ATLANTA -- The improbable, the unexpected and the unfathomable all became almost improbable, almost unexpected and almost unfathomable Sunday in Atlanta--all thanks to an 18-year-old from Sudan.
The men's basketball team (31-5) reached its 10th Final Four under head coach Mike Krzyzewski, defeating No. 7 seed Xavier (26-11) while led by Atlanta Regional Most Outstanding Player Luol Deng. The 6-foot-8 freshman finished with 19 points and seven rebounds while evading his fifth foul for the last 4:07 of the game, but his most important contributions came between the 5:11 and 1:52 marks of the second half.
After a 30 second Duke timeout with the Musketeers leading 56-53, the Blue Devils set up for an out-of-bounds play with 5:13 remaining in the ball game. Confused as to whether the team was playing in zone defense or man-to-man, Xavier allowed Deng to get himself wide open. Deng then nailed a three from the corner to tie the game at 56.
"We were supposed to be man-to-man and a couple of guys were in zone," Musketeer head coach Tad Matta said. "When you play against a team like Duke, you have to be able to execute all of your plays, especially your inbounds plays. We were able to switch up well most of the game, it just didn't work on that play and Duke was able to take advantage of it."
After a two minute period that saw nothing but fouls (including Deng's fourth), missed shots and turnovers, Blue Devils' captain Chris Duhon knifed through the Xavier defense into a position where he had an easy lay up. The Louisiana native missed the chip shot, but Deng seemingly jumped over the entire Musketeer team and grabbed the miss. Falling out of bounds, Deng flung the ball to J.J. Redick, who subsequently gave Duke a lead it would not relinquish by swishing a wide-open three from the top of the key to make the score 59-56 with 2:56 remaining on the clock.
Shelden Williams then evaded his fifth foul while blocking Dedrick Finn's darting drive on Xavier's attempt to respond to Redick's three. With the ball once again, Duhon burst passed the Musketeer defense, only to miss another lay up. Deng, however, was there once again, and gracefully, yet powerfully tipped the ball in to give the Blue Devils a somewhat comfortable 61-56 lead at the 1:52 mark.
"Just that one spurt by Luol was the difference in the ball game," Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said.
A few moments later after Romain Sato went one-for-two from the free throw line with 56 seconds left, the Musketeers had dwindled Duke's lead down to four. Led by Duhon, the Blue Devils were able to wind the clock down significantly on its next possession before Justin Cage fouled Chris Duhon with 25 seconds remaining. Duhon knocked down both the shots, assuring a Blue Devil victory.
Matta rationalized his decision not to purposely foul with 56 seconds remaining.
"I think, we're down four with 57 (sic) seconds, and they're such a great free throw shooting team, I didn't want to give them six and let them set their defense," he said.
In the triumph, Deng, Williams and Shavlik Randolph were plagued by foul trouble for much of the second half. While Randolph was eventually disqualified, Willams, who picked up his fourth foul with 8:22 to go in the game, and Deng finished the contest without picking up their final hack.
"We were frustrated we couldn't [get Williams and Deng to foul out]," Matta said. "We were trying to put them in position to foul, and I give Duke credit because they did a great job of getting them on us."
Perhaps the biggest game changing play occurred with about 12:30 to go. Musketeer Anthony Myles, who disrupted the Blue Devil interior attack throughout the game by scoring 16 points and grabbing 10 rebounds in only 20 minutes, received his fourth foul with 12:27 to go in the second half and fouled out just six seconds later on a rebound from a Redick miss.
"I thought somebody was going to be [at the scorers table], but I looked over and there was nobody there," Miles said about not being subbed out after his fourth personal. "Then the play started, and I did my best not to get my fifth foul but he called it anyway."
Sato, who scored 27 points against Texas in the Sweet 16, only shot 2-for-10 from the field. Lionel Chalmers led the Musketeers with 17 points, but scored only four in the second half. Duhon shadowed Sato in the first half and Chalmers in the second.
"I told my team at halftime, I can only put Chris on one player," Krzyzewski said. "Whoever was hot I tried to put him on. Then they became not hot. It's a nice thing to have as a coach."
While this is Krzyzewski's 10th Final Four, Duhon was the only active player on the 2001 team that won the National Title.
"It feels great," Deng said about winning the Atlanta regional. "We have worked very hard this season and it is just a wonderful feeling. I just feel fortunate that as a freshman, I have a chance to play in the Final Four and possibly win a national championship."
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