MSU looks to knock off No. 1 Blue Devils

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Draymond Green watched last year’s national championship game.

The junior forward saw the Duke Blue Devils defeat the Cinderella team of Butler, the same Butler team that had knocked the Spartans out of the 2010 NCAA Tournament. He saw the confetti come down as Duke celebrated a national championship the Spartans have been so close to winning the last two years.

“Very tough feeling,” Green said of watching Duke celebrate. “We felt that was a national championship we should have had, but there’s nothing we can do about it now.”

The No. 6 MSU men’s basketball team (5-1) can’t do anything about it now, but they can take a step toward that ultimate goal when they travel to Durham, N.C., tonight for a matchup with the No. 1 Blue Devils as part of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge (9:30 p.m., ESPN).

This is the second straight year the Spartans will play the defending national champion on the road after playing North Carolina last season.

The Blue Devils (6-0) come into the game having won 16 straight games dating back to last season, and on an 80-game nonconference home winning streak.

“It’s Duke. Duke is what we try to work to,” Green said after Sunday’s win against Tennessee Tech. “We’re Michigan State, we’re a top program now, but Duke is the elite of the elites and that’s what we’re trying to work to. Going in there and getting a win would be very important.”

In order to get the win, the Spartans need to cut down on turnovers. MSU has turned the ball over an average of 17 times per game, and will be challenged by a Duke defense that likes to pressure and force turnovers. Duke’s opponents are turning the ball over an average of 19 times per game this season.

“We’re going to try and look at this game as a game where we can get some of our swagger back,” men’s basketball head coach Tom Izzo said Monday. “But at the same time, it’s going to be up to our guards to take better care of the ball.”

Izzo often talks about getting MSU to the elite status of college basketball. The biggest step to getting to that elite status is playing at a consistently high level every game, something Izzo said his team still hasn’t grasped, especially after Sunday’s win.

“I’d say that the biggest factor I think (Duke) has done maybe the best job in the whole country of night in, night out playing at a certain level,” Izzo said. “I do not give us credit for that because I don’t think we’ve done that at all.”

“I think that’s the next mount for us to climb, can you do that on a consistent basis? They’ve won 80 straight home nonconference games. That means there’s not many letdowns, if any.”

With guard play being a key factor, the health of senior guard Kalin Lucas is important for the Spartans. Izzo said Lucas has practiced only once or twice since the Spartans played South Carolina on Nov. 16. Lucas ruptured his left Achilles’ in the NCAA Tournament last season, sprained his left ankle against South Carolina and tweaked his knee against Washington on Nov. 24.

Lucas said his knee should be 100 percent when he takes the court at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

“They are a good team,” Lucas said. “They are the No. 1 team in the country, and they have been playing real well. So for us, it’s a challenge for us. We’re just going to go there, play hard, and just be real physical.”

Cameron Indoor Stadium is known for its raucous environment, but Green said he is looking forward to the challenge. There won’t be confetti coming from the rafters, but he hopes to see something else that brings him joy.

“It’s definitely fun to silence a crowd,” he said. “One thing I love is when you go to somebody else’s gym, and after a win, you see their fans’ faces. I went down to the Michigan game when we played them in football, and I just stood by the gate and watched all their fans come out. It’s just the funniest thing to me.”

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