“What a tremendous game,” Krzyzewski said after Duke won, 78-73, before a sold-out 17,514 by the San Francisco Bay, because its stars glittered until it finally nudged its way ahead inside three minutes and barged toward a West Region final opposite No. 4 seed Arkansas. No. 2 Duke (31-6) did that on three main shots: Paolo Banchero’s big-gutted three-pointer from the top of the key for a 69-68 lead with 2:55 left, a masterful turnaround in the lane by surging guard Jeremy Roach with 2:16 left for a 71-68 lead and another big-timer by Roach from near the foul line with 1:30 left.
By that point, Duke’s youngsters had made eight straight crucial shots. By the end, they had made a preposterous 71 percent in the second half — 17 for 24, holy mercy — against a tough, tough No. 3 seed that had allowed 38.2 percent across a season. Through the gasping fray of it, they had unearthed still more of that precious quality they showed in a scary second round against Michigan State: a knack for summoning their best when the game demands.
“It’s like where great players just go,” Krzyzewski said of Banchero, the 6-foot-10 wonder from Seattle who had 22 points, four rebounds, four assists, three steals and so very much command. “They just go, and the moment and the need take them to a place that a great player would love to be in, and that’s where he was. I feel — I’m just so happy that I was there for that moment with him because it’s his. It’s his, but it benefited all of us.”
“I don’t know about these guys,” Banchero said, “but I’ve never played in a basketball game like that, so . . .”
“You were terrific,” Krzyzewski said along the dais.
“When you are out there,” Banchero continued, “you don’t even — it’s not like you’re even thinking. You’re just playing to win, and you’re playing extremely hard. So when you are doing that and you are not afraid of the moment as a team, you’re going to do stuff like that.”
They needed all of it, from Banchero’s 7-for-12 (and 3-for-4 from three-point range), to Roach’s 7-for-11 , 15 points and five assists, to 7-foot-1 Mark Williams’s 6-for-9 for 16 points with eight rebounds and three blocks. They needed to switch to a zone, which Krzyzewski believed bought some time, and then back to man-to-man at his players’ behest, which came “like a Catholic boys’ choir,” Krzyzewski said. “It was a chorus. They all said it.” He said, “Whenever they own something, they’re going to do it better than if we just run it. I felt they’re going to own it. They’ll make it work, and that’s probably more important than strategy during that time.”
They needed all of it to surmount a team so cohesive that its postgame news conference became a glowing reflection on its 65-year-old, first-year coach. Mark Adams, who had coached at Clarendon College (Clarendon, Tex.), Wayland Baptist (Plainview, Tex.), West Texas A&M (Canyon, Tex.), Texas-Pan American (Edinburg, Tex.), Howard College (Big Spring, Tex.), and Little Rock (which is in Arkansas), had cobbled together quite a team after his boss Chris Beard had left for Texas last offseason. In turn, that team raved about him from the dais Thursday night, with Adonis Arms saying, “In my opinion we got the best coach in college basketball to my right,” and Bryson Williams saying, “He is the greatest coach in the country.”
They had played like they meant it, shooting 47 percent, playing an offense more beautiful than perhaps accustomed. They got 21 points from Williams, 17 from Kevin McCullar and 13 from Arms. If they wound up lacking the five-point lead Michigan State had on Duke with five minutes left, they did have a 46-40 lead with 15 minutes left, and the erosion of that jarred them none. “So blessed to have the opportunity to coach them,” Adams said, “and I wish I could coach them another game.”
Duke’s hardship began early.
Less than five minutes in, Krzyzewski had to put a stanch to things. He signaled time out with his young team trailing 10-2 and getting overrun in a rampage of breakaways. Arms stole one along the Duke perimeter and romped down for a dunk. McCullar stole one along the Duke perimeter and hurried down for a layup. AJ Griffin missed a three-point shot short, and away went Terrence Shannon Jr., all the way down for a dunk.
Yet in a half that saw Duke tie things at 12, Duke go up 24-22 and Texas Tech go up 33-26, the overriding issue was how the nation’s eighth-ranked scoring defense (60.2 per game) disrupted the nation’s eighth-ranked scoring offense (80.2 per game). The Blue Devils shot 11 for 30 and often shot unwisely, and their 36.7 percent even included a heavy dunk and three-point play by Banchero 12 seconds before halftime.
That left Texas Tech ahead 33-29 at halftime and made things enticing.
Then, perhaps unbefitting a Texas Tech team that scraped through Notre Dame, 59-53, a flurry of traded baskets came next. Duke kept throwing lobs to the 7-foot-1 Mark Williams, including a gorgeous touch-lob from Banchero. Texas Tech kept venturing inside boldly and also got Bryson Williams’s three-point shot with a hand in the face. By the 15-minute mark, they had each scored 13 post-halftime, and the Red Raiders’ lead stood at 46-42.
Duke chased and chased and finally, when Griffin made a soft, beautiful three-point shot from deep right, then Banchero made a soft, beautiful eight-footer from the baseline, the Blue Devils had a lead at 49-47 and Texas Tech had a timeout with 11:35 left.
Yet the Red Raiders went out from there and forged a possession full of picturesque passes that wound up with Williams making a little left hook from the lane. McCullar cut to the lane, and Williams fed him perfectly for a layup. McCullar drove to the lane, made a spin move that drew some gasps and made another layup. Texas Tech led 53-52, and Krzyzewski took a timeout at 9:45.
So the whole thing, and Krzyzewski’s retirement tour, teetered in a manner you might call madness. On and on it went, with its ties and lead changes. Roach made a bold drive through the left for a layup with 3:35 left. (That made it 66-65, Duke.) McCullar made a three-point shot from the left of the top of the key that kind of crammed its way in with 3:15 left. (That made it 68-66, Tech.) Banchero, with his big guts, swished a three-point shot from the top with 2:55 left. (That made it 69-68, Duke).
Finally, the Blue Devils pushed further ahead, so the closing season went further ahead.