Duke wears down TCU to reach Sweet 16
GREENVILLE, S.C. – Duke coach Jon Scheyer was sure a day ago that Duke’s “competitive spirit” would be back for its second round game of the NCAA Tournament.
That came to fruition — with a few speed bumps — in Duke’s 81-58 victory against TCU on Saturday night at Bon Secours Wellness Arena.
Duke (34-2) will play either 5-seed St. John’s or 4-seed Kansas in the Sweet 16 on Friday night in Washington. Those two storied programs play in San Diego on Sunday.
Duke was equal parts stagnant and careless in the opening minutes of the second half. TCU (23-12) scored the first six points of the half.
When they had four, it was tied and Scheyer wanted a timeout. The Blue Devils coughed up the ball in the backcourt and the Horned Frogs took the lead with 16:15 left.
Duke turned things up from there.
Cameron Boozer, with two points in the first half, scored four in 36 seconds. A couple of minutes later, he and Cayden Boozer notched three-point plays on back-to-back possessions. Those were six points in a 9-0 spurt that put Duke ahead 53-44, the biggest lead of the game to that point.
TCU made two 3s to tighten things up, the last of them with 9:58 left. Duke answered that one with a 13-0 run that effectively put this game away — and punched Duke’s ticket to the Sweet 16.
Cameron Boozer scored eight points in that run and finished with 19 points, 11 rebounds and four assists.
Duke’s lead was four at halftime, 38-34.
The Blue Devils had a small window in which they could’ve blown this game open. Isaiah Evans made a crafty layup with 5:26 before halftime and TCU coach Jamie Dixon fired off a timeout. Duke’s lead was 31-23; Evans responsible for 13 of those points.
About 1½ minutes later, play was stopped because TCU forward David Punch was bleeding. During the timeout, officials reviewed a play and assessed Cameron Boozer a flagrant-1 for catching Punch with an errant elbow.
Seventeen seconds later, Boozer picked up his second foul and went to the bench shortly after. That, plus some missteps offensively, stifled Duke’s momentum.
Duke still led at halftime in spite of its last field goal of the first half coming at the 4:48 mark. The Blue Devils made five free throws in the last three minutes of the first half and were 13-for-14 in the first 20 minutes. TCU was 3-for-7.
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