Coach K and his Blue Devils always seem to make it to the Final Four. They've done it 11 times coming into their Elite Eight matchup in the South Region of the 2015 NCAA Tournament against the #2 seed Gonzaga Bulldogs from Spokane, Washington. To Duke's contrary, in the 17 straight years making the tournament for Gonzaga, they never seem to be able to make their way to the Final Four. Sunday evening's matchup would determine whether these patterns would continue, or whether history would be rewritten.
It seemed as if Duke was going to cruise to victory to start the first half. They took an early 23-12 lead on the Zags, but then Gonzaga began to attack the paint. That changed things for the Blue Devils. The Bulldogs have big men Kyle Wiltjer, Damantas Sabonis, and Przemek Karnowski at their disposal, and while Karnowski was sitting during the late first half, Sabonis and Kyle Wiltjer took over the Gonzaga offense and brought their team back into the game. At halftime, the score was only 31-26 in Duke's favor, and Wiltjer led all scorers with 13 points. Sabonis had 7 at the half.
To start the second half as well, the Zags played very aggressive defense on the stellar Duke offense, and continued to pound the ball inside. They scored a few straight transition buckets to begin the second, and all of a sudden, the Bulldogs led 38-34 with 16 minutes remaining in the game. The Blue Devils did end up tieing the game right back up at 38, but then after a Kevin Pangos layup with 6:40 remaining, Gonzaga was only down 3.
The whole second half was a back-and-forth fight, until Gonzaga ran out of gas. In a big way. For the final 6:39, the only shots the Zags hit were two mere free throws. Duke, on the other hand, ended the game on a 13-1 run, mostly consisting of made free throws, to win by double-digits, 66-52, and advance to Coach K's 12th Final Four. The Blue Devils' offense worked to perfection for most of the second half, and when Gonzaga stopped packing the paint and began to feel fatigued, they collapsed.
Gonzaga's strategy in this game was to force Duke to shoot from the outside, and that is exactly what Duke did well to energize their offense. Matt Jones scored 16 points for the Blue Devils, including 4 made threes. Justise Winslow was a constant workhosre for the Blue Devils, and he hit a clutch three, en route to a 16-point, 5-rebound performance. Tyus Jones recorded 15 points and 6 assists while running the Krzyzewski offense very solidly against one of the nation's top teams. Top NBA prospect and college superstar Jahlil Okafor only scored 9 and grabbed 8 rebounds, but he was a great defensive force in preventing Karnowski and Sabonis of the Bulldogs to score.
For the Zags, Kyle Wiltjer did end up leading with 16 points and 5 rebounds. Byron Wesley had 10 points and 5 rebounds, and Sabonis had 9 points and 4 rebounds. They just weren't consistent enough in getting the ball inside and scoring in the paint. And they couldn't control Duke's fast pace or immense talent.
Duke is having a great run once again with Coach K, and will face Michigan State in the Final Four for a chance to make it to the national championship. Gonzaga's great season has unfortunately come to an end after only three losses - one to Duke, one to Arizona, and one to BYU, all nationally-respected and skilled teams. Both teams should be happy with their efforts this season, and Duke should, as Krzyzewski said in his press conference, "live in the moment" and have fun in Indianapolis.