NEWARK—Caleb Love was doing everything within his repertoire to keep the Arizona Wildcats in their Sweet 16 game on Thursday night.
A certified Duke Blue Devils slayer who had scored 20 or more points against them three times previously as a member of the North Carolina Tar Heels, Love was carrying his Cats as best he could. Looking like a one-man band on his way to 35 points in a valiant effort, the veteran guard drove the lane for silky smooth layups, launched five three-pointers and went an efficient 8-of-9 at the line.
The problem for Love—and for the rest of college basketball this season, to be fair—is that the version of the Blue Devils that would normally be susceptible to a supernova effort is dead and buried in the past.
Duke, the one who secured a berth in the Elite Eight with a 100–93 win in the East Regional over the Wildcats at the Prudential Center, is far more terrifying to think about.
They are not just the No. 1 team in the polls and the tournament favorites, they are resilient, too.
“I thought our guys made some big-time winning plays. A lot of game pressure. [Arizona] just wouldn’t go away, even with a 19-point lead,” coach Jon Scheyer said. “I thought our guys hit some clutch free throws, made just enough plays. Obviously it was hard to get stops for anything in this game, but that’s sometimes how it goes. I couldn’t be more proud.”
Proud he should be, not only because the Blue Devils are versatile enough to build up that 19-point lead in the blink of an eye, but because they are savvy enough to hold on for a win even as the pressure of the NCAA tournament becomes palpable. They withered a four-minute field goal drought at the end of the game only for Arizona to shave just a point off the lead because of nearly a dozen clutch free throws.
They are talented, as the three potential NBA draft lottery picks scoring in double figures would attest to in balancing out a quiet night for previously red-hot guard Tyrese Proctor, who scored just seven points and made just one of his shots from beyond the arc.
They are tough, as you could see from forward Maliq Brown returning to action despite separating his shoulder just two weeks ago.
They can absorb punches, too, almost literally at times under the basket for the likes of freshmen Kon Knueppel and Patrick Ngongba, yet still get up and then punch right back.
“We’ve built up an entire season of trust and teaching. And the lessons we’ve learned to, really everything we’ve done from the offseason, from April 1 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.”
Such an instinct has mostly manifested itself in awe-inspiring runs this season as they’ve blown out almost all of their competition. A spurt here or a spurt there suddenly leads to an incredible scoring run that turns a previously close game into a laugher.
It was reminiscent, at times, of the Golden State Warriors at their peak with the so-called Death LineupSometimes you just wouldn’t know what hit you until it was all over.
It looked like, just ahead of the under-12 timeout in the second half, that was the case once again. Duke hit 70 points on the scoreboard and was remarkably shooting 70% from the field to get there.
percent, on the second weekend of the tournament no less.
There were plenty of highlights, too, such as Cooper Flagg’s three-pointer just before the halftime buzzer that both he and the crowd reacted to with no shortage of emotion. After Arizona tied the game at 42, that deep triple sparked a 19–7 run over just six minutes to seize control of the scoreboard and the momentum in the arena.
“They played awesome today. They were a machine on offense,” Wildcats coach Tommy Lloyd said. “We just couldn’t get enough stops.”
Of course, it’s hard to when a star like Flagg was at the peak of his powers too on a Thursday night that ran deep into Friday morning in the tri-state area. He nearly went shot-for-shot with Love on his way to 30 points and became the first player since Dwyane Wade’s famous tourney triple double in 2003 to post at least 25 points, five rebounds, five assists and three blocks in the Big Dance.
If you could somehow dismiss his remarkable comeback from an ankle sprain in Raleigh last weekend as the byproduct of beating up on inferior competition, it was hard to deny the likely No. 1 overall pick this summer delivered his first true March Madness effort and stamped his name in program lore.
“They put me in some really good spots tonight. Coach, as well, put me in some really good spots,” Flagg said. “I think just making the right play and just letting the game happen.”
“That was one of the best tournament performances I’ve ever coached or been a part of. Just how he was with you guys, that’s how he is. He just did what he was supposed to do, and he’ll move on,” said Scheyer, who won a national title a decade ago and has been on staff for several deep runs as an assistant. “What I’ve wanted from him is not to defer. I’ve just wanted him to fully be him, and I thought he was that. He was in his element tonight. He was him. He had just a great personality. He was loose, talking, competitive, the whole thing.
“So yeah, he impresses me all the time.”
Equally impressive were the team’s nerves late as the Wildcats and Love started to chip away at that double-digit lead down the stretch.
The Blue Devils were particularly uneven on both ends of the court as they navigated foul trouble to let Arizona back into things. Ngongba fouled out with over five minutes to play and Knueppel (20 points) and center Khaman Maluach (13 points, six rebounds) played with four fouls most of the second half, too.
Yet for all the things that were working against Duke, in the kinds of moments that typically lead to meltdowns of even the best teams in college basketball at this time of year, the Blue Devils hardly even blinked.
“They’re a team that they come down, they have a plan, they know what they want to get, and they’re able to get to it consistently, which is hard to do. We’re not a bad defensive team, but they make you feel like it for long stretches today,” Lloyd said after his second loss to Duke this season. “They’ve done a really good job creating certainty, and all their young guys have gotten better. Their vets like Proctor, Sion James—he’s impressive—have gotten better. Even Pat Ngongba has gotten better over the course of the year. They’ve got a lot of good pieces, and they all fit together.”
Such a fit now comes up against its biggest test yet in the East Regional final on Saturday: against the Alabama Crimson Tide, who shot at a historic pace from beyond the arc in their win.
But Nate Oats & Co. will also have to reckon with a different kind of team. The Blue Devils are a group with a bit of devil in themselves at those moments where you just need a little bit more.
“I have a bunch of guys, man, they’re killers,” said Scheyer, his voice steady and unemotional to underscore the message. “They’re fearless, and they sure weren’t afraid of this moment.”
Sure weren’t, despite the best efforts of a player and a team no stranger to sending Duke home at this time of year.