Duke energized by three-pointers
NEW YORK — Sixteen seconds into the game, Jared McCain took a kick-out pass from Kyle Filipowski, swished a three-pointer from the wing and smiled toward the raucous section of James Madison fans as if to say, better get used to this.
McCain scored 22 of his 30 points in the first half and set a Duke record for an NCAA Tournament game with eight three-pointers as the Blue Devils ended 12th-seeded James Madison’s dream season with a 93-55 second-round victory Sunday.
“I feel like every game, I’m always ready to see if I’m going to go off,” McCain said.
The fourth-seeded Blue Devils (26-8) are headed to the Sweet 16.
McCain and Duke emphatically ended the nation’s longest active winning streak at 14 games, taking a 22-point lead into halftime and never letting the advantage slip below 20 in the second half. The rugged defense JMU used to beat Wisconsin in the first round didn’t seem to bother the Blue Devils at all.
“As a shooter when you hit some early, obviously they want to press up on you. So it definitely makes the game wide open for drives, for kicks,” McCain said.
The Dukes (32-4) finished with a program record for victories.
“They are a tremendous basketball team,” Coach Mark Byington said. “They left a legacy at JMU forever.”
Attention for the Sun Belt champions now turns to whether they can keep Byington. One opening he was thought to be a candidate for, at West Virginia, was filled Sunday night by Drake’s Darian DeVries.
“This was the best team and one of the best coaches I ever had in my life,” said Edwards, a senior who led the Dukes with 13 points.
McCain made his eighth three-pointer with 11:59 left in the second half, holding the follow-through and making the score 66-39.
The charismatic freshman from California broke a school record of seven set by Quinn Cook in a stunning first-round loss to Mercer in 2014. It was all smiles for the Blue Devils in this one. They finished 14for-28 from three-point range.
Two days after Duke beat Vermont with quiet offensive performance from Filipowski (three points and one shot attempt), the second-team All-American had 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting against JMU. Tyrese Proctor added 18 points and four three-pointers.
Duke was knocked out of the NCAA Tournament in the second round by Tennessee last season, Coach Jon Scheyer’s first as Mike Krzyzewski’s replacement.
Duke got bullied by the Volunteers and expected JMU to try to do the same.
“None of us forgot about what happened in Tennessee in the second round,” Filipowski said. “I think we learned our lesson last year.”
Scheyer has been part of seven Sweet 16 teams as a player and an assistant at Duke. Now he’s got his first as a head coach after the Blue Devils entered the tournament on a twogame losing streak.
Scheyer said the offense was the problem in losses to North Carolina to end the regular season and to North Carolina State to start the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament. The Blue Devils went to work on that with extra time to prepare for the NCAAs.
“You’re not going to score 93 points every game, but I do think our offense was a lot better in these two games,” he said.
McCain started sharp, knocking down his first six three-pointers. His fourth three-pointer with 11:49 left in the first half made it 24-9 and drew a timeout from the Dukes.
Duke led 47-25 at the half, JMU’s largest deficit of the season.
MARQUETTE 81, COLORADO 77
INDIANAPOLIS — Tyler Kolek had 21 points and 11 assists, and David Joplin made two free throws with 7.4 seconds left to help Marquette finally put away Colorado.
In their third season under Coach Shaka Smart, the second-seeded Golden Eagles (27-9) reached the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2013 by outlasting the 10th-seeded Buffaloes (26-11) and their dynamic offense.
Kam Jones scored 18 points and Joplin finished with 14 for Marquette, which shot 61.8% from the floor but still couldn’t shake Colorado until the closing seconds. Chase Ross made a tiebreaking three-pointer off a pass from Kolek with 2:53 left and finished with 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting.
KJ Simpson scored 20 points and Tristan da Silva had 17 for Colorado, which trailed by 11 at halftime but rallied to take a 55-54 lead just over five minutes into the second half. Kolek put the Golden Eagles back on top with a short jumper and Marquette never trailed again, but Colorado tied it twice, the last time on a three-pointer by da Silva with 4:02 remaining.
The Buffs trailed 79-77 and had to foul three times before putting Joplin on the line for a 1-and-1. He knocked down both and set up a South Region semifinal meeting with No. 11 seed North Carolina State in Dallas on Friday.
Playing his second game since an oblique injury that sidelined him for six contests, Kolek was efficient for the Golden Eagles, shooting 10 of 14 from the floor and routinely finding open teammates.
HOUSTON 100, TEXAS A&M 95, OT
MEMPHIS — Emanuel Sharp started overtime with a three-pointer that put top-seeded Houston ahead to stay as the Cougars advanced to the Sweet 16 back in Texas by topping ninth-seeded Texas A&M.
The Aggies forced overtime with a furious rally, outscoring Houston 17-5 in the final two minutes of regulation. Andersson Garcia beat the buzzer with his ninth three-pointer of the season, and then was mobbed by his teammates.
Sharp fouled out after his three-pointer, finishing with 30 points. His teammates outscored Texas A&M 7-1 to start the extra session and close it out.
The win by Houston (32-4) means all eight teams seeded 1 and 2 advanced to the Sweet 16 for the fifth time since the NCAA tourney started seeding in 1979. The top eight seeds also advanced in 2019, 2009, 1995 and 1989.
The Cougars will play Duke, a 93-55 winner over James Madison, on Friday in Dallas in the South Region semifinals. This will be Houston’s fifth consecutive Sweet 16 and 16th all-time.
Texas A&M (21-15) was trying to make the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2018 in its second consecutive NCAA Tournament under Coach Buzz Williams. The Aggies had been 6-1 in March only to revert to the team that struggled offensively much of the season.
Jamal Shead had 21 points and had 10 assists for Houston. He was one of four Cougars who fouled out.