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NEWARK, N.J. – For Arizona to knock off Duke in the Sweet 16, it was pretty clear the Wildcats would need a big night from Caleb Love.
But while Love came through with a season-high 35 points against his longtime rival, leading the Wildcats during a spirited second half surge that pulled them back into a game they trailed by 19, the Wildcats ultimately didn’t have enough of just about anything else. Not enough defense, rebounding or shooting.
Not enough anyway to beat Duke, a team loaded with six players in ESPN’s Top 100 NBA Draft prospects, including projected No. 1 pick Cooper Flagg.
Flagg led the Blue Devils with 30 points on 9-for-19 shooting, with seven assists and six rebounds, while the Blue Devils shot 60.0% from the field and outrebounded Arizona 30-27.
The loss finished Arizona’s season at 24-13 while top-ranked and No. 1 seed Duke (34-3) moved into an East Regional final Elite Eight game against Alabama, which blew out BYU 113-88 in Thursday’s earlier Sweet 16 game.
Carter Bryant hit a 3-pointer from the left corner to cut Duke’s lead to just 91-86 with 1:56 left.
While Duke led by up to 19 points with 13 minutes to go, Love almost single-handedly kept them in it. They pulled within 78-68 and then Henri Veesaar dunked and drew a foul, hitting the free throw to cut the Blue Devils’ lead to just 78-71 with 7:47 to go.
Love later threw down a dunk on the fast break to cut Duke’s lead to seven again, 86-79, with 4:45 left, tying his season high of 33 points on that play.
The Wildcats were playing most of the first half without center Tobe Awaka, who picked up his fourth foul with 13 minutes left, while point guard Jaden Bradley had two fouls in each half, getting his fourth with 7:47 left.
While the game was tied at 42 with 28 seconds left in the first half, Duke’s Kon Knueppel and Flagg hit 3-pointers from there, with Flagg sinking his from 25 feet just before the first half buzzer hit.
The Blue Devils carried that momentum into the second half, taking a 15-point lead after four minutes and nine seconds. They scored six straight eye-opening points when 7-footer Khaman Malauch dunked off an assist from Flagg, Knuepple drove in for a layup and Maluauch dunked on an alley-oop feed from Flagg, who pushed the ball upward from near the floor.
That gave Duke a 62-47 lead and the Blue Devils soon afterward broke UA’s fullcourt press, with Patrick Ngongba scoring inside off a feed from Flagg. Duke then went ahead 70-51 with 13:12 still left before UA scored five straight, on a layup from KJ Lewis and a 3-pointer from Love.
In the first half, Flagg scored 18 points overall, helping Duke take a 48-42 halftime lead.
In what was mostly a neck-and-neck first half, as it was when Duke beat Arizona 69-55 on Nov. 22 at McKale Center, Flagg’s 7-for-12 shooting outweighed some hot shooting from UA guard Caleb Love, who had 14 points while hitting 3 of 5 3-pointers.
But other than Love, and two early 3s from Anthony Dell'Orso, the Wildcats didn't have enough offensively, and especially not defensively in the first half. They shot 42.9% from the field while Duke shot 61.3% and hit 7 of 13 3-pointers.
UA's biggest advantage offensively in the first half came at the line, where the Wildcats scored eight more points than the Blue Devils. UA hit 11 for 13 free throws while Duke hit three out of just five attempts, and the Blue Devils also out-rebounded UA 15-12.
After UA took early leads of 15-10 and 16-12, Duke went on an 11-0 run thanks partly to 3-pointers from Tyrese Proctor, Isaiah Evans and Kon Knueppel to go ahead 23-16. Arizona missed eight straight field goals during Duke’s run.
Little used backup point guard Conrad Martinez with 6:07 left and the Wildcats trailing 28-27. Martinez threw a pass over the head of teammate Anthony Dell’Orso that went out of bounds, leading to a layup from Duke’s Cooper Flagg, but sank a 3-pointer from the right corner on UA’s next possession.
Martinez wound up playing six minutes, with the three points and one steal but the Wildcats were outscored by eight when he was on the floor.
Early in the game, Arizona hit five of its first seven field goals to take a 13-10 lead, with Anthony Dell’Orso making two 3-pointers and Trey Townsend adding another. Duke hit 4 of 8 over that span, but Flagg was 1 of 3.
The Wildcats briefly went ahead 15-10 when Jaden Bradley threw in a five-footer as he fell to the floor, but Proctor hit a 3-pointer and two other baskets over a two-minute span to put Duke ahead 17-16 with 12:21 left.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Caleb Love's 35 is not enough as Arizona's year ends in Sweet 16 loss
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But while Love came through with a season-high 35 points against his longtime rival, leading the Wildcats during a spirited second half surge that pulled them back into a game they trailed by 19, the Wildcats ultimately didn’t have enough of just about anything else. Not enough defense, rebounding or shooting.
Not enough anyway to beat Duke, a team loaded with six players in ESPN’s Top 100 NBA Draft prospects, including projected No. 1 pick Cooper Flagg.
Flagg led the Blue Devils with 30 points on 9-for-19 shooting, with seven assists and six rebounds, while the Blue Devils shot 60.0% from the field and outrebounded Arizona 30-27.
The loss finished Arizona’s season at 24-13 while top-ranked and No. 1 seed Duke (34-3) moved into an East Regional final Elite Eight game against Alabama, which blew out BYU 113-88 in Thursday’s earlier Sweet 16 game.
Carter Bryant hit a 3-pointer from the left corner to cut Duke’s lead to just 91-86 with 1:56 left.
While Duke led by up to 19 points with 13 minutes to go, Love almost single-handedly kept them in it. They pulled within 78-68 and then Henri Veesaar dunked and drew a foul, hitting the free throw to cut the Blue Devils’ lead to just 78-71 with 7:47 to go.
Love later threw down a dunk on the fast break to cut Duke’s lead to seven again, 86-79, with 4:45 left, tying his season high of 33 points on that play.
The Wildcats were playing most of the first half without center Tobe Awaka, who picked up his fourth foul with 13 minutes left, while point guard Jaden Bradley had two fouls in each half, getting his fourth with 7:47 left.
While the game was tied at 42 with 28 seconds left in the first half, Duke’s Kon Knueppel and Flagg hit 3-pointers from there, with Flagg sinking his from 25 feet just before the first half buzzer hit.
The Blue Devils carried that momentum into the second half, taking a 15-point lead after four minutes and nine seconds. They scored six straight eye-opening points when 7-footer Khaman Malauch dunked off an assist from Flagg, Knuepple drove in for a layup and Maluauch dunked on an alley-oop feed from Flagg, who pushed the ball upward from near the floor.
That gave Duke a 62-47 lead and the Blue Devils soon afterward broke UA’s fullcourt press, with Patrick Ngongba scoring inside off a feed from Flagg. Duke then went ahead 70-51 with 13:12 still left before UA scored five straight, on a layup from KJ Lewis and a 3-pointer from Love.
In the first half, Flagg scored 18 points overall, helping Duke take a 48-42 halftime lead.
In what was mostly a neck-and-neck first half, as it was when Duke beat Arizona 69-55 on Nov. 22 at McKale Center, Flagg’s 7-for-12 shooting outweighed some hot shooting from UA guard Caleb Love, who had 14 points while hitting 3 of 5 3-pointers.
But other than Love, and two early 3s from Anthony Dell'Orso, the Wildcats didn't have enough offensively, and especially not defensively in the first half. They shot 42.9% from the field while Duke shot 61.3% and hit 7 of 13 3-pointers.
UA's biggest advantage offensively in the first half came at the line, where the Wildcats scored eight more points than the Blue Devils. UA hit 11 for 13 free throws while Duke hit three out of just five attempts, and the Blue Devils also out-rebounded UA 15-12.
After UA took early leads of 15-10 and 16-12, Duke went on an 11-0 run thanks partly to 3-pointers from Tyrese Proctor, Isaiah Evans and Kon Knueppel to go ahead 23-16. Arizona missed eight straight field goals during Duke’s run.
Little used backup point guard Conrad Martinez with 6:07 left and the Wildcats trailing 28-27. Martinez threw a pass over the head of teammate Anthony Dell’Orso that went out of bounds, leading to a layup from Duke’s Cooper Flagg, but sank a 3-pointer from the right corner on UA’s next possession.
Martinez wound up playing six minutes, with the three points and one steal but the Wildcats were outscored by eight when he was on the floor.
Early in the game, Arizona hit five of its first seven field goals to take a 13-10 lead, with Anthony Dell’Orso making two 3-pointers and Trey Townsend adding another. Duke hit 4 of 8 over that span, but Flagg was 1 of 3.
The Wildcats briefly went ahead 15-10 when Jaden Bradley threw in a five-footer as he fell to the floor, but Proctor hit a 3-pointer and two other baskets over a two-minute span to put Duke ahead 17-16 with 12:21 left.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Caleb Love's 35 is not enough as Arizona's year ends in Sweet 16 loss
Continue reading...
