Newark, N.J. – The University of Arizona men’s basketball team (24-13, 14-6 in Big 12) met its match in the NCAA Tournament, succumbing in a 100-93 loss in the Sweet 16 to Duke University (34-3, 19-1 in ACC) on Thursday, March 27 at 7:03 p.m. PST in Prudential Center. Despite a season-high scoring night from fifth-year guard Caleb Love, the Wildcats weren’t able to surmount the 19-point lead the Blue Devils had built.
In Love’s final game playing for Arizona, he recorded a season-high 35 points to lead the Wildcats. The 6-foot-4 guard shot 11-for-21 from the field, including five 3-pointers. Love also added four rebounds. Jaden Bradley scored 15 points on 6-for-10 shooting from the floor. Bradley also dished out five assists to lead the team. Notably, 7-foot forward Henri Veesaar had 13 points.
Despite Arizona’s bench outsourcing Duke 30-14, the Blue Devils held the Wildcats to 45.5% shooting from the field. Duke also found control in the paint, scoring 42 paint points compared to Arizona’s 30.
With a Blue Devils team that includes multiple players listed on ESPN’s Top 100 NBA Draft Prospects, No. 1 projected pick Cooper Flagg put up 30 points in Duke’s victory. The 6-foot-9 freshman shot 9-for-19 from the floor, collecting six rebounds and seven assists in 36 minutes of play.
Flagg was just one of four players who finished the night in double digits for Duke as the Blue Devils shot a collective 60% from the floor. Kon Knueppel collected 20 points on 5-for-7 shooting, leading second for his team in scoring. Sion James (16 points) and Khaman Maluach (13 points) also supported the victory for Duke, as the Blue Devils displayed a series of unselfish plays to secure the game and head to the Elite Eight.
“I wanted to win the game, that would’ve been the best reward. We came up short but you know, like I said, we were all healthy in the game and we came out, we gave it a go, we gave it all we had and you know, we just came up short,” Love said. “But this is not to knock on our team as whole or our season, because we fought through the adversity of coming back from 4-5, starting the season 4-5.”
“We have great kids, men […]. The true essence of Arizona basketball, when you take all of the accolades and whatever, the success, the failures away is, we got great people. And I’m really proud to be associated with these guys and I’m just thankful, you know, honestly thankful and just a crazy [amount of] gratitude,” head coach Tommy Lloyd said.
First half
Playing in their third Sweet 16 in four years under Lloyd, Arizona entered the game eager for the competition.
James made a layup to score the opening points of the game for the Blue Devils. For Arizona, Bradley put the Wildcats on the board with a mid-range jumper. On the other end, James scored again, this time hitting a 3-pointer to gain a 5-2 lead for Duke two minutes into the game. After Khaman missed a dunk opportunity, Arizona responded with a 3-pointer made by Anthony Dell’Orso, tying the game at 5. To answer the shot Dell’Orso made, Flagg nailed a 3-pointer, putting the Blue Devils ahead 8-5.
With more shots falling from beyond the arc, Dell’Orso scored once again, nailing a 3-pointer to tie the game at 8. Knueppel scored for the Blue Devils, hitting a layup that gained a 2-point advantage for Duke. Trey Townsend hit an early 3-pointer as well, putting the Wildcats back up 11-10. With an Arizona possession that was held until the final seconds of the clock, Bradley hit a jumper that extended the Wildcats’ lead to 13-10.
After taking this lead, Arizona was not able to get a shot off for four minutes, allowing Duke to go on an 8-0 scoring run and lead 20-16 with 10 minutes remaining in the first half. Arizona made the mistake of leaving Knueppel open on the perimeter and the guard hit a 3-point jumper to extend the now 7-point Duke lead.
However, Love made a shot from beyond the arc moments after, trimming the score to 23-19. Veesaar grabbed the and-1 opportunity after he was fouled on a layup attempt but the Blue Devils continued to hold a slim lead, as Flagg scored a layup that put Duke ahead 26-22. Love came back for the Wildcats as he hit a 3-point jumper that shortened Arizona’s deficit to just 1 point.
Staying in the paint, Flagg converted on a layup to continue lifting Duke 28-25. Following after were two free throws made by Townsend. Conrad Martinez saw early minutes of play and hit a 3-pointer from the side of the baseline, leveling the game at 32 with 4:35 left before halftime.
Flagg hit a layup that put Duke back ahead by 4 points; however, Love kept it close, following with two made free throws. After missed 3-point opportunities by both teams, KJ Lewis scored a layup that tied the game at 36 with 2:27 left before halftime. Out of a 30-second timeout called by Duke, Maluach completed scoring on an assist by Knueppel, gaining back the 38-36 lead.
The Wildcats tied the game once again after Love drained a 3-pointer, responding to a jumper made shortly before by Flagg. However, the Blue Devils scored two consecutive 3-pointers after Love’s score and went into halftime leading Arizona 48-42. Flagg sent Duke into the locker room with a shot from beyond the arc on the last second fast break.
Love led Arizona in the first half with 14 points, shooting 3-for-5 from the 3-point line. Arizona was held to shooting 42.9% from the field in the first half compared to Duke’s 61.3%. Flagg led the Blue Devils with 18 points on 7-for-12 shooting from the field, tying the most points the freshman has scored in a first half this season. Knueppel had 10 first-half points himself for Duke.
Second half
Opening the second half for Duke was Maluach with an and-1 layup, gaining a 9-point advantage for Duke. Tobe Awaka was able to trim the lead to 7 points, but after a foul was awarded to Townsend, Flagg went to the line for two made free throws that allowed Duke to lead 53-44. The Blue Devils gained their first double-digit lead after James drained a 3-pointer, putting them ahead 56-44.
Carter Bryant hit a shot from beyond the arc out of a break to trim the lead to single digits. However, Maluach was able to finish on a dunk at the other end for Duke, bringing the lead back up by 11 points. Moments after, Veesaar committed a turnover resulting in another dunk made by Maluach that put the Blue Devils up 62-47, prompting an Arizona timeout. Despite a jumper scored by Love that cut the lead to 13 points, Maluach responded on the other end, scoring for the third time in two minutes with less than 15 minutes remaining in the second half.
Flagg was able to find his teammates multiple times on Duke’s end, as a pass from him allowed Patrick Ngongba II to score, creating a lead of 15 points. This also sparked a 6-0 scoring run for the Blue Devils, pushing their advantage to 19 points.
Lewis ended the run with a layup, allowing a shot for Arizona to fall. Despite the Wildcats gaining possessions, Duke was able to create stops as well as score on the other end.
Maluach made a tip-in dunk for the Blue Devils to lead 72-56. As 3-pointers were traded back and forth, Love grabbed a steal to convert on a shot from beyond the arc, followed by a similar possession on the other end by Mason Gillis that brought Duke’s lead back up to 15.
Love went to the line to complete a 3-point play after scoring a layup, drawing the foul to cut the score. The Arizona guard scored another layup, and Wildcat fans saw the deficit cut to 10 points with 8:15 remaining in the second half. This started a 7-0 scoring run for the Wildcats as Veesaar was able to clean up on a missed layup by Townsend, making it an 8-point game.
Duke brought its lead back up to 11 with another dunk by Ngongba; however, Bradley followed on the other end with a layup. After a couple of errors and unorganized plays from both teams attempting to gain possession of the ball, Ngongba ended up on the charity stripe, hitting two free throws for Duke to gain the double-digit advantage.
Soon after Flagg blocked a floater attempted by Lewis, Love hit a dunk on the fast break, bringing Arizona within 7 points of Duke’s score with just under five minutes remaining. Lewis scored on one of Arizona’s last made field goals, bringing Duke’s lead to 89-81.
Out of an Arizona timeout, Bryant made two free throws to make it a 6-point game after Flagg was called for his second foul. Bryant hit a 3-pointer late in the second half, bringing the Wildcats within 5 points of the 91-86 Duke lead.
Despite Arizona trimming the lead down, the ball found its way into Duke’s hands for the majority of the final minute in the game. Despite a 3-pointer scored by Bradley with 13 seconds remaining that cut the deficit to 5, Arizona was unable to fully overcome the advantage Duke had built. The Blue Devils ended the game with two made free throws, taking a 100-93 victory over the Wildcats, moving on to the Elite 8 to meet the University of Alabama on Saturday, March 29.
Follow the Daily Wildcat on Instagram and Twitter/X
