INDIANAPOLIS – Three years ago, Duke came to Lucas Oil Stadium, capturing the championship with a title game win over Butler.
“A lot of memories,” senior Mason Plumlee said of being back in the building now. “We have the same locker room as we had for the Final Four.”
Duke may get a new locker at this year’s Final Four in Atlanta, as the Blue Devils are just one win away after another enormous Lucas Oil triumph. They moved into the Elite Eight with an impressive 71-61 win over Michigan State on Friday night, setting up a colossal Midwest Regional showdown Sunday.
The 2nd-seeded Blue Devils will face top-seeded Louisville for the chance to go to the Final Four. It’s the only 1 vs. 2 regional final in the country, and it’ll pit a pair of coaching behemoths – Mike Krzyzewski vs. Rick Pitino.
“They’ve been playing the best basketball in the country,” Krzyzewski said of Louisville last night.
Heading into the game, Duke-Michigan State seemed to be as outstanding a Sweet 16 matchup as there could be, but the contest didn’t live up. The Spartans shot just 40 percent from the field (7-for-23 in the second half), Duke was in command for most of the second half and aside from Seth Curry, nobody on Duke particularly did much.
“He kind of singlehandedly beat us,” Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said.
Curry was brilliant, pouring in 29 points on 8-for-17 shooting, 6-of-9 from three. The senior guard – a.ka., Stephen Curry’s little brother – is averaging 24 points in three tournament games. So it should be a terrific battle against Louisville gunner Russ Smith (27 ppg in the tourney) and the Cardinals’ superb defense.
Duke will be aiming for its 16th Final Four berth, while Krzyzewski is shooting for his 12th, the most among active coaches. To do it, he’ll have to beat Pitino – the finest coach in the country. But Krzyezwski beat another great coach in Izzo last night.
Duke’s defense delivered against the Spartans, and the fact is, the Blue Devils have done it on that end in their three NCAA Tournament games. They’re surrendering just 57.3 points in the Dance – for comparison, Louisville’s allowing 57.7.
“Not good defense,” Krzyzewski said of his team tourney’s performance. “Great defense.”
Curry poured in 14 points in the first half, then delivered more early in the second. A late Spartans surge in the first half had trimmed an eight-point Duke lead to 32-31 at the break, with MSU’s Adreian Payne sinking a corner three with 19 seconds remaining before the half and screaming out, “Let’s go!”
Curry, though, drained a trio of threes in the opening three minutes of the second half, and his jumper pushed Duke’s lead to 47-38 with 13:47 left.
“When somebody’s making shots like [Curry’s threes] and we had the momentum, it is deflating,” Payne said.
“Seth was at a different level than anybody on the court offensively,” Krzyzewski said.
Michigan State wasn’t happy with the level of officiating, with Izzo livid after multiple calls/non-calls. The fouls ended up being 24 called on MSU and 17 on Duke – but was far from the reason why the Spartans fell.
“The foul thing bothered me a little bit, to be honest about it,” Izzo said. “But it is what it is.”