No. 4 Duke hangs on to beat No. 7 Michigan State, remains undefeated after winning third straight ranked matchup
- - No. 4 Duke hangs on to beat No. 7 Michigan State, remains undefeated after winning third straight ranked matchup
Andy Backstrom December 7, 2025 at 4:49 AM
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Duke's Cameron Boozer tries to drive around Michigan State's Carson Cooper during the game on Saturday. (Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) (Gregory Shamus via Getty Images)
Missed free throws shot No. 4 Duke in the foot Saturday at the Breslin Center. Made free throws carried the Blue Devils to a 66-60 victory in a battle of early-season undefeated blue bloods.
A late closeout from No. 7 Michigan State (8-1) rewarded Duke's Isaiah Evans with three attempts from the charity stripe. He knocked down each of them, giving the Blue Devils (10-0) a five-point lead with 58 seconds to go.
Michigan State center Carson Cooper, who finished with a team-high 16 points and 16 rebounds, responded with a basket on the other end.
But then budding Duke star Cameron Boozer passed out of a double-team in the post, finding Caleb Foster beyond the arc. The junior guard fired from long range and watched as the ball bounced off the rim and kissed off the glass before falling through the net.
🗡️🗡️🗡️🗡️🗡️ @iamcalebfoster pic.twitter.com/L1p4NrSel1
— Duke Men’s Basketball (@DukeMBB) December 6, 2025
Boozer wound up fouling out, except it didn't cost the freshman. He clocked out with 18 points — 16 of which came in the second half — to go with 15 rebounds and 5 assists.
The Blue Devils have now taken down four ranked opponents this season, including three in a row in a nine-day stretch that began on Thanksgiving. Their résumé includes victories over a No. 24 Kansas team, a No. 22 Arkansas squad and a No. 15 Florida group in addition to Saturday's triumph over the seventh-ranked Spartans.
[Get more Blue Devils men's hoops news: Duke team feed]
Duke survived seven missed second-half free throws. The Blue Devils went 12 of 19 from the line over the final 20 minutes of play after making 3-of-4 attempts in the opening frame.
Neither team shot better than 38% from the floor or led by more than six points. Michigan State, which came in with three ranked victories of its own and came out of halftime with a 34-31 advantage, sank just two of its last 10 field goal attempts. Navigating foul trouble, Duke switched to a 3-2 zone defense that riddled the Spartans down the stretch.
In large part because of Jaxon Kohler's four first-half triples, Michigan State went into intermission shooting 6 of 13 from 3-point land. But the Spartans converted only a pair of 3s in the second period. Jeremy Fears Jr., a redshirt sophomore guard who entered second on the team in scoring and first nationally with 9.4 assists per game, missed all 10 of his field goal attempts. He made six free throws and stacked 13 assists.
Fears' shooting struggles were on full display late. He missed a runner with 1:21 remaining and the Spartans trailing 57-55. He also was off the mark after going the distance to the cup following a Duke free throw in the game's waning seconds. He even missed an open layup at the buzzer.
Boozer picked up his fourth foul with 7:48 left. He managed to stay in the game when it mattered most, making the right reads in traffic and delivering a pair of clutch free throws to break a 55-55 tie with a bit more than a minute and a half to go.
His Blue Devils are consistently winning tournament-type games long before the start of ACC play.
Source: “AOL Sports”
