Athletics has live coverage of Houston vs Tennessee In the elite eight of the male NCAA tournament
Newark, NJ – The Duke was reduced to seven with just a touch more than eight minutes to play in the second half of the eastern regional final.
On the Alabama touch line, coach Nate Oats hit his hands and looked, hands on his lap like an inner field player, looking at his team. Behind him, many fans of the Crimson Tide section have risen.
It was the chance of Alabama, but the Blue Devils the most seeded did not let the tide mark another point for the following 5:15 am of the match match.
With long arms, fast feet and tenacious commitment to make each dribbling and pass difficult for Alabama, Duke emptied the life of the fastest and fastest score in the country on Saturday evening. The Blue Devils beat the 85-65 tide in the NCAA tournament to win the 18th program trip to the Final Four.
“Holding them at 65 points is incredible,” said the coach of the third year Duke Jon Scheyer.
Alabama entered the elite eight with an average of 91 points per game.
Jon Scheyer reached the Final Four as a Duke player and assistant coach and now as a head coach of Blue Devils. (Robert Deutsch / Imagn images)
Two days after the high power offensive of the oats dropped 113 points and a tournament record 25 to 3 points on Byu, the tide pulled 35.4% on the field, 25% of the 3 -point range (8 for 32) and exceeded their lowest match of the season by one point.
“They did a good job to remove our 3-ball,” said Tide Guard Mark Sears, who went 2 for 15 on the field after scoring 34 points and made 10 3s against Byu.
No one expected a rehearsal of the performance of Thursday evening in Alabama against Duke, who entered the match with the fourth best score of defensive efficiency in Kenpom in the country.
But given the way in which Arizona managed the defense of Blue Devils in the semi-finals of the region on Thursday (93 points out of 45% shooting), everyone was preparing for a 90 race against the tide. Betmgm paid the total to 174.5.
“We have just returned to what we do,” said Kon Knuppel, the other Duke recruit.
What Duke does better than any team in the country is to combine size and speed. The Blue Devils are enormous, each player in the rotation of at least 6 feet 5 inches and 7-2 in the Khaman Maluach center often the last defense line with a range which measures a few centimeters of 10 feet when he lifts his arms.
“At the edge, we pulled 48%; we only did 12 shots at the edge tonight. We had 12 out of 25. You know, he made this difficult,” said oats.
Alabama has managed 10 offensive rebounds but transformed them into eight second chance points. Oats tried to attract Maluach far from the basket in the first half, inserting Aiden Sherrell, a section of 6-10 forward who overthrew some 3s when Maluach fell into painting.
The Scheyer counter was to use a smaller range, but there is no small ball with Duke.
The recruit Superstar Cooper Flagg is 6-9. KNUPPEL is 6-7, and DUKE Guards Tyrese Proctor and Sion James are both 6-6. The Caleb Foster goalkeeper was the most used reserve against Alabama. He has 6-5. And the safeguard of Maluach is 6-11, first year, Patrick Nongbba. One of Duke’s best defenders and the most versatile, 6-9 Maliq Brown, treated a left shoulder injury and played three minutes on Saturday.
Finally, Duke started to light the ball screens, sometimes leaving flagg or even Maluach on small Alabama guards such as Sears, Chris Youngblood and Aden Holloway. These three were combined to make 21 3s against Byu. They were 3 for 16 long -term against Duke.
“We are changing a lot, especially in the second half, so Khaman was on Sears as much as I or Tyrese,” said James. “The great thing for him was to show them bodies, to make sure that whoever kept the ball knew that they were not on an island by themselves and that Sears knew that he was not on an island with our big or anyone. And I think we did a good job for most of the job, where he drew a lot.”
Foster added: “Khaman, Malik, Pat, they can slide their feet, guy. It raises the level of our defense. It makes us different. I mean, you don’t really find big like that.”
The small offensive players of Alabama could not blow by the great defenders of Duke without being swallowed by the aid.
“They have changed and we went somehow to Iso Ball. This is not how we play,” said oats.
Scheyer has credited his players for not having been “frightened” by the 3 -point dam of the Alabama against Byu.
“I am sure that we will go back, and we are lucky that they also lack openness. But really, I think versatility for our guys is a great thing for us,” said Scheyer.
During the decisive section when the Alabama failed to manage a point, the tide missed seven consecutive shots, including five lay-ups.
To make the damage worse, Duke played patiently in attack, Scheyer often has the stop panel as a third base coach while his team took the ball on the field. The Blue Devils have emptied the chronometer even if the possession did not lead to points, and they did not allow the Alabama to obtain something easy in transition. The tide only managed eight fast break points.
As the tide broke the drought with a free throw of Sears, Duke led 78-59 with 2:47 on the left.
For fans of Alabama, the slow suffocation had to be strangely familiar. In the first years of Nick Saban’s football dynasty, the tide would crush the teams with a defense and play at low risk and methodical offensive. It was the type of physical domination that left adversaries even in helplessness like the dashboard suggested – almost mocking – the game was always at hand.
It was Duke on Saturday evening. The Blue Devils never dragged, and during most of the match, the head was suspended between eight and 11 points. And just when it seemed that Alabama could provide an end -of -game drama, Duke rather tightened even stronger and moved away.
“We want to use our length and size, and these guys have done incredible work,” said Scheyer about his defense. “I couldn’t be more proud.”
(Top photo of Sion James (14) and Mark Sears: Patrick Smith / Getty Images)
