PHILADELPHIA—In a low-scoring battle that featured 46 personal fouls, second-seeded Duke found a way to overcome Doug McDermott and seventh-seeded Creighton, defeating the Bluejays 66-50 to advance to the Sweet Sixteen.
Behind the first-half scoring of freshman Rasheed Sulaimon and the second-half scoring of senior Seth Curry, the Blue Devils (29-5) recorded the school’s 2,000th career victory, becoming just the fourth program in Division I men’s basketball to do so.
“It’s a game of adjustments,” Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “Their coaching staff and certainly our coaching staff didn’t expect everything that happened today, and so your team has to adapt really well.”
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After controlling the opening tip, Creighton’s Grant Gibbs raced down the court for an easy breakaway dunk to give the Bluejays (28-8) the early lead, but the scoring all but stopped for the rest of the half. Both teams spent most of the opening period throwing up bricks—Duke shot just 35.7 percent from the field, while Creighton only managed to convert 29.6 percent of its field goal attempts in the first half.
McDermott—the nation’s second-leading scorer—started the game just 1-of-5 from the field, but quickly warmed up after Ryan Kelly and Mason Plumlee picked up two fouls and were forced to play less aggressive defense on the Bluejays’ star. The junior finished the half with 13 points, despite shooting just 4-of-11 from the field.
“They did a great job, they were real physical with me,” McDermott said. “They were switching everything, making it frustrating. And I missed a lot of shots that I normally make, so that was unfortunate. But they did a great job finding me and not letting me do anything easy.”
For the Blue Devils, Sulaimon served as the lone bright spot on offense during the opening period. The freshman poured in 11 points on 3-of-7 shooting.
“The coaches always tell me to stay aggressive,” Sulaimon said. “Look for my openings when they’re there, not to force anything but just to make reads, and if I have the shot to take it with confidence.”
Junior forward Tyler Thornton also contributed, knocking down both his 3-point attempts, including an off-balance buzzer-beater to send Duke into the locker room with a 29-23 advantage and momentum after the team scored on six of its final seven possessions in the half.
Expending most of his energy on the defensive end against McDermott, Kelly failed to score from the field in the opening period and only attempted one shot. Kelly finished the game with just one point on 0-for-5 shooting. Curry and Plumlee also struggled to find their offensive rhythm, combining for just 10 points in the first half. The second period opened with a flurry that put both sides in serious foul trouble. Plumlee picked up his third and fourth personals just 2:12 into the half and went straight to the Blue Devil bench. Not long after, Creighton’s Greg Echenique, Gibbs and McDermott all picked up their third fouls.
Curry started to heat up though, knocking down his first 3-pointer of the game with 14:56 left and then converting an easy layup opportunity off an inbounds pass on Duke’s next trip down the court.
“I just had to be aggressive,” Curry said. “Even though I wasn’t able to knock down shots early, I just stuck to it, and Coach [Krzyzewski] had the faith in me and kept going to me, and I was able to get it going.”
As Curry started to find his groove offensively, the Bluejays went ice cold on their end of the court. McDermott—Creighton’s only real scoring threat throughout the game—failed to get open looks and the Bluejays committed several turnovers to let the Blue Devils extend their lead to double digits midway through the half.
A large part of McDermott’s offensive struggles came as a result of stingy defense by freshman Amile Jefferson, who saw increased playing time due to Duke’s foul trouble. The Philadelphia native playing in his hometown played just 11 combined minutes in Duke’s previous five games, but proved to be a thorn in McDermott’s side for much of the second half.
“Duke took away the easy stuff, and then the tough shots that Doug normally makes he didn’t make today,” said Bluejay head coach Greg McDermott, who is also Doug’s father. “Unfortunately when Doug shoots it like that, we were going to need somebody else to step up and have a spectacular game, and that just didn’t happen.”
With McDermott contained, and the rest of Creighton’s lineup hardly a factor on offense, the Blue Devils managed to maintain their lead for the entire half thanks to the scoring of Curry and Sulaimon, as well as Plumlee’s ability to play solid defense until he fouled out with 2:45 left to play.
Curry finished with 17 points, and Sulaimon paced the Blue Devils with 21 on 5-of-9 shooting.
Not long after Plumlee exited, the Bluejays began the process of strategically fouling in order to mount a comeback but to no avail. Duke easily held its double-digit lead until the final buzzer.
Creighton, which entered play making 42.2 percent of its 3-pointers—the best clip in the nation—made just 2-of-19 3-pointers.
“Some of it was certainly Duke’s length and athletic ability,” Greg McDermott said. “Some of it we just missed, simple as that. Neither team shot the ball like they’re capable of shooting it tonight. Duke just made a few more plays.”
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