Reservation for 4
Kansas vanquishes Duke in overtime
MIDWEST REGION KANSAS 85, DUKE 81, OT
OMAHA, Neb. — Kansas is going back to the Final Four.
Malik Newman and the top-seeded Jayhawks got past their Elite Eight road block Sunday, knocking off second-seeded Duke 85-81 in overtime to clinch the program’s first trip to the Final Four since 2012.
Newman scored all 13 of the Jayhawks’ points in overtime and finished with a career-high 32 to lead Kansas (31-7).
The Jayhawks will face fellow top seed Villanova on Saturday in San Antonio — the site of KU’s last title over Memphis in 2008 — after snapping a two-game losing skid in the regional finals.
“Everything we’ve been through … we do it for moments like this,” Kansas guard Devonte Graham said. “Especially after the last two years, getting over the hump. It just feels [perfect].”
This was college basketball at its best, two bluebloods trading blows for 45 minutes in a game that featured 18 lead changes and 11 ties.
Had Grayson Allen’s bank shot to end regulation gone half an inch in a different direction, it might be Duke heading to South Texas.
But it didn’t, and the Jayhawks are moving on.
“It was an honor to play in this game,” said Duke Coach
Mike Krzyzewski, who remained tied with UCLA legend John Wooden with 12 Final Four appearances. “I think both teams were deserving of winning.”
Newman, a redshirt sophomore who came on late this season, drilled his fifth and final three from the corner to make it 81-78 with 1:49 left. Newman followed with four consecutive free throws, and the Jayhawks’ defense stiffened enough to knock the favored Blue Devils out of the tournament.
Kansas outrebounded Duke 47-32, a staggering stat given that the Jayhawks barely outrebounded their opponents heading into the game. Lagerald Vick had 14 points; Graham had 11 points with 6 boards and 6 assists; and Svi Mykhailiuk had 11 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists while helping defend freshman star and future lottery pick Marvin Bagley.
“Even though Malik scored a lot of points, I don’t think that anybody had a better game than Svi did,” Kansas Coach Bill Self said.
Trevon Duval scored 20 points, two shy of a career high, for Duke. Bagley added 16 points and 10 rebounds in what could have been his final game for the Blue Devils (298), who fell shy of their first Final Four trip since winning the national title in 2015.
Duval was a revelation in the opening half, scoring 13 points to give the Blue Devils a 36-33 lead that at times felt like it could’ve been bigger. But the Jayhawks opened the second half with a 13-3 run, forcing Duke to answer quickly.
The Blue Devils did just that, time and time again, until it had the lead in the final minute. But Kansas senior Mykhailiuk drilled a three with 25.7 seconds left in the second half to knot the game at 72-72.
Allen had 12 points for the Blue Devils, but the senior’s try at the regulation buzzer went in and then out and then off the rim before spinning away to force overtime.
“I was trying to drive right, he cut me off. Went back left. Their big stepped into help. I had to get a shot up over him. I tried to bank it in and it about went in,” said Allen, who finished his career with 1,996 points.
The Blue Devils might see four of their freshman stars bolt for the NBA Draft, an expected exodus led by Bagley, a likely top-five pick. Duke will also lose Allen.
Don’t cry for Coach K, who has four five-star recruits committed to join the program next year. But this season will likely be remembered as a lost opportunity — and for that Allen shot that went agonizingly out of the rim.
Kansas is not stacked with obvious future NBA starters, and the Jayhawks lost three times at home this season. But they banded together to win the Big 12’s regular-season and conference titles and now the Midwest Regional.
By doing so, they proved to their coach that they were hardly soft — a claim that Self had made often earlier in the season. And with the final buzzer about to sound and the outcome suddenly in focus, Self clenched both of his fists and lifted his arms in the air for a celebration years in the making.
“We didn’t even talk about going to the Final Four. All we talked about is Duke. I do think playing Duke in that game helped us. It was fun. I would be proud to have coached in that game even if the outcome was different,” Self said.