Sorts News

2019 March Madness: What happened as Duke came up short on its final possessions in loss to Michigan State

Duke was down two points in the final seconds and did not let the game rest in the hands of Zion Williamson

by Tyler Savitsky

Duke had plenty of chances to tie or win the game in its East Regional final game vs. Michigan State on Sunday, but with the game on the line repeatedly came up short and lost 68-67.

Player of the year candidate Zion Williamson was nowhere to be found on Duke's final possessions. Williamson only took one shot in the last six minutes of the game, a layup with 1:40 left -- a basket that would be the Blue Devils' last made shot of the season.


Williamson was not even used a decoy in Duke's final possessions. The Blue Devils had the ball under their own basket with 34.3 seconds left, trailing 68-66.

Tre Jones took the ball up and passed it to RJ Barrett on the right side of the court. Barrett got a pick to his left, a switch and passed the ball back to Jones. Jones found Williamson at the 3-point line on the left side of the court with 19 seconds left. Zion took two dribbles to the right and found Barrett for a long 3-pointer. A 22-second possession and Duke did not touch the ball inside of the 3-point line. Barrett's shot hit the front rim, and Cam Reddish went diving for the ball with Michigan State's Matt McQuaid. The ball hit McQuaid as it went out of bounds.

Duke was given a second chance with 8.4 seconds left to tie or win the game.

Jones inbounded to Barrett as Zion was all the way on the other side of the court. Barrett immediately drove to the hoop where he was fouled, and the rest is history. Barrett misses the first free throw off the back iron and accidentally makes the second.

Down by one point with only three fouls in the half, Duke did not have enough time to get the ball back.

"We didn't have enough fouls," Barrett said. "There wasn't enough time. So I tried to miss the second one and it's funny that it went in."

However, after Duke fell short of getting a game-changing basket, there wasn't much laughter from Duke players as its season came to an end.