Michigan State Basketball: 5 most memorable plays from win over Duke

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 31: Matt McQuaid #20 of the Michigan State Spartans dunks the ball against the Duke Blue Devils during the first half in the East Regional game of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Capital One Arena on March 31, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images) /

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WASHINGTON, DC – MARCH 31: Matt McQuaid #20 of the Michigan State Spartans shoots the ball against Javin DeLaurier #12 of the Duke Blue Devils during the second half in the East Regional game of the 2019 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Capital One Arena on March 31, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images) /

2. Matt McQuaid’s circus layup

Javin DeLaurier was on the wrong end of a few of these top plays, but none more ridiculous and memorable than Matt McQuaid’s acrobatic 180 layup in traffic.

Duke had just gone up 56-53 and the Spartans needed to stop the bleeding. The shot clock was winding down and Kenny Goins had the ball on the perimeter. He launched an awkward looking 3-pointer in traffic and tied the game up and the next time down the floor, the most unthinkable drive to the basket happened.

McQuaid got the ball on the open wing and saw a lane. Instead of jacking up a three, he went for the easy two, but DeLaurier closed in on him, making it much more difficult of a shot.

Instead of an easy layup or dunk, he twirled his way to a mind-boggling layup try, barely looking at the basket and throwing the ball over his head. It went in.

https://twitter.com/marchmadness/status/1112484384613883904

This gave Michigan State a two-point lead heading into a timeout and everyone’s jaws were still on the floor when play resumed.

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