There are no moral victories

There are wins and losses. This was a loss.

The sad thing is this very easily could have been an 8-10 point MSU win. No really. Hit some free throws, stop the careless turnovers (over and back with no pressure?!) and don't play Nix. Duke scored about 10 points off Nix alone, and missed scoring about 10 more (he cannot seem to get back to his man on high screens, Duke failed to find wide open players multiple times).

There were a couple of subtle, but VERY important* differences in this game. First, Lucious -- for the most part -- slowed his brain down a little. He only picked up his dribble once that I remember. He only forced a couple of passes to covered players. He finished VERY strong. Korie did all that as the primary ball handler; I would guess K.Lucious played the point at a 2:1 ratio to Lucas.

Second, and finally, this team decided to play to their strength. In the past, pressure defense against the ball handler (and wings trying to run half court sets) was a disaster. Last night Tom Izzo either turned his head or, more likely, gave an explicit green light to make overplaying defenders pay the price. Repeatedly Lucas, Green and most notably Lucious isolated and blew by their defender. I would venture it lead to 15-20 of MSU points. It also backed the defense off some and lead to dukie defensive breakdowns and, ultimately, clean msu looks for long jumpshots.

This is big. This is really big. It adds a wrinkle to the MSU offense that will keep man to man teams at bay (and should open up the half court sets more), and also plays to the MSU strengths with mismatches for Green and Lucas. Zones are a little bit different, but again, you attack a zone at seams by driving and finishing or kicking. Driving, under control and strong, is a good thing to see.

Nix is a disaster. I don't even know where to start. Payne looks like a newborn giraffe with the ball in the open floor. I'm a little concerned about Lucas' new "euro-step" layup, aka traveling. So far it has worked. I just hope it doesn't finally get called at a big moment this season.

I agree with J.Rexrode (LSJ) that Appling could be the difference should these teams meet again this year. He is very, very talented and can also put the ball on the floor. Sherman** was solid most of the game. Roe was mostly a non factor on offense but, along with Thornton, got screwed out of a few free throws on no calls. Roe played well enough and defended well. As a whole the team rebounded great. Duke was, for the most part, one and done. The problems came when Duke's "one" was a made shot, especially the 3's halfway through the second half.

All in all, I wasn't upset. Although it was sloppy and there were still far too many turnovers, when I would look down at the score, we were usually within 4 points. I can't be too upset with that against the supposed "head and shoulders" #1 team in the country at home.

* Important in my mind, which means it is likely not important.
** Pretty solid finishes around the rim. Missed a dime from Green late. Still no break on those hands. He can't catch a pass. Almost all his points came off the bounce, not the pass.