Duke spotted Houston an 8-0 lead but fought back for a 54-51 win Friday night in Dallas. The win leaves Duke 27-8 and sets up an Elite Eight match Sunday afternoon with NC State.
Couldn’t have imagined writing that sentence, well, anytime this season.
Statistically Kyle Filipowski (16 points, nine rebounds) and Jeremy Roach (14 points, three assists, all 14 points in the second half) keyed the win and maybe that’s appropriate for the team’s two best players to lead them to their biggest win--so far--of the season. But if ever a win was a team win, this one was. Houston’s defense was as advertised, their toughness was as advertised and Duke matched them, rebound for rebound, big play for big play, stop for stop, tough for tough, scowl for scowl.
Okay, maybe not scowl for scowl. That’s a big ask.
Yes, Houston sorely missed All-American guard Jamal Shead, who went down with an ankle injury in the first half. But the Cougars had some guys step up themselves, LJ. Cryer (15 points) and J’Wan Roberts (13 points, eight rebounds) leading the way.
I’m sure some Duke haters--yes, they exist-- will try to minimize Duke’s win on that basis and no one ever wants to see anyone get hurt. But I’ve seen enough great Duke seasons flame-out because of injuries that maybe we should just acknowledge that injuries are an unfortunate part of the game and move on.
The game certainly didn’t start the way Duke hoped. Houston scored three times at the rim, forcing Jon Scheyer to call time out less than four minutes into the game. The deficit reached eight before Filipowski knocked down a 3.
Ryan Young came off the bench and injected some veteran toughness. He scored inside to make it 10-7 Houston and then the two teams went four minutes without a point. In fact, Duke went almost six minutes without a point, falling behind 14-7.
Jaylen Blakes, another tough veteran reserve, found Jared McCain for a 3-pointer which made it 14-10 and Duke never again trailed by any kind of substantial margin.
The Blue Devils took their first lead at 21-20 on two Tyrese Proctor foul shots. McCain extended the lead to 23-20 before Cryer made it 23-22 right before the buzzer, another in an inexplicable series of end-of-the-first-half defense lapses by Duke.
Duke never trailed in the second half but the game was tied at 23, 25, 27 and 32. Duke nudged Houston to the edge several times but they never teetered all the way over the ledge.
Roach hit a short jumper to put Duke up 54-48, with 1:16 left. Duke wouldn’t score again. Emanuel Sharp got an and-one to make it 54-51, with 48 seconds left and Duke’s defense held serve in the final seconds, Tyrese Proctor forcing an off-balance 3 by Sharp with five or so seconds left.
This was a fitting end. Proctor played a great game on the defensive end and Houston made only 2 for 8 from beyond the arc, compared to Duke’s 6 for 17.
Scheyer went out of his way to praise Proctor’s defense, calling it “big-time,” which seems almost an understatement.
Proctor referenced “pride.”
Kyle Filipowski compared this win to last season’s loss to Tennessee in his post-game remarks, saying this was the same kind of game. “Gritty” was the word he used and he credited Duke’s togetherness for the different outcome, “how we didn’t quit out there.”
Roach added that Scheyer reminded his team all season about that game and the way the team felt at the end. “We have a great team this year and we’ve been through so much.”
“These guys have shown every step of the way how tough they are mentally, physically,” Scheyer said.
A day off--maybe a shoot around-and Duke is going to need that time off to recover from a street fight. But a winning street fight.
Our midrange game was very good and team defense was intense but in the end we won because we outperformed Houston from behind the arc. Duke scored 12 more points than Houston on 3 PT FG which is a huge amount in a 54-51 game.
3 PT FG: Duke 6-17; Houston 2-8.
DDMF!!