Duke Basketball Suffers First Loss of Season at Hands of No. 5 Michigan State

The Duke Blue Devils faced their first test of the young season on Tuesday night in Chicago, facing off against No. 5 Michigan State in the Champions Classic. And the Blue Devils really struggled with that first test. 

Duke never led in the game and found themselves trailing by double digits at points in the first and second half of this game before eventually falling to the Spartans 79-73. The loss drops Duke to 2-1 on the early season. 

Michigan State jumped out to the early lead with some hot shooting and good defense against the Blue Devils. Their defense was giving Duke some fits throughout the game, especially on the perimeter. But they were also able to manage Duke's size as well in the post. 

As Michigan State built a 14-point lead, they never really looked back. 

Duke shot just 33 percent from the field, and it wasn't often they got great looks in this game, either. Michigan State made it a priority to get a hand up and force some tough shots for the Blue Devils. As a team, the Spartans shot 45 percent from the field as well as 35 percent from the three-point line. 

With Michigan State leading 34-25 at halftime, they looked in control. But it felt like a big Duke run was coming at some point. It never did.

Any time Duke would go on a small run to cut into the lead, the Spartans answered right back. Being able to hold a double-digit lead for most of the game proved that the Spartans controlled the flow and had an answer when they needed to. 

That effort was led by guard Jeremy Fears Jr., a local to the Chicago area, scoring 18 points and dishing out 11 assists for the double-double. Meanwhile, most of Duke's guards struggled in this one. Outside of John Blackwell, who had 17 points, Duke got just six points from both Dame Sarr and Cayden Boozer. 

Deron Rippey Jr. had just two points, while Caleb Foster had nine but was 2-of-10 overall from the field. 

There could be a positive with this loss, however. It's still VERY early in the season and Michigan State is a very good team, so this can be a learning point for this Blue Devils' team. With the schedule featuring Illinois, UConn, and Florida over the next five games, it will be up to Duke to answer back. 

Duke now returns home to host SIU Edwardsville on Friday night.