PROVIDENCE, R.I.—Down six with four seconds left in the first half, freshman Brandon Ingram received a midcourt pass from Grayson Allen. Ingram was playing in the first game of his NCAA tournament career and was the only thing clicking for Duke in the first half.
He took a few dribbles, stopped at the top of the arc and fired a triple before the buzzer sounded. By the time it did sound, the ball was already through the nylon, trimming 13th-seeded UNC Wilmington's lead in half going into the locker room.
“We kind of just wanted to get a shot up, see what happens,” junior guard Matt Jones said. “We definitely needed that. To go into halftime only down three [after] the way we played was definitely a win for us."
The Blue Devils were looking to avoid a repeat of the 2012 or 2014 NCAA tournaments, in which they fell to 15th-seeded Lehigh and 14th-seeded Mercer. But Duke struggled in the first half, shooting just 3-of-10 from downtown and allowing the upset-minded Seahawks to get open looks, which they had no problem knocking down.
Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski was not ready to give in. And graduate student Marshall Plumlee did not want to end his career on an upset loss. Challenged at halftime by his head coach after scoring just four points and grabbing two rebounds, the Warsaw, Ind., native returned to the floor with a vengeance for the final 20 minutes.
“He just told us he got us, that he was going to be himself and that he was going to be the beast that we knew he could,” Jones said. “And he responded.”
On the first play of the half, Plumlee stuffed UNC-Wilmington guard Chris Flemmings. Two minutes later, he gave Craig Ponder the same treatment. And beginning at the 19:10 mark, trailing 46-42, Duke reeled off a 19-3 run to take control of the game for the first time.
Duke’s defense began to clamp down and forced three turnovers during a six-minute stretch, holding UNC-Wilmington to 1-of-7 shooting during that span. On the other end of the floor, the Blue Devils created separation by driving the lane. Ingram got one to go, and Allen knifed through the paint in transition soon afterward.
Plumlee broke his nose March 9 against N.C. State in the second round of the ACC tournament and started the day with a new, clear mask after sporting a white one during Duke's quarterfinal loss to Notre Dame March 10. But late in the first half Thursday, the 7-footer ditched the mask completely coming out of a timeout, and immediately grabbed a rebound, turning into a new player the rest of the way.
At one point, with Duke leading 76-70, Plumlee slammed home four dunks on five possessions, each time on the finishing end of a press-breaking, up-tempo offense. Even when the UNC-Wilmington attack returned to life after shooting 52 percent in the first half, Duke and Plumlee responded in kind.
The scene was different in the first half, when the Blue Devils struggled to find open looks offensively and Allen and freshman guard Luke Kennard combined to shoot 3-of-14 from the field. Denzel Ingram and Flemmings had no such woes on the other end, shooting 10-for-16 for 24 points as the Seahawks thrived playing with no pressure on their shoulders.
"I thought they played harder and more together the us in the first half. I thought we were a little bit nervous, too," Krzyzewski said. "We were not who we’ve been most of the year."
Duke plays at its best when all players are moving without the ball, setting up one another with ball-screens and cuts. But the Blue Devils were stagnant during a long scoreless drought late in the first half—on one play, a frustrated Jones repeatedly yelled at teammates to move.
“We were standing still,” Jones said. “We had a couple of times where Brandon posted up his man and guys would just sit and watch, and we can’t have that.”
But Duke did manage to draw 13 fouls in the first half against a team that plays four guards. The same tactic proved critical after intermission—the Blue Devils reached the double-bonus with 10:08 remaining as UNC-Wilmington's big men began to foul out.
That same problem afflicted the Blue Devil frontcourt against the Fighting Irish last week, but Duke avoided serious foul trouble Thursday—Ingram played the full 40 minutes and Plumlee did not foul out until 2:01 remained with the Blue Devils leading by seven.
When freshman Chase Jeter subbed for Plumlee, he brought his own intensity that was critical down the stretch. With 27 seconds remaining and the Seahawks down five and threatening to draw closer, UNC-Wilmington missed several shots close to the rim on the same possession, and Jeter blocked the last of them, which ultimately sealed Duke’s victory.
“We tried to have a sense of urgency going into the last two or three minutes of the game, and we just knew we wanted to get out there defensively,” Ingram said. “Our defensive rotation pulled over, and we tried to grab rebounds, and Chase made a big play on the ball.”
A short-handed Duke team had scored more points in the first half than second half in six of its last eight games, but Thursday—with a full week of rest—the Blue Devils built on 40 first-half points with 53 in the second half.
“We were ourselves [in the second half],” Jones said. “Communicating, making together plays, whether that’s an extra pass for a shot or Marshall coming over for a block or rebounding. I feel like we’re at our best when we’re rebounding and we can push the ball.”
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