Three-minute Final Four preview: Michigan State vs. Duke
Michigan State vs. Duke
P | No. | Michigan State | Ht. | Yr. | PPG |
F | 34 | Gavin Schilling | 6-9 | So. | 5.2 |
F | 22 | Branden Dawson | 6-6 | Sr. | 11.9 |
G | 20 | Travis Trice | 6-0 | Sr. | 15.5 |
G | 11 | Tum Tum Nairn | 5-10 | Fr. | 2.2 |
G | 45 | Denzel Valentine | 6-5 | Jr. | 14.3 |
P | No. | Duke | Ht. | Yr. | PPG |
C | 15 | Jahlil Okafor | 6-11 | Fr. | 8.7 |
G | 2 | Quinn Cook | 6-2 | Sr. | 15.5 |
F | 12 | Justise Winslow | 6-6 | Fr. | 12.5 |
F | 5 | Tyus Jones | 6-1 | Fr. | 11.5 |
G | 13 | Matt Jones | 6-5 | So. | 6.1 |
▪ WHEN/WHERE: 5:09 p.m. Saturday at Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis
▪ TV/RADIO: TBS, TNT, truTV; WHB (810 AM)
▪ ABOUT MICHIGAN STATE (27-11): The seventh-seeded Spartans are the only non-No. 1 seed in the Final Four, but they’ve earned their spot with victories over No. 3 Oklahoma and No. 4 Louisville to win the East Region. Tom Izzo teams are 13-9 in the NCAA Tournament against better seeded teams. Michigan State is holding NCAA opponents to 33.9 percent floor shooting and 23.7 percent from beyond the arc.
▪ ABOUT DUKE (33-4): The Blue Devils love Indianapolis. Two of the program’s four national titles were captured in Indy, in 1991 and 2010. Duke’s freshmen class, led by center Jahlil Okafor, averages 45.5 points per game, the third most by a freshmen class in ACC history. The Devils defense has been terrific in the tournament, holding opponents to 53.5 points and 36.8 percent shooting.
| Blair Kerkhoff, bkerkhoff@kcstar.com
This story was originally published April 3, 2015 at 7:17 PM with the headline "Three-minute Final Four preview: Michigan State vs. Duke."