The Difference Between November and March

There are plenty of reasons Duke lost to Michigan State in last night’s Champions Classic. Duke’s primary offensive engines—John Blackwell and Patrick Ngongba II—combined to shoot 8 for 23 from the field. As a team, the Blue Devils shot below 25% from beyond the arc while missing 11 free throws. Despite being smaller almost across the board, the Spartans out-rebounded the Blue Devils by one. Similarly, Michigan State frustrated Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje to the point that the 7-foot-2 freshman was unable to generate any offensive momentum despite typically being guarded by players on which he had more than half a foot.

But all those reasons are secondary to this: Michigan State had the best…