The Blue Devils got just enough in the final minutes of Monday's game to top Wisconsin.
Tyus Jones and Jahlil Okafor woke up the Duke Blue Devils offense just in time, and Duke surged ahead in the final four minutes of the NCAA Tournament title game to secure its fifth national championship in a 68-63 win over the Wisconsin Badgers on Monday night.
Mike Krzyzewski has now won five national championships in 35 seasons at Duke, winning each of his last four appearances in the title game. It's Duke's first title since Gordon Hayward's halfcourt shot clanged off the rim at the buzzer and Duke edged Butler in 2010.
With Duke's offense sputtering and Okafor and Justise Winslow riding the bench with foul trouble, Jones stepped up. He scored tough basket after tough basket -- at one point, an impossible three-point play, and then this three to give Duke its first lead of the second half at 59-58.
No title game had been tied at halftime since 1988, and it's hard to qualify how the second half of Monday's title game ranked against its predecessors. But college basketball has been plagued by title games between two struggling teams in recent years -- 2011 comes to mind, when UConn beat Butler, 53-41, on account of Butler's 18.8 percent shooting -- and this was far from that. Both teams were crisp. The game's biggest stars weren't at their best, but where Frank Kaminsky seemed a bit passive at times with the ball early on, Bronson Koenig stepped up. Where Okafor and Winslow found themselves in foul trouble, Grayson Allen scored eight points in a row by himself to will Duke back from the brink with 10 minutes to go, saving the Blue Devils from their first double-digit deficit of the game.
Wisconsin endured a four-minute drought at one point in the first half, and the Blue Devils took their largest lead to that point at 23-17. All of a sudden, Wisconsin ignited as only its offense could. The Badgers scored seven points in the span of about 70 seconds, capped off by a Kaminsky three-point play that drew Okafor's second foul with 4:47 remaining until halftime. That forced Winslow, on the bench with two fouls, back into the game.
Kaminsky had Okafor's number all night, goading him into uncharacteristic fouls and turnovers, like when he coughed it up here in the first half:
Coach K coasted into halftime with a smaller lineup because of the foul trouble, opting to leave Winslow in and bench Okafor. The first half featured 13 lead changes, and neither team led by more than two possessions. After both teams missed a few shots in the final minute, Duke and Wisconsin went into the locker rooms tied at 31.
★★★
3 things we learned
1. Wisconsin's offense shorted out just enough. In a way, it's a shame this is the final game of the season, because the Badgers are a wrecking ball denser than the sun right now. In the Final Four, they tore through the best defense anywhere this season (Kentucky) and the hottest (Duke) like they were practice dummies. Kentucky forced Wisconsin into more turnovers than usual, and that malady was long gone by the time the Badgers took the floor at Lucas Oil Stadium on Monday. Wisconsin had turnovers on consecutive possessions with about 11:30 left in the first half, and it would go until the 12:33 mark of the second half -- nearly 20 minutes of game-time -- until its next turnover.
And just as it was sailing along as perfectly as ever, something happened. The Badgers stopped hitting shots. Wisconsin missed 11 of 14 shots at one point late in the game, and all Duke needed was a chance. Jones and Okafor capitalized, and Duke won.
2. Duke wasn't built to survive without Jahlil Okafor and Justise Winslow. Duke hasn't necessarily needed both Okafor and Winslow to thrive this year, but the Blue Devils couldn't pull it off without both. Coach K opted to go smaller in Okafor's absence, using Amile Jefferson on Kaminsky rather than Marshall Plumlee. Offensively, Allen and Jones buoyed the Blue Devils, but missing Okafor's failsafe was critical against the roaring machine of Wisconsin's offense.
It's a good thing for Duke Okafor woke up just in time. He was inserted into the game with just under four minutes to go and immediately scored critical baskets on his first two offensive possessions. He was a non-factor, and then he was the only thing you could see.
3. We don't get any more college basketball until October. We watch college hoops all year for this moment, and we're never guaranteed to get a captivating game to decide the champion. We did Monday. This game had so many layers, and as each peeled away, the sum became more fascinating. We'll miss you, college basketball.
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