Okafor picks up game at right time
Duke sophomore Matt Jones said he knew freshman teammate Jahlil Okafor would be ready Saturday night.
“I mean, you could just tell,” Jones said. “We’ve been around him so long, you can just tell when Jah is ready to play and when you just know he’s going to be the best player on the court.”
Okafor had combined for 15 points on 7-for-16 shooting in last weekend’s wins over Utah and Gonzaga to get to the Final Four.
He said Friday he wasn’t disappointed by his performance. Rather, he was excited by the prospect of arriving in Indianapolis with the chance to win a national title, and the knowledge that his team made it to the Final Four when he could have played better.
He was certainly prepared for any look Tom Izzo’s club could give him, too.
Few teams tried to play him one-on-one this year, and state rivals North Carolina and North Carolina State didn’t just send double teams, they doubled with big men to make it tougher for Okafor to see and pass over the pressure.
He had no such trouble Saturday night in the Blue Devils’ 81-61 victory over Michigan State. Okafor had 10 points on 4-for-6 shooting in the opening half, helping the Blue Devils gain momentum after a slow start. And he often made it look easy in the paint, even scoring on a layup while Gavin Schilling tugged at the back of his jersey.
“Whenever you can establish the inside, that frees everyone up,” Duke assistant coach Nate James said. “He can’t be guarded one-on-one, and he knows that.”
Okafor’s putback dunk on Justise Winslow’s miss midway through the first half gave Duke its first lead at 18-16. It was part of a 14-2 run in which Okafor had half of his team’s points.
“You know, you can blame me for Okafor, because personally, that’s exactly what we wanted to do if we could hold him to under 20 points, take away their 3s,” Izzo said. “We did exactly what we wanted to do, to be honest with you. ... In the halfcourt, I thought we did a decent job on him.”
SHINY NEW TOYS
When players arrived at Lucas Oil Stadium for their first workouts this week, they found a gift in each of their lockers: a 1/18 scale die-cast IndyCar.
Naturally, it was adorned with special Final Four graphics.
GreenLight Collectibles produced 1,000 of the limited-edition cars for the NCAA to give to players and school officials, along with sponsors and other VIPs. The cars are painted white, black and red — the colors of this year’s Final Four logo — and carry No. 15.
“They’re pretty cool,” said Michigan State guard Bryn Forbes.
“Bringing to life the Final Four models and assisting in the marketing of Indianapolis’s racing heritage was something we were thrilled to have the opportunity to participate in,” said Jeff Nelson, the national sales manager for GreenLight Collectibles.
There are also four fullsize IndyCars in the same colors positioned around Indianapolis, as if anybody needed a reminder that the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway sits just to the west.
The Spartans even had a two-seat IndyCar in their police escort when they arrived in town Wednesday night. When their caravan stopped, athletic director Mark Hollis popped out of one of the rear seats and pulled off his helmet.
“I couldn’t believe he was actually in there,” Michigan State forward Denzel Valentine said with a smile. “I was kind of jealous.”
FRIENDLY RIVALRY
At least one Buckeye was cheering for Sparty on Saturday night. A high-profile one, too. Ohio State quarterback Braxton Miller and Michigan State point guard Travis Trice have been best friends since the fourth grade, when they played just about every sport together. They even partnered on the same AAU team.
Their paths diverged when Miller chose to stay home and play for the Buckeyes, and Trice went to Michigan State to play for Tom Izzo.