Duke depends on size, elite athleticism to beat Arizona and advance to Elite Eight

Michael Cohen

Faculty Soccer and Faculty Basketball Author

NEWARK, N.J. — Peeking out from beneath the back-to-back 3-pointers by Anthony Dell’Orso within the opening 4 minutes, sneaking a look from behind the double-clutch floater by Jaden Bradley that prolonged Arizona’s early lead shortly thereafter, had been the intermittent glimpses of fragility and idiot’s gold that appeared destined — determined, even — to undermine any bid for an upset at Prudential Middle on Thursday evening. To empty the life from three separate fan bases whose allegiances right here on the Candy 16 had been quickly aligned and fused with shared disdain towards Duke, the highest seed within the East Regional and a perennial nationwide championship contender. That the Blue Devils’ beginning lineup boasts three potential lottery picks, together with presumptive No. 1 choice Cooper Flagg, a five-star freshman sensation and the front-runner to be named Naismith Faculty Participant of the 12 months, has successfully bathed the season with inevitability.

So it hardly mattered that Arizona, seeded fourth, made six of its first 9 pictures to cobble collectively a five-point lead by the 14:27 mark. It felt irrelevant that Duke, which utilized 10 gamers within the first half alone, was momentarily hamstrung by foul bother to beginning middle Khaman Maluach — one other a type of eventual lottery picks — and backup Patrick Ngongba, which pressured head coach Jon Scheyer to insert half-healthy ahead Maliq Brown, who hasn’t performed since struggling an damage within the ACC Match on March 13.

Even when famous Duke killer Caleb Love, a switch from North Carolina who had crushed the Blue Devils extra occasions (5) than he’d misplaced to them (4), buried a gutsy 3-pointer from NBA vary that improbably knotted the sport with 46 seconds remaining within the first half, the cut up seconds of panic had been quickly abated. Freshman ahead Kon Knueppel — one more of these lottery picks — answered with a triple of his personal after Scheyer drew up a stupendous play in the course of the previous timeout. And when Flagg punctuated the half by rattling house a 3-pointer from the March Insanity brand as time expired, pushing Duke forward by two possessions, the world roared with equal components delight and awe.

“Let’s f—— go, man!” Flagg screamed after the shot went in, his fists clenched and forearms bulging close to midcourt, teammates swiftly arriving to mob him. “Let’s f—— go!”

And certain sufficient, when the Blue Devils returned from the locker room with a direct 8-2 spurt that prolonged their result in double digits, the one factor Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd might do was name timeout fewer than three minutes into the second half. By then, Lloyd’s staff had bricked a 3-pointer off the backboard and watched Maluach, the 7-foot-2, 250-pound unicorn, information an off-target alley-oop into the basket utilizing solely his proper hand, absorbing a foul alongside the best way and swishing the following free throw. By then, Flagg had penetrated the 3-point arc and flipped a no-look move to Sion James for a nook triple that gouged one other gap within the Arizona dam.

Duke would go on to attain 22 of the primary 31 factors within the second half, together with 9 by Maluach on the inside, to tug away from the Wildcats — and finally hold on — for a 100-93 victory, setting the stage for an Elite Eight matchup with second-seeded Alabama on Saturday evening. Flagg completed with 30 factors, six rebounds and 7 assists in one in all his most well-rounded performances of the season. And now the Blue Devils are one win away from reaching their first Remaining 4 beneath Scheyer, who’s navigating his third season since turning into the handpicked successor to Corridor-of-Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski.

To observe Scheyer’s staff distance itself from one other high quality opponent was to acknowledge the flimsy basis on which Arizona’s early competitiveness was constructed, with the Wildcats hemorrhaging effort on seemingly each offensive possession. The bodily discrepancy between these two groups was apparent from the second they convened for the opening tip, at which level a Duke staff that has the tallest roster in school basketball towered over an opponent that misplaced its beginning middle to a season-ending damage over the winter. Not a single participant within the Blue Devils’ complete rotation was shorter than 6-foot-5 on Thursday evening — not to mention the beginning lineup — and that suffocating mix of pterodactyl wingspans with sudden bodily maturity, particularly from a gaggle that depends so closely on freshmen, saved pushing Arizona deeper and deeper past the arc. They pressured the Wildcats to try 14 3-pointers within the first half alone and 26 total, with the 12 makes offering roughly the one ballast to maintain the underdogs afloat.

Practically each try by Arizona to breach Duke’s inside protection resulted in strained faces and pained our bodies, such is the bodily toll of taking part in towards Scheyer’s lineup. There was a second when Bradley, a 12-point-per-game scorer, pivoted helplessly in circles whereas looking for an angle from which to hoist a shot over Flagg, his effort ending with a hopeless clang. The lithe body of Dell’Orso, who by no means scored after making two 3s within the opening minutes, stood no probability of turning the nook on dribble drives. A lot of the scoring burden fell to Love, who poured in a season-high 35 factors, that he tried 5 pictures in a stretch of seven whole makes an attempt for the Wildcats in the course of the second half, his staff falling behind by as many as 17 factors in that stanza earlier than rallying to single digits down the stretch. Arizona completed minus-12 for factors within the paint and missed 11 of 21 layups towards Duke’s gargantuan entrance line.

Which is why it felt so becoming that on the sport’s most vital possession — the Wildcats trailing, 93-86, with 1:51 to go and needing a basket to maintain their hopes of an Elite Eight look alive — Flagg was completely positioned to wall off what might need been a straightforward layup for Carter Bryant towards every other staff. Bryant didn’t even attempt to shoot, passing as a substitute to teammate Henri Veesaar, a 7-foot, 225-pound sophomore. And there ready for Veesaar was the even bigger Maluach, his arms prolonged to pressure an unpleasant shot in visitors that by no means stood an opportunity.

The Blue Devils marched on to the Elite Eight.

Michael Cohen covers school soccer and school basketball for FOX Sports activities. Comply with him on Twitter @Michael_Cohen13.

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