Final Four bound
Duke continued its stellar play on Saturday, defeating Arkansas to win the West Region championship.
Duke is Final Four bound.
The Blue Devils’ upcoming trip to New Orleans represents the 13th time in Mike Krzyzewski’s career that he has taken a team to the Final Four, surpassing legendary UCLA head coach John Wooden’s 12.
Duke’s 78-69 victory over Arkansas was the third time in as many games in which Krzyzewski’s team showed toughness in critical moments to secure the victory. The win held an extra special meaning to Wendell Moore Jr.
“For me it means everything,” Moore said of making it to the Final Four. “I preach it all week, but for me it's been a three-year wait. You come to Duke looking to get to moments like this, and unfortunately for me those first two years that moment was taken away. So to be able to do it with these guys right here, I wouldn't want it any other way. This moment right here is definitely pretty special to me.”
Though the final score featured just a nine-point differential, the box score does not represent the level of control the Blue Devils displayed throughout the second half, and for the matter, the end of the first half.
The teams opened the game trading baskets before Arkansas guard JD Notae finally broke the trend with the game’s first made 3-point basket with 16:40 on the clock. The shot gave the Razorbacks a 3-point lead before Moore scored on a layup to cut the Arkansas lead back to one point.
In staying with the established progression of the game, Arkansas quickly responded by pushing the lead back to three with 16:05 on the clock.
That proved to be the largest lead of the game for Arkansas. A minute and 25 seconds later, Duke’s Mark Williams cut the lead to one with a layup. Thirty-one seconds after that, Williams converted another layup off an offensive rebound with 14:09 left in the first half. That basket put Duke ahead 10-9.
Though Arkansas would tie the game at 14 with 12:40 to go in the half, the Razorbacks never led again.
From the 11:35 mark on, Duke consistently maintained at least a two-possession lead for the rest of the first half, sans 51 seconds in which they were within three points.
Despite Duke’s advantage for those final 11-plus minutes, it wasn’t until the clock hit 1:20 when Paolo Banchero connected on Duke’s first 3-pointer of the half shifted the momentum completely. That 3-pointer ignited an 8-0 run to close out the half, which also featured another Williams second-chance layup and another 3-pointer, this time from Trevor Keels, as the buzzer sounded.
Just like that, Duke went into the half with a 45-33 lead. That final minute and 20 seconds changed the course of the game.
“At the start of the game they knocked us back,” Krzyzewski said. “We responded pretty well.”
For nearly the first six minutes of the second half, Duke held serve and maintained a double digit lead — at least for all but 30 seconds when Arkansas cut Duke’s lead to eight with 14:40 to go in the game.
It was at that moment, though, in which you could feel momentum shifting to Arkansas, even though the Blue Devils responded quickly to extend their lead back to 10.
Sure enough, from the 13:52 to the 13:19 marks, the Razorbacks had changed the look of the game and closed to within five points at 53-48. At that point, it felt like Duke was going to be in a dogfight the rest of the night.
Krzyzewski’s team had other plans, though.
This is when that final score is not representative of how the game was actually played. Duke outscored Arkansas from that point on 25-21, resulting in the single digit win. However, it wasn’t until the final 1:49 that the Razorbacks cut into the Duke lead, and at that point, the game was solidified and Duke did not appear to be quite as locked in.
During that nearly two minute stretch, Arkansas went on a 6-0 run to finish the game off. Up until that point, Duke was dominant. Duke led by as many as 18 points in the final 10 minutes, and consistently maintained a double figure advantage.
The run that pushed Duke from just a five point lead to a 15 point lead in fewer than three minutes can be attributed to a dominating stretch of basketball from Banchero and fellow freshman AJ Griffin on offense, and the same from Williams on defense.
Banchero and Griffin combined for eight points, all as a result of attacking the basket with a fury. Moore also drilled a jumper in transition at the top of the key forcing an Arkansas timeout with 10:20 to go. In that same stretch of play, Williams two rebounds, one block and numerous altered shots.
“In the start of the second half I thought they just took control of the game, and we were not playing well, but they were making us not play well, and got it down to five,” Krzyzewski said. “At that timeout our guys really got organized offensively.
“We scored on four or five straight. We hit on a set that gave us some good looks, got the ball to Paolo, and then reversed it after a couple to A.J. and changing the defense helped. From then on we just had control over the game.”
From that point forward it was all Duke. Griffin, who scored six points in the first half, was perfect in the second, scoring 12 points on 5-of-5 shooting. He finished the game with a team-high 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting. Moore was also big in the half, scoring eight of his 14 points. Banchero posted seven of his 16 in the half as well.
The trio was truly a force in the second half, but this Duke team won Saturday based on balance (more to come on this).
Duke’s ability to control the second half was not solely how it performed offensively, though. Krzyzewski and his staff switched to a zone defense that was critical for the victory.
The decision allowed Duke to prevent Williams from being caught up defending on the perimeter. Instead, he parked himself in the paint and made it very difficult for Arkansas to get easy looks at the basket.
The move also allowed him better positioning for rebounds, which proved to be a huge advantage for Duke as well.
“I think going zone helped,” Williams said. “I think it gave them a different look, slowed them up a little bit. Obviously, (Jaylin Williams) was trying to get downhill a lot, so I tried my best to protect the rim. I thought that was important for us. I just tried to do that.”
Krzyzewski elaborated on the zone and how it impacted the game.
“One thing with the zone, we've just put Mark right in front of the bucket, so he didn't have to defend the ball screen and then come back there,” he said. “So it gave him even -- look, he was the player. I mean, all these guys played well, but Mark really was the difference maker for us today.”
DOMINANCE IN THE PAINT
Arkansas coach Eric Musselman said his team’s goal was to run Duke off the 3-point line. Well, he didn’t have to, because it was clear right from the beginning that the Blue Devils wanted to attack the paint.
And boy did they ever.
Duke attempted just 10 3-pointers all game long, five in each half. They made four of those 10, and they were big shots, but the focus was clearly on owning the paint.
By game’s end, Duke outscored Arkansas 46-34 in the paint. Those 46 points represented 59% of Duke’s points. Of those 46, 32 points came on layups, while two came from a dunk — one from Williams late in the second half.
Williams was 6-of-6 from the field in the game, all coming at the rim.
Banchero scored 16 points on the night, but seven of those came from the free throw line (7-of-8). The freshman was aggressive and physical in the paint all game long, helping contribute to early foul trouble for the Razorbacks.
Griffin and Moore also were relentless in the second half at attacking the basket. It kept Arkansas’ defense on its heels consistently.
In addition to the scoring, Duke’s dominance in the paint extended to the glass. The Blue Devils out-rebounded the Razorbacks 34-25, including 27 defensive rebounds. Williams had nine of those himself — on his way to 12 total rebounds for the game.
“His defensive rebounding is one of the biggest one or two things in this game,” Krzyzewski said of Williams. “He had nine defensive rebounds, and that's a possession time and if you score, a stop and a score, and we needed that. His defensive rebounding along with the blocks, huge.”
Banchero was not far behind with all seven of his boards coming from the defensive glass.
The Blue Devils prowess on the glass — as well as the five blocks they recorded at the hoop — allowed them to overcome 15 turnovers, which Arkansas converted into 21 points.
OFFENSIVE BALANCE
We’ve been talking a lot about balance lately. Saturday’s win for Duke was a product of exactly that as four players scored in double digits and two others added nine points apiece.
Griffin, who was a little out of control at times in the first half, settled in during the second — as mentioned earlier — and helped Duke put consistent pressure on the Arkansas defense.
As we’ve come to expect during the postseason, different guys are stepping up in different moments.
Trevor Keels, who failed to score in the Sweet 16 matchup with Texas Tech, scored nine points on Saturday, including the big 3-pointer to close out the first half. He undoubtedly had his moments. So too did Jeremy Roach, who did struggle a little at times with five turnovers.
Event still, Roach finished with nine points and was able to help create frequently for his teammates.
Of course, Banchero, Williams and Moore each had electric moments throughout the game.
Balance was certainly the key for Duke. It allowed them to shoot an impressive 54.7% from the floor for the game. In comparison, Duke held Arkansas to 41.9% from the field.
The Blue Devils made it tough for Arkansas by taking high-percentage shots and rarely rushing or taking bad looks.