Michigan State Basketball: Report card for Duke loss in Week 2
Rebounding: D+
The rebounding was bad on Tuesday. I mean really bad. This may have been one of the worst rebounding performances of the Tom Izzo era, and he would be the first to agree with that assessment. The Spartans didn’t crash the glass defensively, allowing an incredible 25 offensive rebounds by the Blue Devils.
That’s the difference in the game right there. Duke got a ton of second-chance points, making up for its poor shooting night. The Blue Devils shot far worse than the Spartans from the floor, but made up for it by capitalizing on long rebounds and drawing fouls on second-chance attempts.
Izzo was not happy with his team’s lack of rebounding, and you could just see it on his face from the sideline. He preaches crashing the glass at practice each and every week and he has one of the longest teams since he’s been there yet they were out-rebounded by 12.
In no scenario should Duke have finished with 12 more rebounds than the lengthy Spartans nor should the Blue Devils have gotten 25 offensive boards — more than they had defensive rebounds.