After entering the season as top-5 teams, Duke and Michigan State square off in the Big Ten-ACC Challenge searching for a marquee victory.
This has been a wide open college basketball season, and that is very evident in the plight of two of the nation’s top teams in the preseason polls. Both Michigan State and Duke entered the year inside the top 5 of the AP’s preseason polls, and each program has had its fair share of struggles to start the season.
The Blue Devils raced off to a 6-0 start, but there were signs of difficulty there, including an escape against Kansas at Madison Square Garden thanks to 28 Jayhawks’ turnovers and a tight win over Georgetown in the 2K Empire Classic. The roof caved in last week at Cameron Indoor, with Duke suffering an extremely rare home non-conference loss to Stephen F. Austin, causing the Blue Devils to drop all the way to 10th in this week’s poll.
The Spartans entered the season as the nation’s top team, but were dealt an early blow with the loss of Joshua Langford to injury. Langford’s absence has been massive for Michigan State, which has struggled to generate offense outside of Cassius Winston at times, including last week in Maui when they got upset by Virginia Tech, a stunning loss to a team that was ranked second-to-last in the ACC’s preseason poll.
Even though Michigan State won its final two games in Maui, the Spartans fell out of the top 10 entirely, making this showdown between the teams in the Big Ten-ACC Challenge massive for both sides. The contest has big stakes for both teams and is also a revenge game for the Blue Devils, who saw the Zion Williamson era come to an end at the hands of the Spartans in the Elite Eight back in March.
One thing that could hurt Duke in this game is the absence of guard Cassius Stanley, who is out indefinitely after injuring his leg in a win over Winthrop on Friday. With Stanley out Matthew Hurt and Vernon Carey will need to assume even more of the scoring load for the Blue Devils than they already do.
How to watch Duke vs. Michigan State
- Date: Tuesday, Dec. 3
- Time: 9:30 p.m. ET
- Location: East Lansing, MI
- Venue: Breslin Center
- TV: ESPN
- Live Stream: WatchESPN
- Odds: Michigan State -6 (The Action Network)
- Prediction: Michigan State