No Luck This Time: Duke Bounced By West Virginia
Washington, DC (Sports Network) – Joe Alexander scored 22 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, as West Virginia rallied to bounce Duke, 73-67, in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Alex Ruoff scored 17 points and had six rebounds, and Joe Mazzulla added 13 points, 11 boards and eight assists for the seventh-seeded Mountaineers (26-10), who will travel to Phoenix to take on Purdue or Xavier in a West Regional semifinal on Thursday.
Gerald Henderson scored 18 points for the second-seeded Blue Devils (28-6), who failed to survive the tourney’s opening weekend for the second straight year. Duke was upset in the first round by VCU in 2007.
Jon Scheyer scored 15 points and Greg Paulus added 13 points for Duke, which barely survived the first round on Thursday with a 71-70 triumph over Belmont.
Shooting troubles again plagued the Blue Devils, who made just 11-of-29 shots in the second half on Thursday. Duke connected on only 38 percent from the field on Saturday, including a horrid 5-of-22 effort from three-point range.
The Blue Devils made two of their first three from behind the arc, then missed their next 15 three-point attempts as the game slipped away. To make things worse, West Virginia dominated the glass, outrebounding Duke 47-27.
Duke led 37-29 after Kyle Singler sank a free throw with 17:07 left in the second half, but the Blue Devils went ice-cold and the Mountaineers took advantage.
A Da’Sean Butler tip shot started an 18-3 run that put West Virginia in the driver’s seat. Darris Nichols, Ruoff and Alexander all sank three-pointers on the push, and a Mazzulla layup gave the Mountaineers a 47-40 lead with 11:50 remaining.
The West Virginia advantage reached double figures when a Cam Thoroughman layup made it 57-47 with 5:19 to play. Two Scheyer free throws cut Duke’s deficit to eight, but Ruoff answered with a three and it became clear that the Blue Devils were headed for another early exit from the Big Dance.
Henderson finally broke the three-point jinx, as his trey made it a 66-55 game with 1:54 left. By that time it was much too little, too late for Duke.
The Blue Devils looked to have shaken off their first-round rust that nearly doomed them against Belmont, and took control early on Saturday. After the Mountaineers opened the game with two baskets, Paulus drained a three, kicking off a 14-0 run that included another Paulus trey.
The Mountaineers chipped away with a 7-0 spurt later in the half, and a John Flowers dunk pulled WVU within 18-15 with 10:36 left.
Duke was able to stay on top, though, and took a 34-29 lead into the intermission.
Game Notes
West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2001, when he was at Cincinnati. His last Elite Eight appearance was in 1996, also with Cincinnati…Duke’s DeMarcus Nelson finished with six points on 2-of-11 shooting. Singler was limited to 27 minutes due to foul trouble, and scored six points on 1-of-3 shooting.
03/22 17:09:43 ET