Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski hugs Michigan State’s Tom Izzo after Duke’s 85-76 win Sunday in the second round of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament in Greenville, S.C. Chris Carlson/Associated Press
GREENVILLE, S.C. — Mike Krzyzewski’s emotions began to flow with a few seconds left on the clock, when it was finally certain Duke would extend his last NCAA Tournament run.
He whirled around to face the section where his family was sitting behind him and extended both arms to point their way in celebration. He traded high-fives and hugs with his players, then shared a long postgame hug at midcourt with Michigan State’s Tom Izzo after beating his friend in the Hall of Fame coaches’ bittersweet final tussle.
Krzyzewski’s retirement will be on hold for several more days at least. The Blue Devils survived a tense finish to beat the Spartans 85-76 on Sunday, earning another trip to the Sweet 16 and giving their coach his latest milestones.
Trailing by five near the 5-minute mark and with their season in peril, the Blue Devils (30-6) responded with one big shot after another, a resilient performance amid uncommon pressure.
It was almost too much for Krzyzewski, who struggled to find the right words to start his postgame news conference.
“You guys were terrific, man,” Krzyzewski told the players sitting alongside him, his voice quavering with emotion. “I’m so – I’m really proud to be your coach.
“It had nothing to do with coaching in those last four or five minutes. It all had to do with heart and togetherness. They followed their hearts and God bless them – we’re in the Sweet 16.”
Star freshman Paolo Banchero scored 19 points and muscled in the go-ahead drive through contact with 2:05 left, putting the Blue Devils (30-6) ahead to stay in the record-extending 1,200th win of Krzyzewski’s career. Duke reached the Sweet 16 for the 26th time under Coach K, who announced last summer that his 42nd season with the Blue Devils would be his last.
Those coaching milestones came against his longtime friend and frequent rival. The 75-year-old Krzyzewski, who has five NCAA titles and a record-tying 12 Final Four appearances, improved to 13-3 against the 67-year-old Izzo, who won the 2000 national championship and has reached eight Final Fours.
Krzyzewski will continue his push for a career-capping championship when the second-seeded Blue Devils head to San Francisco to play Texas Tech on Thursday in the West Region semifinals.
The Blue Devils shot 61% after halftime and 57% for the game, and they needed every bit of that production to survive against the seventh-seeded Spartans (23-13) in a riveting fight to the final minute.
“It’s the NCAA Tournament, our season’s on the line every single game,” Banchero said. “That’s really all that needs to be said. … We were like, ‘We’ve got four minutes: we can either lay down or turn it up.’”
The 6-foot-10 Banchero made the big play his coach needed by putting the ball on the floor and scoring in a mauling drive against the smaller Joey Hauser for a 75-74 lead. Jeremy Roach followed by drilling a 3-pointer late in the shot clock for a four-point edge.
“I think they showed their truest colors,” Izzo said.
“An average team without a lot of heart might’ve just drifted into the sunset. And I thought they reached down in Mike Krzyzewski fashion, and did an unbelievable job of kind of taking it at us. We just didn’t have enough left.”
Gabe Brown scored 18 points to lead Michigan State, while Tyson Walker scored all 13 of his points after halftime. The Spartans shot 42% for the game and had only one field goal over the final 2 1/2 minutes.
TEXAS TECH 59, NOTRE DAME 53: Kevin McCullar made an emphatic dunk with 15 seconds left to cap a 10-1 closing run for No. 3 seed Texas Tech (27-9) in a victory over 11th-seeded Notre Dame (24-11) in San Diego.
Kevin Obanor had 15 points and 15 rebounds, and McKullar and Bryson Williams each scored 14 for Texas Tech, which made its third Sweet 16 in the past four tournaments.
Dane Goodwin scored 14 points for Notre Dame, which led 52-49 with just over two minutes left.
Houston’s Taze Moore goes in for a layup as RJ Melendez, left, and Coleman Hawkins watch in the second round of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament Sunday in Pittsburgh. Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press
SOUTH REGION
HOUSTON 68, ILLINOIS 53: Taze Moore scored 21 points, Jamal Shead added 18 and Houston, a Final Four team last season, advanced to the Sweet 16 win a victory in Pittsburgh against Illinois, which was ousted in the opening weekend for the second straight year.
The fifth-seeded Cougars (31-5), who lost their two best players to season-ending injuries, are headed home to Texas for the next round, which will be in San Antonio, about a three-hour drive from Houston.
Kyler Edwards added 15 points for Houston, a team often overlooked but making major noise again this March.
With Houston’s fans chanting “Sweet 16, Sweet 16” in the final seconds, Edwards dropped one last 3-pointer and seconds later lifted Moore, another of Houston’s transfers, off the floor.
For Illinois, it’s another year of deep disappointment. The fourth-seeded Fighting Illini (23-10) were determined to go farther after being bumped by Loyola Chicago last year, but couldn’t get past the second round again.
All-America center Kofi Cockburn did his part for Illinois, scoring 19 points. The big man spurned the NBA last year for a shot at some tournament redemption, only to come up short in what was likely his last college game.
Down by 12 in the first half, Illinois battled back and was within 56-49 after Alfonso Plummer’s four-point play.
But after Shead hit a floater, Houston’s Fabian White Jr. made the play of the game by racing into the backcourt and swatting the ball before it went out of bounds with his left hand to Moore for a layup.
VILLANOVA 71, OHIO STATE 61: Collin Gillespie scored 20 points, Eric Dixon hit a big 3-pointer late and second-seeded Villanova (28-7) fended off seventh-seeded Ohio State (20-12) in Pittsburgh.
The Wildcats earned their eighth trip to the Sweet 16 under Jay Wright after surviving a second-half push from the Buckeyes, who trimmed a 15-point deficit to two before Villanova regained its footing.
Villanova will continue its quest for a third national title in seven seasons when it faces 11th-seeded Michigan (19-14) in the South Region semifinals on Thursday night in San Antonio.
Ohio State’s Malachi Branham scored 15 of his 23 points in the second half. E.J. Liddell added 17 in likely his final game with the Buckeyes before heading to the NBA.
Villanova led wire-to-wire, but there were some tense moments down the stretch. A 3-pointer by Ohio State’s Jamari Wheeler drew the Buckeyes within 60-58 with 5:39 to play.
Samuels hit a layup and Gillespie knocked down a pull-up jumper to help the Wildcats regain control.
ARIZONA 85, TCU 80: Bennedict Mathurin made a 3-pointer to force overtime and scored six more points in the extra session, and top-seeded Arizona outlasted ninth-seeded TCU in San Diego.
Mathurin finished with 30 points and Christian Koloko scored 28, including a putback dunk that slammed the door on the Horned Frogs with 9 seconds left in OT after Mathurin missed a 3.
Koloko was 12 of 13 from the field, including five dunks, but the rest of the Wildcats were 19 of 55, including 5 of 27 on 3-pointers.
Still, Arizona’s two stars did enough for the Wildcats (33-3) to avoid becoming the second No. 1 seed to fall during this tournament’s opening weekend. They advanced to Thursday’s South Region semifinals in San Antonio, Texas, where they will face fifth-seeded Houston.
Chuck O’Bannon Jr. scored 23 points for TCU (21-13), while Mike Miles Jr. and Eddie Lampkin Jr. had 20 apiece. The Horned Frogs were looking to get to the Sweet 16 for the first time.
MIDWEST REGION
IOWA STATE 54, WISCONSIN 49: Gabe Kalscheur scored 22 points and 11th-seeded Iowa State (22-12) surprised third-seeded Wisconsin (25-8) in the Badgers’ backyard, advancing to the Sweet 16 with a victory at Milwaukee.
Izaiah Brockington added 10 points as the gritty Cyclones used their tough defense to reach the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2016 and the sixth time in school history. Iowa State will play Miami in the Midwest Region semifinals on Friday in Chicago.
Johnny Davis, the Big Ten Player of the Year, led Wisconsin with 17 points, but the Badgers shot a season-low 29.8% from the field and turned it over a season-high 17 times.
MIAMI 79, AUBURN 61: Isaiah Wong scored 21 points, Kameron McGusty had 20 and No. 10 seed Miami (25-10) neutralized Auburn’s Jabari Smith and Walker Kessler to beat the second-seeded Tigers (28-6) in Greenville, South Carolina.
The 6-foot-10 Smith and 7-1 Kessler are projected NBA first-round draft picks should they leave the Tigers, but they were largely ineffective against Miami’s experienced lineup.
Smith made just 3 of 16 shots for 10 points and Kessler tied his season low with two points.
EAST REGION
PURDUE 81, TEXAS 71: Jaden Ivey made a critical 3-pointer with 1:01 left and finished with 18 points, and third-seeded Purdue finally got past Texas Coach Chris Beard in March, beating the sixth-seeded Longhorns in Milwaukee.
Trevion Williams scored 22 points to lead the Boilermakers, who capitalized on a major disparity at the free-throw line to reach the Sweet 16. Purdue had 46 attempts, making 33, while the Longhorns went 7 for 12.
The Boilermakers (29-7) gave away an early 14-point lead but recovered and advanced to an East Region semifinal on Friday in Philadelphia against this year’s out-of-nowhere tourney darling, 15th-seeded Saint Peter’s.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
