Arizona battled back after trailing by 19 points in the second half following a stretch in which top-seeded Duke made 13 straight shots from the field, but the Wildcats came up short 100-93 on Thursday night in the NCAA tournament East Region Sweet 16 game at Newark, N.J.
Caleb Love was spectacular in his last game of a productive five-year career with 35 points on 11-of-20 shooting from the field, 5 of 11 from 3-point range and 8 of 9 from the free-throw line.
“I just want to thank each and every one of my teammates and my coaching staff for sticking with me, as a person, first and foremost, because I went through a lot transferring from my other school (North Carolina),” Love said in the postgame press conference. “They took me under their wing, and they accepted me for who I was.”
Duke All-American and certain NBA No. 1 draft pick Cooper Flagg was just too much too handle for the Wildcats — 30 points, seven assists, six rebounds and three blocked shots.
“That’s one of the best tournament performances I’ve ever coached or been a part of,” said Duke coach Jon Scheyer.
Arizona, the fourth seed in the East Region, finished its fourth season under Tommy Lloyd 24-13 overall after starting 4-5 with a cloud of doubt heading into its first vaunted Big 12 slate.
“I’m super proud of these guys,” Lloyd said. “I mean, our guys really hung with it this year. This season was obviously an adventure, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I learned so much about myself, and I think these guys learned a lot about themselves.
“To make a run in the NCAA tournament really says something about the character of these guys and the character of our coaching staff. When you’re at a place like Arizona and you hit some rough waters, it could be tough, but we persevered and we’re better for it and our program is better for it.”
When Flagg was not scoring and assisting, he was impacting Arizona’s defense because the Wildcats seemed to be conscientious of the ball around Flagg and other Blue Devils got involved in the flow.
“They were a machine on offense,” Lloyd said. “We just couldn’t get enough stops.”
Although Duke shot 60 percent (33 of 55) from the field, 57.9 percent (11 of 19) from 3-point range and 85.2 percent (23 of 27) from the free-throw line, Arizona battled to make it a two-possession game with close to 2 minutes remaining after falling behind 70-51 with 13:12 left.
The game was an even battle at the start with the teams tied at 42 with 46 seconds left in the first half after Love made a 3-pointer.
The game then dramatically shifted with Kon Knueppel and Flagg each drilling a 3-pointer, including Flagg’s dagger at the buzzer.
Knueppel finished with 20 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field, including making both of his 3-point tries. He was also 8 of 9 from the free-throw line.
Duke outscored Arizona 14-5 to open the second half to take a 62-47 lead with 15:51 left.
The Blue Devils’ lead ballooned to 70-51 with 13:12 left after they made 13 straight shots from the field.
Flagg had only four points in the second half at that point, but he fed Khaman Maluach and Patrick Ngongba for dunks and layups inside. Duke’s freshman post players combined for 13 points at that juncture in the second half with Maluach scoring nine of them.
Maluach finished with 13 points (6 of 8 shooting) with six rebounds and Ngongba made all three of his shots from the field and finished with eight points before fouling out with 5:50 left and Duke leading 86-75.
Love engineered a comeback for Arizona from its 70-51 deficit by scoring 15 straight points for the Wildcats.
His output and Henri Veesaar converting a 3-point play with 7:47 left cut Duke’s lead to 78-71 with 7:47 left.
“I’m going to miss Caleb,” Lloyd said. “Obviously, he’s had an amazing career. I’m so excited for his future.
“I know he was tremendous today, and he’s going to wake up tomorrow and he’s going to smile because he has a lot to look forward to. I’m really, really proud of him.”
Arizona cut the lead to 89-83 after two free throws by Carter Bryant with 3:22 left.
Bryant’s 3-pointer with 1:56 remaining got Arizona to within 91-86.
“They just wouldn’t go away,” Scheyer said of Arizona. “Even with the 19-point lead, no lead felt safe with them.”
That was close as Arizona would get because Duke’s free-throw shooting down the stretch was impeccable.
The Blue Devils scored their last 11 points on the free-throw line over the final 2:10 of the game.
Knueppel made all six of his attempts from the line in that stretch and Flagg was 3 of 4.
Duke attempted 22 free throws (made 20) in the second half while Arizona tried only 10 (made them all).
The officiating had a controversial sequence when Jaden Bradley was whistled for a flagrant-1 call for a hooking foul with 7:41 left while pulling Knueppel to the ground.
A minute later, Ngongba was called for a common foul on a similar takedown of Veesaar. Instead of one free throw and the ball on a flagrant-1 call, Arizona only inbounded without a free throw and wound up not scoring on that possession.
Duke maintained its 82-73 lead before Ngongba went to the free-throw line and made both shots after a foul was called on Veesaar.
Sion James was also effective with 16 points for Duke, including 2-of-2 performances from the 3-point line and the free-throw line.
Bradley played well through foul trouble, scoring 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting with five assists and only one turnover in 30 minutes.
“I’d just say overall, this season we started off with a losing record, and it’s easy to kind of split off that, start thinking about next year, start thinking about your next move,” Bradley said. “I feel like this team, we came together and we smiled. After a loss, it’s not easy, but we smiled, came together, and we knew it was going to be brighter on the other side.”
Veesaar finished with 13 points and six rebounds.
All of the nine players who played for Arizona scored, including Conrad Martinez making a 3-pointer late in the first half while spelling Bradley after Bradley committed his second foul.
Anthony Dell’Orso’s six points were on two 3-pointers in the first 3 minutes of the game, helping Arizona build an early 15-10 lead.
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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 in 2016 and is presently a special education teacher at Sunnyside High School in the Sunnyside Unified School District.
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