Like Duke’s defense closed the offense of Alabama in eight elite to reach the four finals

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NEWARK, NJ – The Duke’s lead had been cut to seven with a touch only more than eight minutes left in the Second half of the eastern regional final.

On the sidelines of the Alabama, the coach Nate Oats beat his hands and bent over, his hands on his knees like an Infielder, looking at his team. Behind him, many of the fans in the Crimson Tide section got up.

This was the occasion of Alabama, but the Blue Devils with the highest seed did not allow the tide to mark another point for the next 5:15 of the game time.

With long arms, fast feet and a tenacious commitment to making every dribbling and passing difficult for Alabama, the Duke emptied his life from the fastest offense of the nation on Saturday evening. The Blue Devils beat the tide 85-65 in the NCAA tournament to earn the 18th trip of the Final Four program.

“Keep them at 65 points is incredible,” said the third year Duke coach Jon Scheyer.

Alabama entered the Elite eight with an average of 91 points per game.

Jon Scheyer has reached Final Four as a Duke player and assistant coach and now as head coach of the Blue Devils. (Robert Deutsch / Image images)

Two days after the high -power offense of the Avena fell by 113 points and Tournament-Record 25 3 Packets in ByuThe tide took 35.4 percent from the field, 25 percent from 3 points (8-for-32) and passed their game with the lowest score of the season of a single point.

“They did a good job in taking away our 3-Palla,” said the Marea guard Mark Sears, who went 2 out of 15 from the field after scoring 34 points and doing 10 3 against Byu.

Nobody expected a repetition of the performance on Thursday evening by Alabama against Duke, who came into play with the fourth best defensive efficiency rating Kenpom in the country.

But considering how well the Arizona managed the defense of the Blue Devils in the semifinal of the Thursday region (93 points on 45 % shooting), everyone was preparing for a match at 90 against the tide. Betmgm set the total to 174.5.

“We have just returned to what we do,” said Kon Knueppel, Duke’s other serial number.

What Duke does better than any country’s team is to combine size and speed. The Blue Devils are enormous, with each player in the rotation of at least 6 feet-5 and 7-2 Khaman Maluach often the last line of defense with a capacity that measures a few centimeters short of 10 feet when he raises his arms.

“At the edge, we shot 48 percent; tonight we only did 12 shots at the edge. We were 12 out of 25. You know, it made it so hard,” said Oats.

The Alabama had 10 offensive rebounds but transformed them into eight second chance points. The oats tried to attract Maluach away from the basket in the first half, inserting Aiden Sherrell, an elongation for 6-10 onwards that knocked down a couple of 3 when Maluach fell into the paint.

The Scheyer counter was to use smaller training, but there is no ball with Duke.

The Superstar Cooper Flagg serial number is 6-9. Knueppel is 6-7 and Duke Guards Tyrese Proctor and Zion James are both 6-6. Guard Caleb Foster was the most used reserve against Alabama. It is 6-5. And Maluach’s backup is the serial number 6-11 Patrick Ngongba. One of the best and versatile defenders of Duke, 6-9 Maliq Brown, witnessed a left shoulder injury and played three minutes on Saturday.

In the end, Duke started turning on the screens of the balls, sometimes leaving Flagg or even Maluach in small Alabama guards such as Sears, Chris Youngblood and Aden Holloway. Those three combined to create 21 3 against Byu. They were 3-for-16 long-haul against Duke.

“We were changing a lot, especially in the second half, so Khaman was on Sears as much as me or Tyrese,” said James. “The important thing for him was to show them bodies, ensuring that anyone who was protecting the ball knew that they were not on an island alone and make sure that Sears knew that he was not on an island with our big or anyone else. And I think we did a good job for most of keeping him out of the foul line, where he has many of his points.”

Foster added: “Khaman, Malik, Pat, can slide his feet, friend. He raises only the level of our defense. It makes us different. I want to say, you don’t find really as big as the one anywhere.”

The smaller offensive players in Alabama were unable to blow from Duke’s great defenders without being swallowed up by help.

“They passed and we went to ISO Ball. This is not the case that we play,” said Oats.

Scheyer has attributed his players for not having been “frightened” by the 3 -point burst of Alabama against Byu.

“I am sure that we will look back and we are lucky that some open ones have also lost. But I really think that the versatility for our kids is an important thing for us,” Scheyer said.

During the decisive stretch where Alabama was unable to manage a point, the tide lost seven straight shots, including five layups.

To aggravate the damage, Duke played patiently in attack, Scheyer often raised the stop sign as a third -base coach while his team took the ball on the pitch. The Blue Devils drained the clock even if the possession did not lead to points and did not allow Alabama to get something easy in transition. The tide managed only eight rapid points.

When the tide triggered the drought with a free shot by Sears, Duke led 78-59 with 2:47 left.

For fans of Alabama, slow suffocation must have felt strangely familiar. In the early years of Nick Saban’s football dynasty, the tide would grind the teams with the defense and play low risk methodical offense. It was the type of physical domain that left the defenseless opponents even if the suggested scoreboard – almost mocking – the game was still at hand.

That was Duke on Saturday evening. The Blue Devils have never followed, and for most of the game, the lead hangs between eight and 11 points. And just when it seemed that Alabama could provide a late game drama, Duke instead tightened even stronger and moved away.

“We want to use our length and sizes and these guys have done an incredible job,” said Scheyer of his defense. “It couldn’t be more proud.”

(Top’s photo of Zion James (14) and Mark Sears: Patrick Smith / Getty Images)