Duke and St. John’s put on a Sweet 16 classic, and while it was a bit ragged in spots, both teams played like champions. Only one could move on though, and it was Duke, as the Blue Devils prevailed, 80-75. And it was anything but easy.
Like any Rick Pitino team, St. John’s gets after you on defense, and they certainly got after Duke.
There were a couple of stretches where it looked like St. John’s might just press Duke right out of the gym, pressing after made baskets, but Duke steadied the ship, and
a lot of it was due to the inspirational leadership of Caleb Foster.
Out for three weeks after fracturing his foot against UNC in the regular season finale, Foster played for 19 minutes, shot 5-8, scored 11 points (all in the second half) and had no turnovers. He also steadied his team on several occasions when it looked like St. John’s might just blow the game open.
But it wasn’t just Foster. Isaiah Evans had a spectacular game, shooting 10-15/4-8. Cameron Boozer finished with 22 points and 10 rebounds, and Maliq Brown had a stunning defensive game.
Duke needed all of that, and more, to beat the Johnnies.
In the first half, St. John’s hit 5-13 on their three-point attempts. For them, though, the Red Storm attempted 32 and hit 13. In the second half, they took 19 and hit 8.
You can plan for a lot of things, but you can’t plan for Ruben Prey hitting 4-4 off the bench.
Former Tar Heel Ian Jackson talked a lot this week about revenge, but he personally dragged the three-point percentage down for St. John’s, hitting just 1-7 and 2-8 overall.
As Rick Pitino said somewhat wistfully this week, he hoped it would come down to a buzzer beater so that he could get some sense of closure for 1992. He almost saw his wish come true: Duke was up 77-75 with 0:14 to play when Zuby Ejiofor missed his second free throw and Isaiah Evans, who is normally a dead-eye free throw shooter, missed the first of a one-and-one with 0:11 to play.
He made the second to give Duke a 78-75 lead, and when St. John’s came down, Dylan Darling attempted a three with Dame Sarr in his face.
Cameron Boozer hit a pair of free throws to give Duke the final five-point margin.
There were a lot of mistakes in this game – Duke had, we think, two air balls and a backcourt violation. St. John’s couldn’t keep up with Evans, though, and Boozer bullied his way inside.
There were definitely flaws in this game, but if you measure it by passion, and desire, and a willingness by both teams to rise to greatness, it was truly extraordinary. And Foster’s sheer grit and will, his desire to be on the floor with his teammates, and his ability to rise to the occasion, were unbelievably inspiring.
Notes: After getting an early inbounds picked off up high by a Johnnie defender, Nik Khamenia acquitted himself well…Duke won the boards 40-27…Brown finished with 4 blocks while Boozer had 1…Cayden finished with 7 points and 3 assists…surprisingly, given the intensity of St. John’s defense, Duke only had 9 turnovers…
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