NEWARK, N.J. — The Duke lead had been cut to seven with just a touch more than eight minutes left in the second half of the East Regional final.
On the Alabama sideline, coach Nate Oats clapped his hands and bent over, hands on knees like an infielder, watching his team. Behind him, many of the fans in the Crimson Tide section rose to their feet.
This was Alabama’s chance, but the top-seeded Blue Devils didn’t let the Tide score another point for the next 5:15 of game time.
With long arms, quick feet and a tenacious commitment to making every dribble and pass difficult for Alabama, Duke drained the life out of the nation’s fastest-moving and highest-scoring offense Saturday night. The Blue Devils beat the Tide 85-65 in the NCAA Tournament to earn the program’s 18th trip to the Final Four.
“To hold them to 65 points is incredible,” third-year Duke coach Jon Scheyer said.
Alabama entered the Elite Eight averaging 91 points per game.
Two days after Oats’ high-powered offense dropped 113 points and a tournament-record 25 3-pointers on BYU, the Tide shot 35.4 percent from the field, 25 percent from 3-point range (8-for-32) and topped their lowest-scoring game of the season by just one point.
“They did a good job of taking away our 3-ball,” said Tide guard Mark Sears, who went 2-for-15 from the field after scoring 34 points and making 10 3s against BYU.
Nobody expected a repeat of Thursday night’s performance by Alabama against Duke, which entered the game with the fourth-best Kenpom defensive efficiency rating in the country.
But considering how well Arizona handled the Blue Devils’ defense in Thursday’s region semifinal (93 points on 45 percent shooting), everybody was gearing up for a race to 90 against the Tide. BetMGM set the total at 174.5.
“We just got back to what we do,” said Kon Knueppel, Duke’s other star freshman.
What Duke does better than any team in the country is combine size and quickness. The Blue Devils are huge, with every player in the rotation at least 6-foot-5 and 7-2 center Khaman Maluach often the last line of defense with a reach that measures a few inches short of 10 feet when he raises his arms.
“At the rim, we shot 48 percent; we only made 12 shots at the rim tonight. We were 12 of 25. You know, he made that tough,” Oats said.
Alabama had 10 offensive rebounds but turned them into eight second-chance points. Oats tried to lure Maluach away from the basket in the first half, inserting Aiden Sherrell, a 6-10 stretch forward who knocked down a couple of 3s when Maluach dropped into the paint.
Scheyer’s counter was to use a smaller lineup, but there is no such thing as a small ball with Duke.
Superstar freshman Cooper Flagg is 6-9. Knueppel is 6-7, and Duke guards Tyrese Proctor and Sion James are both 6-6. Guard Caleb Foster was the most-used reserve against Alabama. He’s 6-5. And backing up Maluach is 6-11 freshman Patrick Ngongba. One of Duke’s best and most versatile defenders, 6-9 Maliq Brown, has been nursing a left shoulder injury and played three minutes on Saturday.
Eventually, Duke started switching on ball screens, at times leaving Flagg or even Maluach on small Alabama guards such as Sears, Chris Youngblood and Aden Holloway. Those three combined to make 21 3s against BYU. They were 3-for-16 from long range against Duke.
“We were switching a lot, especially in the second half, so Khaman was on Sears just as much as me or Tyrese was,” James said. “The big thing for him was showing them bodies, making sure whoever was guarding the ball knew they weren’t on an island by themselves and making sure Sears knew that he wasn’t on an island with our big or whoever else. And I think we did a good job for the most part of keeping him off the foul line, where he gets a lot of his points from.”
Foster added: “Khaman, Malik, Pat, they can slide their feet, man. It just elevates the level of our defense. It makes us different. I mean, you don’t really find bigs like that anywhere.”
Alabama’s smaller offensive players were unable to blow by Duke’s big defenders without being swallowed up by help.
“They switched, and we kind of went to iso ball. That’s not how we play,” Oats said.
Scheyer credited his players for not getting “spooked” by Alabama’s 3-point barrage against BYU.
“I’m sure we’ll look back, and we’re fortunate that they missed some open ones, as well. But really I think the versatility for our guys is a big thing for us,” Scheyer said.
During the decisive stretch when Alabama couldn’t manage a point, the Tide missed seven straight shots, including five layups.
To compound the damage, Duke played patiently on offense, Scheyer often holding up the stop sign like a third-base coach as his team took the ball up the court. The Blue Devils drained the clock even if the possession didn’t result in points, and they didn’t allow Alabama to get anything easy in transition. The Tide managed just eight fast-break points.
By the time the Tide snapped the drought with a free throw by Sears, Duke led 78-59 with 2:47 left.
For Alabama fans, the slow suffocation must have felt oddly familiar. In the early years of Nick Saban’s football dynasty, the Tide would grind teams down with defense and play low-risk, methodical offense. It was the type of physical domination that left opponents feeling helpless even as the scoreboard suggested — almost mockingly — the game was still in reach.
That was Duke on Saturday night. The Blue Devils never trailed, and for most of the game, the lead hung between eight and 11 points. And just when it looked as if Alabama might provide some late-game drama, Duke instead squeezed even harder and pulled away.
“We want to use our length and size, and these guys did an incredible job,” Scheyer said of his defense. “Couldn’t be more proud.”
(Top photo of Sion James (14) and Mark Sears: Patrick Smith / Getty Images)
