No. 1 Duke survives Central Florida’s upset bid
No. 1 Duke stayed alive in the NCAA tournament Sunday night by the thinnest of margins.
No. 9 seed Central Florida missed two shots in the final four seconds, allowing the Blue Devils to escape with a 77-76 East Region second-round win at Colonial Life Arena.
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RJ Barrett rebounded Zion Williamson’s missed free throw to score with 11.8 seconds left to give Duke its one-point lead. BJ Taylor and Aubrey Dawkins saw their shots at winning the game roll out and time expired on the underdog Knights (24-9).
“These kids, my guys, hung in there,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “They hung in there because just the momentum of the tournament, what’s going on. You could be defeated right there and, instead, they hung in there”
The Blue Devils (31-5) advance to the East Region semifinals in Washington, D.C., where they will play fourth-seeded Virginia Tech on Friday night at Capital One Arena. The Hokies, who own a regular-season win over Duke in ACC play, beat 12th-seeded Liberty 67-58 in their second-round game Sunday night.
“We know we can do it at least,” Ty Outlaw, Virginia Tech’s senior forward from Roxboro, told reporters in San Jose, Calif., Sunday night. “Some teams might be intimidated.”
Williamson led Duke with 32 points while Barrett had 16 against Central Florida. Cam Reddish had 13 and Tre Jones 11 for Duke.
Aubrey Dawkins, son of UCF coach and former Duke star Johnny Dawkins, led the Knights with 32 points. Tacko Fall scored 15.
“Aubrey was the best player on the court today,” Krzyzewski said. “He was magnificent.”
After Duke led by eight points and halftime and by seven with 7:28 to play, Central Florida fought back to take a 70-68 lead on Taylor’s 3-pointer with 3:55 left.
Williamson tied the score for Duke with a driving shot in the lane but Dawkins put the Knights in front 72-70 with a baseline jumper.
Fall’s rebound dunk with 2:09 left gave the Knights a 74-70 lead.
Williamson answered with a 3-pointer before Taylor’s free throws with 45.2 seconds left put the Knights up 76-73.
Williamson scored on a drive to the basket with 14.4 seconds left and was fouled. He missed the free throw but Barrett scored of the rebound to finally put Duke in front for good.
Duke led 44-36 at halftime as Fall played only eight of the first 20 minutes due to foul trouble. With the 7-6 center back on the court, but the Knights kept pushing the top-seeded Blue Devils after halftime.
Central Florida cut Duke’s lead to a single point three times over the first eight minutes after halftime. Fall scored six points, all on dunks, over that stretch.
The Knights finally caught Duke at 54 on Dawkins’ slam dunk off a Dayon Griffin pass with 11:18 to play.
After Jones missed a 3-pointer for Duke, BJ Taylor’s long 3-pointer gave Central Florida its first lead of the second half at 57-54 with 10:24 remaining.
Duke responded with a 12-2 run fueled by, of all things, 3-pointers. Williamson, Jones and Jordan Goldwire hit them. Williamson’s basket off a Goldwire pass put Duke up 66-59 with 7:28 left.
Central Florida refused to wilt, though. The Knights responded with an 11-2 run that included 3-pointers from Dawkins and Griffin. Taylor’s 3-pointer with 3:55 left put the Knights up 70-68.
Central Florida led by as many as six points in the first half with Dawkins leading the Knights’ charge. The Durham native scored 18 points in the first half.
Duke made just 5 of its first 14 shots as Central Florida built a 19-13 lead.
Settling for jump shots early, the Blue Devils finally got their transition game going with back-to-back layups from Reddish and Barrett.
Central Florida led 21-17 when Duke positioned Williamson in the middle of the Knights’ zone defense. He took a pass, turned to find a path to the basket and scored while being fouled. His free throw cut the Central Florida lead to 21-20.
On Duke’s next possession, Williamson took a pass in the lane and zipped the ball back out to Reddish who drilled a 3-pointer for a 23-21 Duke lead.
Williamson’s rebound basket off Jones’ missed 3-pointer gave Duke a 25-21 lead with 6:32 left in the half.
Dawkins brought Central Florida back though. When Reddish fouled him on a 3-point shot attempt, his three free throws at 3:52 gave the Knights a 34-32 lead.
But Duke’s defensive pressure allowed it to control the tempo the rest of the half to take the lead.
Williamson scored inside on a dunk and, after rebounding Jordan Goldwire’s missed 3-pointer, scored and drew a foul. His free throw put Duke up 37-34.
Duke unleashed its full-court zone press, featuring Goldwire and Jones, after the made free throw. Goldwire’s tip of a Central Florida pass led to a backcourt turnover that Jones turned into a layup.
Barrett also converted a conventional three-point play with a basket and free throw at 1:33 putting Duke up 42-34.
With Central Florida going scoreless on six of its last seven possessions of the half and not making a field goal over the final 4:50, Duke took a 44-36 halftime lead.
This story was originally published March 24, 2019 at 7:39 PM.