Duke is headed to the Final Four for the first time under Jon Scheyer
NEWARK, N.J. – Duke locked down Alabama and toughened up, making enough plays down the stretch to lead from the first possession to the final buzzer.
It means the Blue Devils are headed back to the Final Four.
Duke beat Alabama 85-65 in the Elite Eight on Saturday night at Prudential Center.
Duke (35-3) will play either 2-seed Tennessee or 1-seed Houston a week from now in the Final Four. Those teams play Sunday afternoon in the first game of the day.
This is Duke’s 18th trip to the Final Four — the first with Jon Scheyer as coach in his third season. Scheyer has won 89 games in his tenure, tied for the most of any coach in his first three seasons of being a Division I coach (with Brad Underwood and Brad Stevens).
This was a tenuous lead for what felt like the entire second half. The Blue Devils never trailed in the game but also couldn’t create separation, their lead waffling between 7-13 points after jumping out to an early lead.
Duke finally pulled ahead when Alabama (28-9) went cold and the Blue Devils notched their 39th kill shot — a run of 10 straight points or more — of the season in the closing stages of the game.
Duke threw the first punch and led by 10, at 15-5, on the other side of the first media timeout, four-some minutes into the game. The Blue Devils stroked their first three 3s — Cooper Flagg, Kon Knueppel and Tyrese Proctor, in that order — in the first three minutes.
Knueppel led Duke with 21 points. Proctor scored 17 and Flagg scored 16. Khaman Maluach had 14 points and nine rebounds.
The Blue Devils never trailed in the first half but Alabama didn’t fade. The Crimson Tide got going with a couple of 3-pointers by freshman forward Aidan Sherrell.
But Alabama cooled off from its NCAA tournament-record 25 3-pointers on Thursday night. The Crimson Tide was 5-for-19 at halftime from behind the arc; Duke was 5-for-9 at halftime.
Duke’s starting lineup was its normal five — Sion James, Proctor, Knueppel, Flagg and Maluach. That group is 27-1 this season.
