EAST LANSING, Mich. — Cameron Boozer waved to the Michigan State fans as they started streaming up the aisles in the final seconds, and to the Izzone students who had chanted his name, and not in a friendly way.

He did it from the bench, having fouled out after dragging Duke to victory with a big second half, his work for the day done. This time, he was far from alone in a 66-60 win Saturday that required not only big shots from Caleb Foster and Isaiah Evans but the essential services of Nik Khamenia, in his second game as a starter, and even a first-half Darren Harris cameo.

Throw in an unexpectedly effective zone defense that shut down the Michigan State offense over the final nine minutes, and the No. 4 Blue Devils (10-0) needed a little something from everyone for their toughest win yet, outscoring the previously undefeated and seventh-ranked Spartans (8-1) 11-5 over the final two minutes thanks not to Boozer, necessarily, but three free throws from Evans and a stab-in-the-heart 3-pointer from Foster off a Boozer feed out of the post.

At times, it feels like Duke is Cameron Boozer and associates, but Saturday also showed the ability of other players to make key plays, which raises the question. Does what Boozer does sometimes overshadow the true measure of Duke’s depth?

“I think both things can be true,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said. “I think what Cam is doing is incredible and we have great depth and guys stepping up.”

The Blue Devils found a way past Kansas’ defense and Arkansas’ offense at neutral sites and used their home-court advantage to pull them through against Florida, but the hostile environment at Michigan State was less of a factor than the Spartans’ size.

With Carson Cooper walling up Boozer’s post-up attempts at one end and Jaxon Kohler dragging him outside at the other, Boozer had two fouls before he had two points, and picked up a third early in the second half right as Duke was trying to find ways to get him more involved on offense.

But it wasn’t just Boozer: Michigan State pushed the entire Duke offense out to the perimeter. Twenty-one of Duke’s first 34 shots came from behind the arc, with the Blue Devils making less than 30% of them. Meanwhile, the Spartans were dominating on the boards at both ends as Boozer and Patrick Ngongba and Maliq Brown all found themselves in foul trouble.

Khamenia was Duke’s offensive star of the first half with nine points on three 3-pointers. And despite all those headwinds, Duke still rolled back a five-point deficit in the first four minutes of the second half thanks largely to Boozer, who seemed more resolute after the break and scored 14 of Duke’s first 17 points, finally backing Cooper down in the post.

Then came the game’s key play. Boozer held the ball for most of the shot clock, then worked his way toward the basket from the top of the key. Jeremy Fears left Foster on the right wing to double Boozer, and Boozer spotted Foster open.

“Cameron’s a dog, where he’s going to make the right play every time,” Foster said. “I was just going to be ready if he kicked it out, ready to shoot.”

Boozer then fouled out at the other end, which gave him the rare opportunity to savor a victory before it was final.

“I definitely heard some of the things they were chanting,” Boozer said. “At the end of the day, people are going to say what they want to say, but you know, we came up with the win.”

He finished with 18 points, 15 rebounds and five assists despite the effectiveness of Michigan State’s defense in the first half, thanks to Duke finding ways to get him more touches and Boozer’s own resilience.

“Maybe it’s his bloodlines with his dad, maybe it’s Jon doing a hell of a job, maybe he’s just a special player, but when he can beat you with the pass, the dribble, the rebound and the 3-point shot, there aren’t many guys we’ve ever played against like that,” Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said. “He had two points at halftime. Our defense did a damn good job.”

The 3-2 zone started out as a necessity when Boozer picked up his third foul but it increasingly became a choice when Duke held Michigan State to 3-for-15 shooting over the final nine minutes.

Boozer’s father Carlos, seated behind the visiting bench Saturday, played at Duke in an era where even the mention of playing zone was verboten. That changed even under Mike Krzyzewski, and Scheyer didn’t hesitate Saturday. The Blue Devils went to the zone without Boozer, but he found himself playing it as well.

“We’ve worked on it,” Boozer said. “We have a team that has great positional size, a lot of length. That zone is something we can definitely go to like we did tonight, mess teams up a little bit.”

After Krzyzewski went 14-3 against Izzo in his career, Scheyer has picked up where he left off going 2-0 against the longtime Michigan State coach. More pressing, Duke has now won four nonconference games against legitimate Final Four contenders, at home, at neutral sites and now on the road in as hostile an environment as the Blue Devils will see all season.

“It’s scary but this is what we signed up for,” Scheyer said. “We felt like we could come out the other side really learning something about ourselves and finding ways to win.”

With Cameron Boozer. And now without him.

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