The No. 1 seed Duke Blue Devils did what they were supposed to do by defeating No. 4 Arizona in the Sweet 16, 100-93.
Duke’s offense was led by a masterclass performance from star freshman Cooper Flagg. The Blue Devils freshman scored 30 points with seven assists, six rebounds and three blocks in 36 minutes as he did everything anybody could ask for on the court.
Arizona star Caleb Love broke out once again against Duke (which is nothing new), scoring 35 points with four rebounds while playing the entire 40 minutes of game time.
Despite Arizona’s strong fight, the Wildcats came up short, ending their hopes of an Elite Eight bid.
Arizona Wildcats guard Caleb Love scored 35 points in a 100-93 loss to the Duke Blue Devils.
Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images
Despite the thrilling back-and-forth contest, there was one area that fans aren’t happy about: The fouls.
Duke was whistled for 22 fouls while Arizona was called for 24 fouls. There was a total of 50 free throw attempts in the game, 23 by Arizona and 27 by Duke.
As such, fans called for the officiating crew to be banned from the rest of the 2025 NCAA Tournament.
“The officials were Keith Kimble, Lee Cassell, and Michael Greenstein. Motion for all three to not officiate another game in the NCAA Tournament. Carry on,” one Duke fan wrote.
“No, seriously. Has somebody filed the motion?” another asked.
“This right here. Come on, this is ridiculous,” another replied.
“It was awful officiating,” said another.
“I second this they should not referee another game this tournament if possible,” another said with a screenshot of the foul trouble.
“They should possibly never call another game period,” wrote another.
“They were terrible. Played way too of a prominent role in the game. It was awful and they should not be doing another game,” stated another.
For some perspective, here are the total fouls called for the other three Sweet 16 games on Thursday:
- Arkansas vs. Texas Tech: 30 fouls
- Florida vs. Maryland: 38 fouls
- BYU vs. Alabama: 39 fouls
In Duke’s first two NCAA Tournament games, the Blue Devils were whistled for a total of 24 fouls, which means they had almost as many fouls called on Thursday than in the first two rounds combined.
Duke faces off against No. 2 Alabama on Saturday night, and it will be interesting to see how the game is officiated.
