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Michigan State's Paul Davis backs down Duke's Shelden Williams. The Spartans upset the top-seeded Blue Devils with a 78-68 win on Friday in Austin, Texas.

Redick had the toughest night with another sub-par NCAA tournament game as he struggled just to get off a shot.

He didn’t take his first attempt until hitting a 10-footer with 10:17 left in the first half. By late in the half, he was shaking his head at the officials.

“J.J. was open, we just didn’t see him,” Krzyzewski said. Redick was just two of six from the field in the first half.

“We’ve been in a lot of games like tonight, but we haven’t had many with 22 turnovers,” Redick said. “We weren’t very strong with the ball.”

Redick hit three 3-pointers but the 94 percent free throw shooter got to the line just twice.

Williams had to pick up the slack, and the muscular forward pounded his way inside for 13 points as the teams went into halftime tied at 32.

The Spartans grabbed their first lead with an 8-0 run early in the second half. Anderson hit Michigan State’s first 3-pointer, and Shannon Brown followed it with a layup and another 3-pointer from the left wing that made it 40-36 and forced Duke to call a timeout.

Anderson hit two more shots, and the Spartans appeared to have grabbed complete control when Ager soared over Redick for the dunk, then pounded his chest with his fist.

“We were so pumped up that it was hard to tell if there was a turning point,” said Ager, one of the Spartans who pestered Redick all game. “We really just want to get after them and wear them out.”

Redick immediately answered the dunk with a 3-pointer from the top of the key and hit another that pulled Duke to 56-50 with 8:40 to play.

That’s when the pace really picked up.

Duke appeared to pull within two when Williams grabbed the rebound off Redick’s missed 3-pointer and went up for a two-handed dunk over Davis. But the ball spun and never dropped all the way through when Williams grabbed the rim. The officials ruled it offensive interference and disallowed the basket.

Duke cut it to 66-63 when Ewing stripped the ball from Anderson and pulled up for a 3-pointer, but Williams fouled out 20 seconds later and Davis converted the 3-point play.

Trying to make a play on the other end, Redick dribbled into the lane and fired a pass between Ewing and Sean Dockery. Neither made a move to get it, and the ball sailed out of bounds.

The Spartans then sealed it with free throws, hitting six of six over the final minute to stretch the lead.

“This was a game you just didn’t get tired in,” Davis said. “We just tried to wear them down. We did what we wanted to do.”

Notes: Duke didn’t grab an offensive rebound until there was 6:28 left in the first half. ... Michigan State thought it had a 34-32 at halftime when Anderson stole the ball from Dockery and went in for a layup with 0.2 seconds left. But the officials disallowed the points when it was determined the clock hadn’t started on Duke’s inbounds pass before the steal .... Duke’s 22 turnovers matched its 22 field goals.

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