If the NCAA Tournament got some exciting games over the last two days, the Duke-Creighton game was not one of them.
Seth Curry and Duke out lasted Creighton to advance to the Sweet 16.
Duke managed to hold off the Blue Jays in their first ever meeting winning 66 to 50 for their 2000 victory as a school and more importantly it is a victory that will send them to the Sweet 16 in Indianapolis where they will face Michigan State.
The Blue Devils won an ugly, whistle ridden game that prevented any offensive flow and any semblance of the game most were expecting between two of the more potent offensive teams in the country. Duke, a team often criticized for always getting the favorable calls had three key players with 4 fouls with more than 15 minutes left in the game and two of those players fouled out.
Mason Plumlee and Ryan Kelly were completely ineffective scoring only 11 points combined (Plumlee 10, Kelly 1) as both were sidelined with foul trouble early in the first half as both showed difficulty staying with Creighton star Doug McDermott who finished with 21 points and 9 rebounds.
But McDermott wasn’t enough for the Blue Jays who had no other player score in double figures and as a team only shot 30 percent from the floor. Duke’s defense that was scorched from behind the arch in the first round win over Albany who hit 9 threes completely shut down Creighton’s ability to score from outside.
The Blue Jays normally hit 9 three point shots per game but only managed to hit 2 out of 19 good enough for about 10 percent
Duke didn’t shoot much better from the field shooting only 38.8 percent from the floor and 35 percent from three point range, but the Blue Devils got a solid game out of Seth Curry who hit for 17 points. It was freshman Rasheed Sulaimon though that carried the day for the struggling Duke offense.
The freshman guard came out from the opening tip aggressive and after taking only two shots in the opening game of the tournament he hit 5-9 shots and scored a team high 21 points.
Sulaimon wasn’t the only freshman doing some damage though. With all the foul trouble plaguing the Duke front court, Amile Jefferson who has played very limited minutes since Kelly’s return to the court, gave the Blue Devils 11 solid minutes scoring only 2 points and grabbing 2 rebounds, but playing solid defense on McDermott.
It was a game that, without his contributions, Duke may not have won. They also go solid play from Tyler Thornton and Josh Hairston, before he fouled out. Thornton hit a couple big shots including a buzzer beater right before halftime to give Duke some momentum heading into the break.
Duke would never trail in the second half and Creighton never managed to get the margin under 7 from about the midway point of the second period.
With the victory the Blue Devils improve to 29-5 on the season and will advance to the 21st Sweet Sixteen appearance in Mike Krzyzewski’s 33 years as the Duke head coach.
They will take on Michigan State who pulled away from Memphis late. While the game against Creighton was marked by physical play, at times extremely so, you can guarantee that the Spartans will be even more physical.
Sometimes in March the wins aren’t always pretty, and this victory certainly wasn’t, but it is all about surviving and advancing and Duke managed to do just that.
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