The Duke Blue Devils fended off a late rally by the Michigan State Spartans on the Tuesday night to hold on to a victory. On hand for the win at Madison Square Garden were numerous NBA players who played at Duke, announcer Jay Bilas himself formerly a Duke player, and coaching legend Bob Knight, the all-time winningest coach in Division 1 men's basketball.
They were all on hand to watch Duke's coach Mike Krzyzewski, affectionately known as Coach K, try to win his 903rd game. The win broke the tie he held with Knight and established him as the sole winningest coach in the history of the college game.
After Duke won and Coach K broke the record, he shared an embrace with Knight. Krzyzewski played under Knight at Army and Knight has mentored him throughout his time as a coach. Knight was the first person Coach K sought at the final buzzer and Knight responded in typical fashion by saying, "Boy, you've done pretty good for a kid who couldn't shoot."
In the game Duke guard Andre Dawkins scored 26 points and helped Duke go on a 20-1 run in the second half. The Blue Devils had a 20 point lead with under 10 minutes to play, but Michigan State kept fighting and made it a five point game with a minute left. Duke was helped by Seth Curry's 20 points and Ryan Kelly added 14.
The Spartans got 22 points from Keith Appling and 15 from Brandon Wood, but turned the ball over 21 times and moved to 0-2 on the season. The Spartans notoriously play difficult out of conference schedules and this year is no different, playing UNC on an aircraft carrier in their first game and a sixth ranked Duke team last night.
Knight and Krzyzewski both have more on their resume than their legendary wins. They each have national championships (Knight's 3 to Krzyzewski's 4), each led the United States to Olympic gold medals and they both maintained high graduation rates throughout their careers.
