Madison Square Garden will gets its marquee matchup.
After fourth-ranked Arizona survived a scare and overcame a 19-point first-half deficit to defeat Drexel, 66-62, in the first semifinal of the NIT Season Tip-Off on Wednesday night, sixth-ranked Duke beat Alabama, 74-64, to set up the championship game.
With 34 NBA scouts in attendance, freshman sensation Jabari Parker looked like a star the Knicks would be thrilled to see Mike Krzyzewski leave at the Garden. The forward tied a career-high with 27 points, on 9-of-12 shooting, along with a game-high eight rebounds.
Parker has scored at least 20 points in every game this season.
“In my eight years as a head coach, he’s probably the most talented freshman that I’ve seen, just from his size, the physicality and his skill-level,” Alabama coach Anthony Grant said. “He can make tough shots. He can free himself for open shots. He’s able to get himself to the free throw line. He’s just a really talented player.”
Duke (6-1) struggled early, opening 1-of-11 from the field, while Alabama (3-2) took an early 12-5 lead, but Parker and Quinn Cook (17 points) carried the team to a 33-22 halftime lead. Duke stretched the lead to 18 in the second half before a 12-0 Alabama run, led by Nick Jacobs, who finished with 18 points.
The Crimson Tide’s full-court pressure helped close the gap to 56-51 with five minutes left, but Parker responded with a scoop layup. Alabama stayed close, but never seriously threatened Duke’s much-anticipated date with Arizona.
“Arizona is older and they’re really big,” Krzyzewski said. “Arizona’s probably ahead of some other teams, Arizona, Michigan State because they have guys that have played prominent roles. And they’ve added a great guard and great wing to their lineup.”
Arizona (6-0) almost suffered its first loss of the season after Drexel (3-2) opened with a 9-0 run and led 27-8 with under seven minutes left in the first half. The Dragons went cold late in the half, missing 11 straight shots while Arizona went on an 11-0 run in the final minutes to cut the deficit to 29-20 at halftime.
Arizona’s much-hyped freshman, Aaron Gordon, recognized on Tuesday pundits aren’t sure whether he deserves to be mentioned alongside phenoms such as Parker, and he didn’t do much to help his case.
Finishing with 10 points on 2-of-6 shooting, with 13 rebounds, Gordon’s Garden debut was underwhelming. He disappeared for several stretches throughout the game and was consistently out-muscled by the undersized Dragons on offensive possessions.
Bronx native Chris Fouch scored a game-high 29 points for Drexel.
Arizona 7-footer Kaleb Tarczewski’s 15 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks enabled the Wildcats to control the paint. They also got great guard play from upperclassmen Nick Johnson, who led the team with 20 points, and T.J. McConnell.
“I think the storyline in a game like this, it’s easy to say that maybe Arizona was overlooking Drexel, but that’s the furthest thing from the truth,” Arizona coach Sean Miller said. “We invested a lot of time watching them and it became apparent that we were in for one heck of a battle.”