Dudley does in Spartans

Al Skinner called his team "a work in progress" after its 86-68 victory over Rhode Island last Saturday.

With the first month of the season in the books, the Boston College basketball coach had to be pleased with the progress his Eagles made after rebounding from nonconference losses to Vermont and at Providence with last night's 65-58 triumph over Michigan State before a Conte Forum sellout crowd of 8,606.

"Any time you can come in and get a win like this, considering where we were two weeks ago, guys know they're getting better," Skinner said. " We're playing together and we're having a better understanding of what's good basketball for us and guys are willing to take responsibility when they're making mistakes. That wasn't the case in the early part of the season and now guys are willing to try and take responsibility for mistakes made and are willing to try and improve."

Senior forward Jared Dudley led the way for the Eagles (3-2) in their first appearance in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge with 30 points on 10-for-13 shooting and 10 rebounds.

"It was big for me, because obviously I wanted to get payback [after] losing last year to them in Madison Square Garden," said Dudley, mindful of the 77-70 loss to the Spartans in the Jimmy V Classic. "So I wanted to even the score up."

After the Eagles opened up a 16-point lead with 8:19 remaining, the students seated behind the Eagles' basket began serenading their hero with chants of "Ja-red Dud-ley! Ja-red Dud-ley!" Afterward, Michigan State coach Tom Izzo seemed to join the chorus.

"Dudley might end up my favorite player of the year," said Izzo, whose Spartans (6-2) got 18 points and nine rebounds from Goran Suton off the bench, 12 points from junior guard Drew Neitzel (all in the second half), and 11 from foul-plagued freshman Raymar Morgan.

Sean Williams and Tyrese Rice were the only other Eagles to score in double figures with 10 apiece. And Williams wowed the crowd with five blocked shots (four in the second half) before fouling out with 6.8 seconds to go.

"People have got to start to recognize that this kid is an outstanding shot-blocker -- not good, but outstanding," Skinner said. "Some of his fouls today were very unfortunate, because you're saying, 'He can't do that without a foul.' The fact is he's exceptional and outstanding and people have got to recognize that and can't give in to the fact they can't believe he just did that. Well, he can do that and they've got to respect the fact that he can."

After Rice gave BC its first lead, 10-8, with a strong baseline cut to the basket, Dudley helped the Eagles control a 26-18 halftime lead by scoring 9 points in a 16-10 run he ignited by splashing a trey. BC put itself in that position by answering Michigan State's intensity with a gritty defensive effort that was underscored by the job senior guard Sean Marshall did in holding Neitzel, the Spartans' leading scorer (17.7 points per game), scoreless in the first half on 0-for-2 shooting (both from the arc).

"We just needed him to shadow [Neitzel] and he was willing to do it," Skinner said. "He gave it up tonight and that's clearly part of the reason for the win. Offensively, Jared carried the load, but defensively Sean did a great job for us."

The Spartans thrice pulled within 6 before Dudley buried a trey to expand BC's lead to 39-30, with 13:08 to go. Rice followed with a pretty breakaway scoop off a midcourt steal to expand the lead to 11 with 12:44 left.

Neitzel finally converted his first basket 13 seconds later to pull Michigan State within 41-32. Williams gave the Eagles their biggest lead, 54-37, when he converted a soft baseline jump hook and then went to work on the defensive end with four blocks.

The Spartans made one last uprising, pulling within 59-53, but the Eagles, who scored 18 points off turnovers, 21 off second-chance opportunities, and won the battle of the boards (37-36; 21-15 at the half) held on to close the books on the first month of their season with an effort that surely had to please their coach.

"We've still got a lot of basketball games to play," said Skinner, whose team will next face Massachusetts in Amherst Saturday night. "If we're going to compete in the ACC, we're going to have to get better and we have to improve."

Michael Vega can be reached at vega@globe.com.