Duke survives scare from UCF, moves on to Sweet 16 with 77-76 win

It was a razor thin margin for the Blue Devils, who escaped being ousted in the round of 32 by 1 point over the University of Central Florida Knights, 77-76. The Blue Devils and the Knights battled it out in a gritty, physical game and with both teams deserving of the win the Blue Devils got a little lucky.

With 14 second remaining Zion Williamson drove the basketball toward the towering Tacko Fall. Williamson scored the basket and got the foul call on Fall. The basket drew the Blue Devils to within 1 but Williamson missed the tying free throw. R.J. Barrett was able to grab the rebound and lay it up to give Duke the 1 point lead with 11 seconds left.  Just as last years Duke team’s fortunes hung on a Grayson Allen shot that teetered around the rim before falling off – this seasons fortunes  similarly teetered but this time it was a put back attempt on a shot missed by guard B.J. Taylor from Aubrey Dawkins who narrowly missed a tip in that would have propelled Dawkins and company into the Sweet Sixteen.

Defensively, the Knights did what they were supposed to do, they packed it in against the Blue Devils, daring them to beat them over the top. The Blue Devils, while not a great shooting team from beyond the arc, responded with 10-25 effort (40%) from 3.

Aubrey Dawkins had a game for the ages and nearly packed the bags for the Blue Devils with his stellar play.  Dawkins scored 32 points on 12-18 shooting, hit 5-7 from beyond the arc and had 4 assists and 3 steals. Aubrey was on a mission. Duke countered with their own superman, Zion Williamson who added his own 32 points, going 3-7 from beyond the arc and shooting 12-24 from the field, pulling down 12 boards. Senior center Tacko Fall was as impressive and imposing as expected, blocking 3 shots and shooting 7-10 from the field for 15 points. In addition, for Duke, they got double figure efforts from Cam Reddish who hit 3-4 from beyond the arc for 13 points, R.J. Barrett who added 16 on 6-15 shooting – Barrett also grabbed 8 rebounds. Tre Jones added 11 points on 5-15 shooting while dishing 4 assists.