NEWARK, N.J. — Peeking out from beneath the back-to-back 3-pointers by Anthony Dell’Orso in the opening four minutes, sneaking a glance from behind the double-clutch floater by Jaden Bradley that extended Arizona’s early lead shortly thereafter, were the intermittent glimpses of fragility and fool’s gold that seemed destined — desperate, even — to undermine any bid for an upset at Prudential Center on Thursday night. To drain the life from three separate fan bases whose allegiances here at the Sweet 16 were temporarily aligned and fused by a shared disdain for Duke, the top seed in the East Regional and a perennial national championship contender. That the Blue Devils’ boast three potential lottery picks, including presumptive No. 1 selection Cooper Flagg, the five-star freshman sensation and front-runner to be named Naismith College Player of the Year, has begun to bathe this season with an air of inevitability.
So it hardly mattered that Arizona, seeded fourth, made six of its first nine shots to cobble together a five-point lead by the 14:27 mark. It felt irrelevant that Duke, which utilized 10 players in the first half alone, was momentarily hamstrung by foul trouble to starting center Khaman Maluach — another one of those eventual lottery picks — and backup Patrick Ngongba, which forced head coach Jon Scheyer to insert half-healthy forward Maliq Brown, who hasn’t played since suffering an injury in the ACC Tournament on March 13. Even when noted Duke killer Caleb Love, a transfer from North Carolina who had beaten the Blue Devils more times (five) than he’d lost to them (four), buried a gutsy 3-pointer from NBA range that knotted the game with 46 seconds remaining in the opening half, the split seconds of panic among Duke’s faithful were swiftly abated.
Freshman forward Kon Knueppel — yet another of those lottery picks — answered with a triple of his own after Scheyer drew up a beautiful play during the preceding timeout. And when Flagg punctuated the half by rattling homea 3-pointer from the March Madness logo as time expired, pushing Duke ahead by two possessions, the arena roared with equal parts delight and awe.
“Let’s f—— go, man!” Flagg screamed after the shot went in, his fists clenched and forearms bulging near midcourt, teammates swiftly arriving to mob him. “Let’s f—— go!”
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“Really everything we’ve done from the offseason [to now] has led to being mentally tough, physically tough and together for these moments,” Scheyer said. “I thought our guys showed that poise. I think they showed that togetherness. They’re not afraid. You hope to recruit that, but until they get here, you don’t fully know. I have a bunch of guys, man, they’re killers. They’re fearless. And they sure weren’t afraid of this moment.”
To watch Scheyer’s team distance itself from another quality opponent was to recognize the relatively flimsy foundation on which Arizona’s early competitiveness was built, with the Wildcats hemorrhaging effort on seemingly every offensive possession. The physical discrepancy between these two teams was glaring from the moment they convened for the opening tip, at which point a collection of Blue Devils that forms the tallest roster in college basketball towered over an opponent that lost its starting center to a season-ending injury in late December. Not a single player in Duke’s entire rotation was shorter than 6-foot-5 on Thursday night — let alone in the starting lineup — and that suffocating blend of pterodactyl wingspans with unexpected physical maturity, especially from a group that relies so heavily on freshmen, kept pushing Arizona deeper and deeper beyond the arc. They forced the Wildcats to attempt 14 3-pointerrs in the first half alone and 26 triples overall, with 12 makes providing just enough ballast to keep the underdogs afloat.
Nearly every attempt by Arizona to breach Duke’s interior resulted in strained faces and pained bodies, such is the physical toll of playing against Scheyer’s skyscraping lineup. There was a moment when Bradley, a 12 point-per-game scorer, pivoted in helpless circles, searching for an angle from which to hoist a mid-range jumper over Flagg, his attempt ending in a helpless clang. The lithe frame of Dell’Orso, who never scored after making two 3s in the opening minutes, stood almost no chance of turning the corner on dribble drives from the perimeter. So much of the scoring burden fell to Love, who poured in a season-high 35 points, that he attempted five shots in a stretch of seven total attempts for the Wildcats near the midway point of the second half. Were it not for his individual greatness, which elicited a heartfelt speech from teammate Henri Veesaar during the postgame news conference, Arizona never would have rallied from a 19-point deficit to exert some pressure in the waning minutes. The Wildcats finished with 12 fewer points in the paint than Duke and missed 11 of 21 layups against the Blue Devils’ gargantuan front line.
“It’s unbelievable,” James said. “The fact that we can play so many freshmen that are all poised, they’re all composed, they’re all smart. They all are physically and mentally ready to play in a game like this. It says a lot about them. We’ve got a special team. That’s the biggest thing I’ve got to say. We’ve got a special team.”
Which is why it felt so fitting that on the game’s most important possession — with the Wildcats trailing, 93-86, and 1:51 remaining, desperately needing a basket to keep their hopes alive — two of Duke’s freshmen were ready and waiting to make the defensive play that preserved victory. It began with Flagg, who walled off what might have been an easy layup for Carter Bryant, forcing him to kick the ball back to Veesaar, a 7-foot, 225-pound sophomore. But there stood the even larger Maluach, recovering from his early foul problems to extend both arms vertically and force Veesaar into an ugly shot that never threatened the hoop.
By then, the only thing separating Duke from another Elite Eight were seven clutch free throws in eight attempts. This inevitable group of Blue Devils was marching on to Saturday — and most likely beyond.
“We’re going to enjoy this one,” Scheyer said. “Never take for granted going to an Elite Eight. That’s a special thing.”
Michael Cohen covers college football and college basketball for FOX Sports. Follow him on Twitter @Michael_Cohen13.
