Ducks Enjoy Contested Convention In Sweet 16 Win
03/25/16 | Men's Basketball, @GoDucksMoseley
by Rob Moseley
Editor, GoDucks.com
Photo: Kirby Lee
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Oregon led by 10 with less than 90 seconds to play Thursday night, but still, Duke had life.
The Blue Devils had hit three-pointers on three of their last four possessions, cutting into a UO lead that had been 74-58. From the top of the key, with 1:17 to play and Oregon up 77-67, talented Duke freshman Brandon Ingram let fly another three-pointer.
On the Blue Devils' bench, legendary coach Mike Krzyzewski felt a flicker of hope.
“I've been involved in stranger things,” Krzyzewski said later. “I thought, my team, they're gutty enough to win.”
The problem for Ingram was that, as he rose and fired, an Oregon defender came flying at him, arm extended. Ingram had to adjust to avoid the Duck's reach. His shot thus was long, and banked hard off the backboard before spinning around the rim and out.
The sequence was a microcosm of Oregon's 82-68 victory over the Blue Devils in the Sweet Sixteen, setting up an Elite Eight matchup Saturday against Oklahoma (3:09 p.m., CBS). Nearly every shot Duke took was contested, both on the perimeter and in the post. The Ducks smothered Duke's scorers, and smothered the Blue Devils' hopes of repeating as national champions.
“Our main focus was, if we could stop what they wanted to do we could show everybody we were the better team,” UO senior Dwayne Benjamin said. “They can beat us if they make a lot of threes. If we don't let them shoot a lot of three, and outrebound them, we'll win the game. We really took that to heart.”
Duke has been one of the nation's most prolific three-point shooting teams in recent weeks, averaging more than nine threes per game. The Blue Devils finished with seven Thursday, and were just 4-of-16 until their late flurry.
“It wasn't just, 'contest,' it was, 'run them off the line,'” Benjamin said. “Don't even let them shoot the ball.”
Until Duke's late rally, only Ingram — a 6-foot-9 phenom expected to enter the NBA draft as a freshman — had much luck finding open looks. Blue Devils leading scorer Grayson Allen made just one three-pointer until the final, frantic minutes.
Oregon came into Thursday allowing opponents to shoot .357 from three-point range. But the Ducks had been improving since the final week of the regular season, and the progress continued with Thursday's handcuffing of the Blue Devils.
“We really wanted to get better at that,” UO sophomore Dillon Brooks said. “And we knew if we let them shoot the three like that, they were going to hang in the game. We knew we had to come out there, stop their threes, force them to go inside and let Jordan and Chris punch them shots.”
Indeed, with the Ducks determined to “run them off the line” at the perimeter, Duke's shooters frequently found themselves pulling down the ball and looking to drive or pass into the post. There, as Brooks noted, lurked UO shot blockers Jordan Bell and Chris Boucher.
Oregon's combination of athletic wings patrolling the perimeter and long post players protecting the rim had been a concern of Krzyzewski's entering the game.
“Their athleticism, where you think you're open and then they're so good laterally — and then they have guys that go vertical,” Krzyzewski said. “That combination, if you do get past the lateral on the drive, boom, the other stuff was there. That combination was, to me, something you just don't face very often.”
Bell, playing one of his best games of the season just a few miles from his home town of Long Beach, blocked three shots and altered countless others. Boucher and Elgin Cook blocked a shot apiece, harassing Duke around the rim at every turn.
“I told everybody, make them put it on the floor,” Bell said. “If they come into the paint, I've got your back.”
Oregon's plan to aggressively run at the three-point shooters and make them reconsider shots came with a risk. The wings could find themselves out of position, flying past a Duke player who decided to drive or pass. The presence of Bell and Boucher eased those concerns.
“We really leaned on them,” Benjamin said. “We put a lot of pressure on Jordan and Chris today. We were going to run them off the line, and they might get to the basket. So it's your job to stop them from scoring. They did a great job of that.
“They came through. Jordan played amazing tonight; he was everywhere. I expected some big things, but he even outdid my expectations tonight.”
The Ducks took care of business in other facets, shooting .492 overall and going 6-of-12 from three-point range themselves in the second half. They won the battle on the boards, too, 42-32, and improved their ball movement over last week's win over Saint Joseph's, dishing out 22 assists on 32 baskets while turning it over just eight times.
But perhaps no factor was a bigger key to Oregon's Sweet Sixteen win over Duke than the Ducks' ability to contest shots, both on the perimeter and in the post.
“It was win or go home today,” Bell said. “I had to make sure I brought my A game. I'm not trying to be done playing.”
