INDIANAPOLIS — Duke lacked intensity for four minutes, then unleashed its best 36 minutes of the season on Michigan State to stomp the Spartans 81-61 and book a spot in Monday night’s national championship game.
“We keep getting better,” coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “The biggest thing — they’ve become smarter together. They were sensational the last 36 minutes. On this stage. In this game — for them to be like that after getting down 14-6, I’m really proud of them.”
The Blue Devils (34-3) won for the 17th time in their past 18 games and has won their five NCAA Tournament games by an average of 18.6 points. Thanks to freshmen, free throws and suffocating defense, Duke punched its first winning ticket at the Final Four since 2010, and will take on Wisconsin, a 71-64 winner over Kentucky in the nightcap.
“They’re still freshmen, they’ve played 38 games,” Krzyzewski said. “The four of them have played 38 games. Our upper class has been really good with them, they don’t treat them like freshmen. They’re so close.”
Duke’s four freshmen combined for 55 points, led by forward Justise Winslow’s 19 points and center Jahlil Okafor’s 18. Duke was 27 of 37 from the foul line as Duke dominated Michigan State for most of the final 35 minutes.
“It’s the free throws that killed us,” Izzo said. “I wouldn’t change our game plan. We did what we wanted to do.”
Izzo said turnovers (14) and fouls drowned the Spartans. He said the team’s plan was focused on holding Okafor under 20 points, but foul trouble was the variable. Izzo said there were several “bizarre” calls and went as far as to say he will have to recruit different players since it’s now a “drive and get fouled game.”
Michigan State’s shooting swoon in the first half redefined frigid, with 22 misses on 26 shots during one stretch.
Junior guard Denzel Valentine, who led Michigan State with 22 points and 11 rebounds with five 3-pointers, caught fire late in the second half with two 3s from the right wing after his layup on a personal 8-0 run, but the Spartans botched a three-on-one break that ended with Okafor dropping in an easy bucket from point-blank range to keep the Duke margin at 16 points with 5:20 left.
“Coach always stresses, great defense leads to great offense,” said Duke senior guard Quinn Cook, who had 17 points. “We were just being aggressive.”
The Spartans were overwhelmed in man-to-man matchups across the board, which led to 28 Michigan State fouls. That made life easy on Duke and prevented the Spartans (27-12) from whittling the Blue Devils’ lead below double digits for most of the second half.
“We got beat,” Izzo said. “I feel bad because I don’t think people got to see the team that won 12 of the last 15 games.”
Every Michigan State surge was easily answered.
“They capitalized on our mistakes,” Spartans guard Travis Trice said. “Anytime we made one, they made us pay for it.”
The Spartans temporarily avoided the white towel to start the second half, stifling Duke on three consecutive possessions while Trice put up five in a row and then found Valentine for a double-clutch right-handed layup to slice a 20-point deficit to a 54-41 margin with 11:30 to go.
Trice and Valentine finished with 38 of Michigan State’s 61 points. It was a tough night for senior forward Branden Dawson, who had five turnovers and five field goals while wading through the Duke interior with difficulty.
Duke led 36-25 at halftime, making the most of its dominant paint presence at both ends of the court, and 12 points from the foul line.
Duke fell behind 14-6 as the Spartans made four 3-point field goals in the opening 3:47, but Michigan State couldn’t get the ball inside and the Blue Devils’ freshmen settled down, isolating Okafor on the left block for much of a 30-11 run to end the half.
Okafor had 10 points in the first half. He didn’t touch the ball in the first four minutes but starred in the closing stretch, with an emphatic putback of Winslow’s missed layup with 9:49 on the clock, followed by points from seven different teammates.
Valentine scored nine of the first 14 points for Michigan State.
“We’ve got to tip our hat to Duke; they were the better team today,” Valentine said.