Kon Gets It Done For Duke
Photo: Special to the NY Beacon
By Andrew Rosario
Newark NJ – When the #1 ranked Duke Blue Devils face the #2 ranked Alabama Crimson Tide for the right to go to the NCAA Final 4 Saturday night at the Prudential Center in Newark New Jersey, they knew they would have their work cut out for them. Duke saw how Alabama set the NCAA tournament record for converting 25 3-point shots against Brigham Young University advancing to the Elite 8. Bama’s guard Mark Sears converting 10 3-pointers. The Crimson Tide had to contain Duke’s Cooper Flagg who scored 30 points in their win over Arizona. Duke had a marginal first half as Flagg only scored only 7 points taking a 46-37 lead going into the locker room at the half. The Blue Devils defense suffocated Sears only allowing him to attempt 4 shots, missing his 2 only 3-point shots.
The second half was all Duke but it was another player, not Flagg who would be the biggest thorn in Alabama’s side. Kon Knueppel who only scored 8 points in the first half, finished the game with 21 points in the 85-65 win. Said Duke head coach John Scheyer said afterwards, “the feeling of losing last year at this point, every decision we made, everything we did was to get back here and then have the team have the opportunity to advance to the promised land.”
“The big thing for us was just playing our defense,” Duke’s Sion James said. “We recognized that, as good of a shooting team as they are, they look to drive you and then hit spray-out 3s. So we really just stayed true to who we are defensively, didn’t give them easy ones and make them hit tough 3s over the top.”
All #1 seeds have advanced to the Final 4. Duke will play Houston and Florida will play Auburn. It is the first time that all #1 seeds have made to the Final 4 since 2008 when Kansas, North Carolina, Memphis and UCLA advanced.
The Final March Madness game will take place Monday April 7th.
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