Duke advances to Elite Eight with 78-73 win over Texas Tech
Posted March 24, 2022 10:55 p.m. EDT
Updated March 25, 2022 9:31 a.m. EDT
 12Texas Tech Red Raiders |
73 |
 9Duke Blue Devils |
78 |
| Final | |
Duke knew it wasn't going to be easy. But the No. 2 seed Blue Devils are moving on to the Elite Eight to face 4-seed Arkansas for the right to go to the Final Four.
Duke (31-6) beat 3-seed Texas Tech (27-10) 78-73 in one of the more hard-fought games of the NCAA Tournament.
Texas Tech was one of the best defensive teams in the country, and the Red Raiders lived up to that reputation early.
Duke started out 1 of 5 shooting and had three turnovers on its first eight possessions as Texas Tech took a 10-2 lead not even five minutes into the game.
After the under-16 media timeout, Duke went on a 10-2 run to tie the game 12-12 with 13:15 to go in the half and made four shots in a row.
And from the 13:15 mark until 4:27 remained, neither team led by more than three points in a back-and-forth, physical battle.
Duke took its first and only lead of the first half on a Jeremy Roach jumper with 7:47 to go, 24-22, but Duke took out Paolo Banchero to get him some rest and Texas Tech rattled off five straight points to go up 27-24 with 5:42 to go.
Duke went without a point from the 7:47 mark until 2:32 remained. Texas Tech took a 5-point lead, its biggest since the 14:21 mark, with 4:27 to go in the half and grew it to 7, going on an 11-2 run over nearly six minutes to take a 7-point lead with 1:12 to go.
Banchero got a dunk with 13 seconds left and drew a foul, converting the free throw to cut Duke's halftime margin to four points.
Duke shot 36.7% from the field and just 3 of 11 (27.3%) from 3 in the first half.
But the second half? That was a different story.
Duke shot nearly 71% against the nation's top defense, out-scoring Texas Tech 49-40 in the second half after losing the first-half score 33-29.
The Blue Devils did not miss a shot for the final 8:53 of the game.
Texas Tech still held the lead early in the second half, even going up by as many as six. But Duke went on a 9-1 run to take its first lead of the second half with 11:35 to go.
It was back and forth the rest of the way, and any time either team took the lead, the other always had a response.
But in the end, Duke had more.
The smallest player on the court in Roach scored six of his 15 points in a two-minute stretch from the 3:35 mark until 1:30 remained, and his final bucket put Duke up by five with 1:30 to go.
Roach did miss the front end of a 1-and-1 with 34 seconds to go, though, and Texas Tech's Adonis Arms got a quick dunk to cut Duke's lead to 73-70.
Wendell Moore Jr. made two free throws on the other end to extend it back to a 5-point lead with 25 seconds left, but then Arms hit a 3 with 13 seconds left to cut Duke's lead to 75-73.
A.J. Griffin was fouled and knocked down two free throws to put Duke up by four with 12 seconds left, though, and that was that.
Texas Tech shot 47% for the game but was just 6 of 19 (31.6%) from 3.
Banchero led all scorers with 22 points and went 3 of 4 from 3. Williams had 12 of his 16 points in the second half, while Moore had 12 and Griffin added 11.
Texas Tech's Bryson Williams led the Red Raiders with 21 points on 8 of 16 shooting, while Kevin McCullar had 17 points and Arms added 13. Kevin Obanor had 10 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.
Duke will face the 4-seed in the West on Saturday as Arkansas knocked off the Tournament's overall seed Gonzaga in the first game of the night in San Francisco.
