NEWARK, N.J. – No. 1-seed Duke advanced to the 2025 Final Four, defeating No. 2-seed Alabama, 85-65, in the East Region Final on Saturday, March 29. The Blue Devils (35-3) earned their 18th Final Four berth and the first under head coach Jon Scheyer. Since the NCAA Tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985, Duke has made 13 Final Four appearances, the most by any program during that time span. With Duke leading by seven, 65-58, at the 8:03 mark, the Blue Devils then ran off 13 straight points to grab a 20-point lead, 78-58, with 2:47 – a scoreless stretch of 5:16. Overall, Duke’s defense held Alabama to 65 points, 26.4 points below the Crimson Tide’s nation-leading average of 91.4 points per game.

Kon Knueppel led the team with 21 points and added a squad-high five assists. Khaman Maluach and Cooper Flagg paced Duke on the glass with nine rebounds each. Tyrese Proctor scored 17 points on 7-of-10 (.700) from the field. The junior also grabbed five rebounds, his eighth game this season with at least five boards. Maluach rounded out Duke’s double-digit scoring, with 14, on 6-of-7 (.857) from the field. Five of his six made shots came via slam dunks and also led the team in blocks with two.

Flagg was named East Region Most Outstanding Player and was joined on the All-Region team by his classmates Knueppel and Maluach.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Cooper Flagg swished home a three-pointer in the opening seconds and Duke’s defense forced a shot-clock violation on Alabama’s first possession. Kon Knueppel and Tyrese Proctor each connected on their first attempts from beyond the arc to put Duke in front early, 11-5.
• Two free throws by Sion James, out of the first media timeout, gave the Blue Devils an early 10-point edge, 15-5. Back-to-back triples by the Crimson Tide narrowed the margin to four after five minutes of action.
• An alley-oop slam by Khaman Maluach, a layup by James and a corner three-pointer by Knueppel extended Duke’s lead to 11, 30-19, halfway through the first half. Duke’s defense held Alabama to a stretch of 1-of-12 from the field and built its lead to 35-22 before an Alabama layup with 5:45 on the clock. Duke’s lead was narrowed to eight, 37-29, leading to a timeout by the Blue Devils at the 4:33 mark.
• The two teams traded blows as the half drew to a close, with Duke capping its first 20 minutes with a three-point-play from Flagg, taking a 46-37 lead into intermission.
• In the second half, the lead was trimmed to six, 52-46, following an Alabama three-point-play with 15:38 on the clock. Maluach slammed home his fourth dunk of the evening on Duke’s ensuing possession, giving the freshman 10 points and Duke its fourth double-digit scorer.
• A Knueppel layup moved Duke’s lead back into double-digits, 59-48, shortly before the under-12 timeout. Back-to-back buckets by Proctor set the Blue Devils up with a 13-point advantage, 63-50, at the halfway mark of the second stanza.
• The Blue Devils held onto their double-digit margin, 69-58, with six minutes left to play. Knueppel drained two free throws with 5:06 on the clock to expand the lead to 14, 72-58. The margin remained the same at the final media timeout, as Duke entered the break on a 7-0 scoring run, while holding Alabama to a scoring drought of over four minutes. 
• The scoring burst reached 13 unanswered as Duke grabbed control of a 20-point lead, 78-58, with under three minutes to play. Alabama responded with five points to inch within 15, 78-63, with 1:55 on the clock.
• The Blue Devils closed it out with a 7-2 spurt over the final 1:50, aided by four free throws, to ice the victory and advance to the Final Four. 
• NOTESDuke punched its ticket to the 18th Final Four in program history and the first under head coach Jon Scheyer.
• Twelve of Duke’s 18 Final Four appearances have come out of the East Region. 
• Duke improved its NCAA Tournament record to 126-41 (.754) all-time, marking the best winning percentage in tournament history by a team with a minimum of 20 games played. 
• With the win, Duke improved to 18-7 (.720) in the Elite Eight and 63-17 (.788) when playing in the East Region. 
• The game was the Blue Devils’ 12th NCAA Tournament contest played in the state of New Jersey, improving to a record of 12-0.
• With Duke leading by seven, 65-58, at the 8:03 mark, the Blue Devils then ran off 13 straight points to grab a 20-point lead, 78-58, with 2:47 remaining – a scoreless stretch of 5:16. 
• The scoring run of at least 10 unanswered points is Duke’s 39th of the season, compared to just seven for the Blue Devils’ opponents. 
• Saturday night marked the first NCAA Tournament game between Duke and Alabama and the 12th all-time meeting between the two programs. The Blue Devils improved to 9-3 against the Crimson Tide and have won all eight meetings since 1956. 
• Duke head coach Jon Scheyer improved his career record to 89-21 (.809), including a 8-2 mark in the NCAA Tournament. 
• Scheyer’s 89 victories ties Brad Underwood and Brad Stevens for the most wins in the first three seasons as a Division I men’s basketball head coach.
• Alabama entered Saturday night’s game with the nation’s leading points-per-game average (91.4) but was held to just 65 points, 26.4 below its season average.
• The 65 points were the second-lowest output for Alabama this season, trailing only its 64-point game against Ole Miss. 
• Duke held the Crimson Tide to 23-of-65 (.354) shooting, the lowest single-game shooting percentage by Alabama this season.
• Duke shot 30-of-56 (.536) from the field, its fourth consecutive game with a shooting percentage over 50-percent. 
• The Blue Devils logged 50-40-80 shooting splits, adding 6-of-13 (.462) from deep and 19-of-22 (.864) from the charity stripe. 
• The Blue Devils out-rebounded Alabama, 41-30, and has finished with a double-digit advantage on the glass in 19 games this season.
• Duke ended the contest with a 40-28 margin for points in the paint, the second straight game with at least 40 points in the paint.
• The 20-point margin of victory is Duke’s 22nd win this season of at least 20 points. 
• Duke improved its record to 35-3 overall to become the sixth team in program history to reach 35 victories in a season.
• The Blue Devils have won 31 of their last 32 games since late November, including the nation’s second-longest current win streak at 15 consecutive victories. 
• Duke has now connected on at least one 3-pointer in 1,263 straight games, the longest streak nationally.
• Kon Knueppel scored a game-high 21 points, his second straight game with at least 20 points. 
• The freshman shot 6-of-15 from the field, including 2-of-4 from deep and a perfect 7-for-7 from the charity stripe. 
• Knueppel also led the team with five assists and three steals, and reeled in five caroms.
• Cooper Flagg scored 16 points and ended one rebound shy of a double-double, grabbing a game-high nine boards. 
• Tyrese Proctor scored 17 points on 7-of-10 (.700) shooting from the field. The junior also grabbed five rebounds, his eighth game this season with at least five boards, while adding two assists and two steals.
• Khaman Maluach rounded out Duke’s double-digit scoring with 14 points on 6-of-7 (.857) shooting from the field. Five of his six made shots came via slam dunks, and he matched Flagg for the team lead in rebounds with nine and led the squad with two blocked shots.
• Sion James finished one point shy of double figures, contributing nine points along with seven rebounds.
• Flagg was named East Region Most Outstanding Player and was joined on the All-Region team by his classmates Knueppel and Maluach. 
• QUOTES“San Antonio sounds great. I couldn’t be more excited and happy for these guys to my left. I think Tyrese and I, the feeling of losing last year at this point, every decision we made, everything we did was to get back here and then have the team have the opportunity to advance to the promised land. To go to San Antonio, to go to the Final Four. Couldn’t be more proud of the team as a whole. Their attitudes the whole season, from day one, I think this group has been different. I keep telling them, don’t change. Don’t change, keep being them. I thought the story tonight against an incredible offense – and Nate does an amazing job with their offense and the way they play, it’s like nobody else. To hold them to 65 points is incredible. Watching them play the other night, they score 113, 25 threes. I think the biggest thing for us was not to take the bait of getting so spread. Youngblood, Sears and Holloway had 21 of the 25 threes. We want to use our length and size, and these guys did an incredible job. Couldn’t be more proud.” – Duke head coach Jon Scheyer
• UP NEXTTop-seeded Duke advances to the Final Four, held in San Antonio, Texas. The Blue Devils will face the winner of Houston versus Tennessee in one of the two national semifinals, played on Saturday, April 5. 

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