season.
The Spartans raced out to a quick 14-6 lead behind nine of junior guard Denzel Valentine’s game-high 22 points, but it was all downhill after that. Valentine added 11 rebounds for the game.
Duke closed the half on a 30-11 run to take the half 36-25. Okafor had 10 points at the break and all eight of Duke’s rotation players had scored.
Michigan State, meantime, got 21 of their 25 points from Valentine, Branden Dawson and Travis Trice. Trice finished the game with 16 points, and Dawsen added 12 and 7 rebounds.
“I got hot and they started denying a little bit,” Valentine said. “They started forcing us to take some bad shots and the next thing you know they had a lead.”
Duke opened the second half on an 18-9 spurt, going up by 20, 54-34, on a pair of foul shots by Cook.
“The last 36 minutes we played great basketball, that’s the best we’ve played in the tournament,” Krzyzewski said.
It was never closer than 13 points in the second half.
“We got to tip our hat off to Duke, they were the better team today,” Valentine said.
Photo: USA Today Sports
