Arizona and Duke, made-for-TV material from when they played a home-and-home series in the early 1990s, will be involved in a primetime matchup Thursday night in the Sweet 16 at Newark, N.J.
No. 4 Arizona (24-12) and No. 1 Duke (33-3) will play at 6:39 p.m. in the East Region showdown in the third game in the Sweet 16 or beyond in their NCAA tournament history.
Arizona leads the series with Duke 6-5. The Blue Devils snapped a three-game losing streak to the Wildcats in their victory at McKale Center in November.
Arizona is one of three Power 4 programs that had a winning record against Mike Krzyzewski with the Wildcats owning the most wins in that regard against the Hall of Fame coach. Arizona was 5-3 against him and Tennessee and Arkansas were each 2-1.
The Wildcats and Blue Devils have split their two games in the NCAA tournament with each other.
Arizona, with Sean Miller as coach, topped the Blue Devils in the 2011 West Regional Sweet 16 by a score of 93-77 at Anaheim, Calif., behind a career-high 32 points and 13 rebounds by Derrick Williams.
A 19-2 run in the second half enabled the Wildcats to pull away.
“The second half was just complete nastiness, as coach would say,” Kevin Parrom said in the postgame press conference. “We came out swinging. We didn’t let up. We knew they were just going to focus on Derrick and that’s when other guys came in and stepped up. It shows that it’s not just Derrick Williams who is on this team.”
Derrick Williams scored 32 points in a win against Duke! (2011) pic.twitter.com/SLXWyVrKkE
— ThrowbackHoops (@ThrowbackHoops) March 11, 2025
The two programs also met in the 2001 national championship game in Minneapolis, with Duke coming away with the 82-72 win.
That game is most remembered by Arizona fans for a no-call when Blue Devils guard Jay Williams rode the back of Arizona’s Jason Gardner as the players chased a loose ball midway through the first half. It would have been Williams’ third foul and perhaps would have changed the game’s complexion.
“What was I supposed to do?” Williams told local media in 2017 when ESPN’s GameDay was in Tucson for a UCLA-Arizona game. “I was 19 years old and I fouled Jason and everybody in the stadium of 45,000 knew I fouled him with the exception of those watching the game. What am I supposed to do?”
Williams said he and former Arizona standout Richard Jefferson talked about it “every single day” when they were on the New Jersey Nets together.
“I’ve let go about it; I don’t know about you guys,” he said, smiling, to the media.
The Wildcats and Blue Devils split the last two games in the regular season winning on each other’s home court — Arizona at Cameron Indoor Stadium last season and Duke at McKale Center in November.
The previous time the programs faced each other in a regular-season scheduled game at either Cameron or McKale was Arizona’s 103-96 win in two overtimes in front of 13,881 fans at Tucson on Feb. 24, 1991.
The game included a controversial call in which a jumper made in the first overtime by Duke’s Greg Koubek was changed from a 3-pointer to a 2-pointer a minute later by officials, which comprised of a Pac-10 crew of referees of Richie Ballesteros, Charles Range and Mark Reischling.
Krzyzewski, matching wits with fellow Hall of Famer Lute Olson, was disappointed by the change of Koubek’s shot, criticizing the scoring table.
“Hey, this was a big game and you have to be at your best … but I won’t comment on it any further,” Krzyzewski told reporters afterward.
Matt Muehlebach, who never lost at McKale Center during his career, scored seven points during the second overtime, helping ninth-ranked Arizona extend the nation’s longest home winning streak to 61 games. Duke was ranked No. 7.
Duke featured players such as Bobby Hurley, Grant Hill and Christian Laettner and Arizona had Chris Mills, Brian Williams, Sean Rooks, Muehlebach and Matt Othick.
Although it was never spoken of in public, the fact that Duke had four players foul out and Arizona broke the McKale Center with 51 free throws attempted (making only 30), Krzyzewski’s displeasure likely led to the programs not scheduling another home-and-home with him as coach.
Thursday’s game will be the second time Arizona and Duke will play each other in New Jersey.
Olson and Krzyzewski agreed to play in a made-for-TV matchup at the Meadowlands on Feb. 25, 1989.
ARIZONA-DUKE SERIES HISTORY
| Date | Winner | Score | Site |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12/16/1961 | Duke | 78-47 | Pittsburgh (1) |
| 12/30/1987 | Arizona | 91-85 | Tucson (2) |
| 2/26/1989 | Arizona | 77-75 | E. Rutherford (NJ) (3) |
| 2/25/1990 | Duke | 78-76 | Durham (NC) |
| 2/24/1991 | Arizona | 103-96 2OT | Tucson |
| 11/26/1997 | Duke | 95-87 | Lahaina (HI) (4) |
| 4/2/2001 | Duke | 82-72 | Minneapolis (MN) (5) |
| 3/24/2011 | Arizona | 93-77 | Anaheim (CA) (6) |
| 11/29/2013 | Arizona | 72-66 | New York (7) |
| 11/10/2023 | Arizona | 78-73 | Durham (NC) |
| 11/22/2024 | Duke | 69-55 | Tucson |
| 3/27/2025 | TBD | TBD | Newark (NJ) (8) |
(1) – Steel Bowl Tournament
(2) – Fiesta Bowl Classic
(3) – Meadowlands Arena
(4) – Maui Invitational
(5) – National Semifinal game (Final Four)
(6) – NCAA West Regional semifinal (Sweet 16)
(7) – NIT Season Tip-Off at Madison Square Garden
(8) -- NCAA East Regional semifinal (Sweet 16)
—–
Sean Elliott, a senior All-American challenging Duke’s Danny Ferry for national player of the year honors, dribbled the ball up the court with one minute remaining and the game tied at 70.
The crowd of 18,196 at The Meadowlands stood in anticipation of what Elliott might do next isolated against Ferry. Elliott made only 5 of 20 shots at that point. The immediate thought was Elliott will try to penetrate and draw the foul or attempt to attract defenders to pass to an open teammate.
Instead, he pulled up for a 3-point shot on top of the key, surprising Ferry, whose reaction to extend high toward Elliott’s release was too late. Elliott, a 6-foot-8-inch wing player, shot the ball at his zenith. It swished in to put Arizona ahead 73-70 with 53 seconds remaining.
His two foul shots, in a one-and-one situation with 18 seconds left, gave the Wildcats the points that would make the difference in the 77-75 victory. Elliott finished with 24 points, including the heroic spurt of five of Arizona’s last seven.
“This is the kind of game you win to go to the Final Four,” Elliott was quoted as saying by the New York Times. ”This is the kind of game you win in the Final Four, or in the championship game.”
.@mattmuehlebach played in two classic games against Duke while with Arizona — this one at the Meadowlands at East Rutherford, N.J., in 1989 and Arizona's double-OT win at McKale Center in 1991. https://t.co/URScTTUIFj
— Javier Morales (@JavierJMorales) March 25, 2025
After Elliott’s 3-pointer, Quin Snyder missed a shot in the lane and Ferry missed a hurried 3-pointer and the ball went out-of-bounds to Arizona.
Anthony Cook (19 points and five blocked shots) scored a layup against Duke’s press to give the Wildcats a 75-70 lead with 27 seconds remaining.
John Smith’s 3-pointer made it 75-73, but Elliott countered with two free throws. Snyder missed a shot, but Kenny Lofton had a traveling violation with 9 seconds left.
Snyder scored inside two seconds later.
Cook, a 62.3-percent free-throw shooter, was fouled with 6 seconds left. He missed the front end of a one-and-one situation.
ARIZONA STANDOUTS VS. DUKE
Top scorers, rebounders and assist producers in Arizona's series with Duke.Ferry rebounded and passed long to Christian Laettner, who had a clear path to the basket before Lofton fouled him from behind.
Laettner missed the front end of the one-and-one and Elliott cradled the rebound for the win.
Lofton’s instincts to foul in that situation allowed the Wildcats to survive a 29-3 Duke run that took the Blue Devils from a 37-19 deficit with 4:05 left in the first half to a 48-40 lead with 15:34 left in the game.
Ferry scored 12 of the points and hit a 23-foot 3-pointer to pull Duke within 36-30 at intermission. Three of his points came on free throws after two technical fouls on Olson (which back then did not warrant an ejection).
“We played like we were 17 down instead of 17 up, a great deal of impatience,” Olson told reporters afterward.
“This simulated NCAA tournament conditions,” Krzyzewski said. “Hopefully we can use this experience further down the line.”
Duke advanced to the Final Four that season while Arizona came up short in its attempt for consecutive Final Four appearances, losing in the Sweet 16 against UNLV.
"We'll be ready for them."
Caleb Love on facing Duke in the Sweet 16. pic.twitter.com/XDzH174lpX
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) March 24, 2025
Krzyzewski retired after the 2021-22 season and former Blue Devil guard Jon Scheyer is the head coach. The change potentially led to Duke and Arizona — now coached by Tommy Lloyd — to resume the series between the two college basketball powers.
The meeting at McKale Center earlier this season was the third such meeting between the programs, with the Wildcats winning the first two games. Arizona defeated Duke, 91-85, in Tucson on Dec. 30, 1987 in the Fiesta Bowl Classic championship — the season Arizona went to its first Final Four with Elliott and Steve Kerr — in addition to the double-overtime classic in 1991.
The major subplot in Thursday’s game is Caleb Love facing Duke and All-American Cooper Flagg in the NCAA tournament for the first time since he helped North Carolina eliminate the Blue Devils in the 2022 Final Four in Krzyzewski’s final game as a head coach.
Love scored 28 points on 11-of-20 shooting field while also connecting on three shots from beyond the arc in the Tar Heels’ 81-77 victory.
“It’s a big matchup because it’s the next game,” Love said in the press conference following Arizona’s 87-83 win over Oregon on Sunday night. “It’s the only game that matters. Obviously, our mind was focused on Oregon and we got it done and now we’re going to get in the film room and lock in on Duke and what they do.
“Obviously, they’re a great team, they’re well coached, and we’ll be ready for ’em when the time comes.”
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon. He became an educator five years ago and is presently a special education teacher at Gallego Fine Arts Intermediate in the Sunnyside Unified School District.
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