Sportswrap: Men's basketball reaches Final Four, sets up historic showdown with North Carolina

Sportswrap is your one-stop shop for everything Duke athletics, where we’ll recap how each of Duke’s sports currently in competition performed over the last week and give a brief look ahead. Here’s our recap for the week of March 21-28.

Men’s basketball

The Blue Devils have had quite the week. In defeating Texas Tech 78-73 then Arkansas 78-69 in the second weekend of the NCAA tournament, Duke advanced to head coach Mike Krzyzewski’s 13th Final Four, breaking John Wooden’s record for most appearances by a head coach. Freshman Paolo Banchero scored 22 and 16 over the weekend en route to being named the West Region’s Most Outstanding Player. Sophomores Jeremy Roach and Mark Williams were also named to the region’s All-Tournament Team. Against Texas Tech, the Blue Devils entered the second half with a four-point deficit, and it took a full-team effort to overcome the Red Raiders’ elite defense. However, Duke was in control against Arkansas, led by exemplary performances from all its starters. Next, the Blue Devils will battle rival North Carolina Saturday in the Final Four for the teams’ first-ever meeting at the Big Dance. -Sasha Richie

Women’s lacrosse

It was a quiet week for the eighth-ranked Blue Devils, who only had one game, an ACC matchup against No. 14 Notre Dame. Though it was a close, hard-fought battle, it was Duke (11-1, 3-1 in the ACC) that emerged victoriously. Once again, graduate student Catriona Barry led the team with six goals, as she has now tallied 49 goals through 12 games. Senior Maddie Jenner, with 10 draw controls on the day, climbed into the No. 4 spot on the NCAA career draw control leaderboard as she continues her dominant run at that position. After a Tuesday game at Liberty, the Blue Devils face a tough challenge Saturday with No. 16 Virginia coming to town. -Rachael Kaplan

Men’s lacrosse

No. 11 Duke had high expectations when it headed up to Syracuse, N.Y., for the start of its rigorous ACC gauntlet. Despite another hat trick from sophomore attacker Brennan O’Neill, the Blue Devils (8-4, 0-1) trailed all afternoon and left on the wrong side of a 14-10 score. That makes it four losses on the season for Duke, which now has to deal with the very real possibility of finishing outside the conference’s top three. Next up is a trip down Tobacco Road for a clash with No. 9 North Carolina—definitely the Duke-North Carolina match people are talking about—in which head coach John Danowski and company will hope to right the ship. -Long

Women’s tennis

Despite putting up two tough fights, No. 10 Duke lost both of its matches down in sunny Florida this week. The Blue Devils’ first conference loss of the season came Friday to unranked Florida State. The first two doubles matches were split with the duo of Chloe Beck and Ellie Coleman taking the win for Duke (11-3, 6-2), but the Seminoles came from behind to take the doubles point. Graduate student Eliza Omirou picked up an easy win by retirement and Beck was the only other singles win for the Blue Devils, who finished with a 4-2 loss. Duke looked to rally Sunday in Miami against the Hurricanes, but the Hurricanes snagged the doubles point quickly. That point was ultimately the decider as Beck, Kelly Chen and Coleman all picked up singles points while the other three courts faced defeat. Duke is back in action Friday against No. 2 N.C. State. -Campbell Lawson

Men’s tennis

No. 17 Duke defeated No. 23 Notre Dame Friday before losing Sunday to Louisville. In Friday’s match, the Blue Devils (13-5, 6-2) were dominant, quickly securing the doubles point before winning four singles contests to take the dual match 5-2. Duke couldn’t carry that momentum into Sunday, as the team found itself on the wrong end of a 5-2 decision. The loss snapped a six-match win streak for the Blue Devils, and while the team fought hard—four out of the six singles matches went the distance—it failed to overcome a narrow defeat in doubles and suffered its second ACC defeat of the season. Next up, the Blue Devils host Georgia Tech Friday. -Robert Miron

Baseball

Duke continued its tough season with a single game in Durham against William & Mary Tuesday, and then a three-game series at No. 8 Florida State over the weekend. After a brutal 14-3 defeat behind a rough Cooper Stinson start in the week-opener, the Blue Devils (12-12, 3-6) looked to turn things around for the weekend series. Unfortunately, the Seminoles wouldn’t allow that, shutting Duke out 4-0 in the Friday game and dominating again 7-2 in the Saturday bout. The Blue Devils were able to cap off the week on a high note, however, as Damon Lux, Alex Stone and Luke Storm all went yard to grab an 11-2 victory and bring the team back to .500. Duke has home games against Liberty and Miami this upcoming week as it looks to turn things around and start creating a cushion in the win column. -Alex Jackson

Softball

No. 8 Duke’s week was dreary, with a rain-delayed, 8-1 loss Friday to Notre Dame before the rest of the series was canceled due to inclement weather. The Blue Devils (23-5, 8-2) never put it together against Fighting Irish starter Payton Tidd, who held them to a sole hit, an RBI single from Rachel Crabtree. Star pitcher Peyton St. George gave up all eight runs, four of which were unearned, and sophomore pitcher Claire Davidson closed the game on a slightly brighter note with two scoreless frames of relief. Duke returns to its home state for a Wednesday doubleheader against East Carolina in Greenville, N.C. -Molly Honecker

Fencing

Duke closed out its season at the NCAA Championship in South Bend, Ind. The Blue Devils finished in 10th, with Notre Dame taking the title, followed by Harvard and Columbia/Barnard for second and third places, respectively. The event was exciting throughout for Duke, starting with sophomore foilist Christina Ferrari, who took 11th place, receiving a second career All-America honor on Friday. The Blue Devils remained strong until the end, with juniors Terence Lee and Finn Hossfeld also receiving All-American recognition in saber and foil, respectively. Hossfeld finished in ninth while Lee took silver, the second-best finish in men’s program history. -Ana Young

Track & field

It was a busy week for Duke track and field, which split up to compete at both the Texas Relays and Raleigh Relays. In the Lone Star State, the men’s 4x200m set a new program record with a mark of 1:24.03 and the women’s 4x400m grabbed sixth place with its 3:37.23 finish. Closer to home, sophomore Moorea Mitchell improved her fourth-all-time program ranking for Duke in the hammer throw with a new personal best of 54.58m. The Blue Devils next travel to High Point, N.C., for the Vertklasse Meeting this coming weekend. -Andrew Long

Men's golf and women's golf started off events Sunday, returning to action for the first time in this past week. Men's golf, split between two events, began play Sunday at the Seahawk Intercollegiate and will tee off Monday at the Valspar Collegiate. Women's golf also started Sunday at the Chattanooga Classic.

Rowing did not compete this week and will return to action Saturday for the Big Ten/ACC Double Dual in Columbus, Ohio.

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