Dallas—Duke beat the top defensive team in the nation to advance to the brink of the Final Four.
The Blue Devils battled back from an early deficit and beat top-seeded Houston, 54-51, to earn a spot in the Elite Eight. Duke will play NC State for a spot in the Final Four on Sunday.
A year after the Blue Devils were bullied out of the tournament in the second round by a physical Tennessee team, it appeared another team was going to follow the blueprint. The Cougars punched Duke in the mouth from the opening tip, literally and figuratively. Their hands-on defense forced three turnovers and a missed shot in the first four Blue Devil possessions. That gave the Cougars an early 8-0 lead.
Duke had learned its lesson from last year, however, and battled back.
“Just going back to last year real quick and the second round against Tennessee, this game right here was that same type of game,” said Kyle Filipowski. The Duke big man had 16 points and 9 rebounds. “Just a great, gritty team and their culture. Just seeing the togetherness, how we didn’t quit out there tonight, that really shows the growth from last year.”
“Last year, the Tennessee game was pretty much very unacceptable,” said Jeremy Roach. The senior guard scored 14 to keep his Duke career alive for at least one more game. “This game we just kind of took it to heart and didn’t want that to happen again.”
The Blue Devils got a bit of help when Houston All-American Jamal Shead, the Big 12 Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year, went down with a sprained ankle with six minutes left in the first half.
The injury was a turning point in the game. Duke trailed by 6 at the time of the injury and had scored 10 points in the first 13 and a half minutes of the half. The Blue Devils scored 13 in the final 6:30 to take a one-point lead into halftime. Duke shot .400 when Shead was on the floor, .538 after he was hurt.
“He’s a great player,” said Roach. “He’s the heart and soul of the team. Obviously, it changed a little bit, but our mindset didn’t change at all. We came in to get a win.”
“It doesn’t feel like a fair fight,” said Houston coach Kelvin Sampson. “You would have to take maybe two of theirs to equal one of Jamal. That’s how good he was. He’s a First Team All American. You don’t have another one of those. You don’t have the best defensive player in the Big 12 … a guy that made all the big shots at the end.”
Now Duke gets a rematch with NC State, who jump started their postseason run with a win over the Blue Devils in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals.
“It’s going to be crazy,” Roach said of the rematch.
