Losing to Duke is something that wasn’t even considered before the season began. Hosting the Blue Devils in the annual Big Ten/ACC Challenge was a prime opportunity for the Spartans to take down a lesser Duke team and improve a tournament resume early in the season.
However, the Blue Devils played like a team possessed. They jumped out to an early lead and never looked back. The Spartans made a push early in the second half, but couldn’t pull any closer than eight points.
Michigan State dropped its third game of the season and now heads into a Big Ten opener against Rutgers with a sense of urgency.