Duke basketball takes on No. 4 Arizona in Parker-Gordon matchup

Since the NIT Season Tip-off began with the Blue Devils taking on UNC Asheville Nov. 18, all roads have led to a Duke-Arizona final.

Although both teams had rough patches on their way to the championship round, the No. 6 Blue Devils will take on the No. 4 Wildcats 6 p.m. Friday at Madison Square Garden to determine the tournament's champion.

“I’m just glad we have an opportunity to play for a championship,” Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said after his team's 74-64 victory against Alabama Wednesday night. “That experience—playing against a very talented team—it will be different, completely different, from playing this game."

All eyes will be on the matchup of two of the nation's top freshmen in forwards Jabari Parker and Aaron Gordon. Parker lit up Alabama in the semifinals Wednesday, tying a career-high with 27 points, adding eight rebounds and going 9-10 from the line. The Chicago native has now scored more than 20 points in each of his seven games for Duke (6-1), the first rookie to do so since Kevin Durant did at Texas during the 2006-07 season.

“He’s been a pleasure to coach, as talented as he is on the floor,” Arizona head coach Sean Miller said. “Aaron is not going to wow you with 25 shot attempts, but if you really pay attention… he’s always hard on himself.”

Although the freshman duo play different roles on their respective teams—Parker does a little bit of everything, and Gordon posts up as the Wildcats’ biggest rebounding threat—their playing styles are familiar to each other. Parker and Gordon roommates when they won a gold medal together for the United States at the FIBA U16 World Championships in 2011.

“We’ve just been good friends ever since then,” Parker said. “He’s always a cool guy. He comes from the West Coast and my dad was from out there… so we can relate a little.”

But Gordon is one of only many threats Arizona possesses. Sophomore center Kaleb Tarczewski had a slow first half against Drexel, scoring only two points and committing three turnovers. The 7-footer, however, looked like a different player in the second half, finishing with 15 points and 10 rebounds. He and Gordon were the only players on either team to earn double-doubles on the night.

Arizona’s size will be one of the biggest hurdles a Duke team which has recently struggled defensively. Parker, who is only 6-foot-8, has been taking opening tipoffs, and 6-foot-9 forward Amile Jefferson has been thrust into the post role. Redshirt sophomore Marshall Plumlee is the only true center on the Blue Devils’ roster, but the 7-footer has only averaged 5.3 minutes a game and did not appear in his team's semifinal victory.

“Arizona is older, and they are really big for us,” Krzyzewski said. “They can post three guys from their starting lineup. They post their front line. You know, that’s where we are not really big. That will be interesting how we try to get that going.”

After struggling to contain opponents in previous games, Duke showed a defensive spark against the Crimson Tide. Krzyzewski started two of his senior captains, guard Tyler Thornton and forward Josh Hairston, in place of Jefferson and Rasheed Sulaimon for the first time this season. The Blue Devils forced Alabama to turn the ball over 16 times and shoot only 40.4 percent on the night.

“They were a good driving team, very athletic,” Thornton said. “In the halfcourt we did a really good job of communicating and playing together.”

Duke must ensure that they maintain their edge defensively against Arizona after allowing the Crimson Tide, along with earlier opponents East Carolina and Vermont, to mount late comebacks. Wednesday, Alabama’s second-half 12-0 run put a dent in the Blue Devils’ 18-point lead—something the team cannot allow a sharp-shooting, offensively dominant Arizona team to do.

“In our game, there’s a thing called runs,” Krzyzewski said. “We’re 6-1, and obviously we had a little bit more of a run than someone else. When a team doesn’t fold, that’s spectacular.”