ATLANTA - With less than nine minutes left in the second half and Duke leading 45-40, J.J. Redick caught the ball with a chance to put the nail in yet another opponent's coffin. DeMarcus Nelson had just missed his second free throw, and Josh McRoberts had rebounded and expertly kicked the ball out to an open Redick beyond the three-point arc.
But just as he has before in his magnificent career, Redick faltered in the Sweet 16, and he could not put the Blue Devils up eight. His shot-the least contested one the senior got all night-rimmed around and out, and the Duke faithful let out a gasp of shock. LSU's lone senior, point guard Darrell Mitchell, took the ball down the court, used a high screen to free himself at the top of the key and buried a three to turn a nearly-iced game into a battle once more.
"There's a lot of 'ifs' throughout the game," Redick said. "[But] that was a big momentum swing. It could have gone our way, but it ended up going theirs."
Redick's struggles in the NCAA Tournament were well-documented coming into the fourth Sweet 16 game of his career. But even in a season in which he looked at times immortal, Redick did not even appear average in his last collegiate game.
Redick's struggles were certainly not the only reason the Blue Devils fell in the round of 16 for the fifth time in seven years. LSU put nearly all of its efforts into stopping the stellar shooter, and no one besides Shelden Williams could make them pay. Williams scored 23 inside, but, aside from Redick, the Blue Devils were 2-for-17 from behind the three-point line.
"That may have been the best defensive effort that we have had or that I've seen one of my teams have," LSU head coach John Brady said. "We knew we had to not let J.J. Redick get in the offense. We were going to double team him, follow him around, around the double screens that they set for him coming out of the lane.
"We got good hedges. If there was ever any doubt that J.J. was going to break clean, we were going to run somebody else at him, even if it allowed two people to guard him and somebody else to go free."
Still, Redick allowed the Tigers' defense to get to him-he forced many plays in the second half-leading to four turnovers against just one assist during the contest. Perhaps this was because of the pressure surrounding what would potentially be his final game, but it is still shocking considering that Redick has been the focal point of every opponent's defense and has been physically punished by every opposing defender.
As Redick was introduced prior to the game, Krzyzewski looked at his Player of the Year and gave him a simple command.
"Have fun tonight," Krzyzewski said. "Have fun."
It seemed Redick could not comply. The senior was completely frustrated all night both by his struggles and the extremely physical manner in which he was guarded. During the under-16-minute television timeout, Redick threw a towel halfway across the court in anger.
On the first play out of the timeout, the senior stole the ball and raced down the court, where he was met at the rim by three Tigers, who sent Redick sprawling and his shot out of bounds. It had only been nine seconds of action, but Krzyzewski was forced to call a timeout to calm his star down. This time, the senior sent a towel into the rows behind the bench.
While Redick's Tourney struggles will certainly affect his legacy, they should not define it. In a game that rivaled his freshman performance against Kansas as his worst game, Redick could not help that his teammates could not hit threes to take pressure off him.
He also could not help how loosely the game was being officiated-Redick shot just two free throws on a night when he was bumped on nearly every cut. And ultimately, he could not change the fact that LSU's young stars played well enough to make Redick's poor performance his last.
"Certain things are in your control and certain things are out of your control," Redick said. "I'm not a great athlete and LSU has great athletes. And it was just a very physical game and obviously I'm disappointed in the way I played. But I've had a good year. Shelden's had a good year. We have had a pretty outstanding year as a team. I'll be alright."
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