Razorback sophomore forward Jaylin Williams (#10) from Ft. Smith hits a fadeaway jumper for two against Texas A&M. In his Elite Eight outing against Duke, he scored 19 points and grabbed 10 rebounds.
by Nate Allen
FAYETTEVILLE - By Duke math No. 2 ranks above No. 1.
Way above No. 1.
Because against the same Arkansas Razorbacks, who in Thursday’s West Regional semifinals defeated Gonzaga, not only the No. 1 West top seed but ranked No. 1 in the nation, Duke’s No. 2 West seeded Blue Devils defeated the fourth-seeded Razorbacks, 78-69 in Saturday night’s West final at the Chase Center in San Francisco.
Duke, 32-6, advances to next Saturday’s Final Four, playing for the national championship in New Orleans.
Third-year Arkansas Coach Eric Musselman’s Razorbacks, 28-9, for the second consecutive season conclude their campaign in the NCAA Tournament’s Elite Eight. The fourth-seed in the West, the SEC Razorbacks beat Vermont and New Mexico State in the West Subregional in Buffalo, N.Y. and then upset Gonzaga in San Francisco to ascend to Saturday’s West final.
Under Coach Mike Krzyzewski, retiring at this season’s end after 42 years, the Blue Devils will play in their 13th Final Four and have won five national championship. Duke’s being seeded No. 2 in the West and playing better than every region’s No. 1 came as no surprise.
Only that these Razorbacks never quit, which they haven’t all year, made for the final nine-point difference not reflective of how most of the game was played.
“We got beat by a better team today,” Musselman said. “Thought Duke was phenomenal. Last year (in the Elite Eight game) we lost to Baylor and they were the national champions. I’ll be shocked if Duke is not national champions in a week or week and a half or whatever.”
Next Saturday’s Final Four semifinal winners play for the national championship on Monday April 4th in New Orleans.
Ironically, Arkansas’ lone national basketball championship win occurred during its previous meeting with Duke. Nolan Richardson’s 1994 Razorbacks beat Krzyzewski’s Blue Devils in the championship game at Charlotte, N.C.
After upsetting Gonzaga, the Hogs, who were only four-point underdogs on Saturday, harbored hopes of derailing Duke again.
Despite yielding just three less points in Duke’s 45 points first half than its entire game vs. New Mexico State, Arkansas kept it close for much of Saturday’s first half only down, 37-33 at 2:14.
But with top Razorbacks defenders Au’Diese Toney and Jaylin Williams sitting with two fouls each foul and Duke erasing the first half boards, 22-12, the game got away from Arkansas.
Duke’s closing 8-0 run, punctuated by Trevor Keels’ buzzer beating trey, had the Blue Devils up 45-33 at intermission.
“We didn't end the half very good at all,” Musselman said. “Obviously, with foul trouble, Au'Diese and J-Will on the bench, two of our best defenders, didn't end the half very well at all. I thought that really, really hurt us. We had the ball with an opportunity to either dribble the clock out or get a shot and potential five-point swing.”
As noted, these Hogs haven’t quit all season, especially after regrouping from losing five of six games mid-December through early January stretch, including starting 0-3 in the SEC before finishing 13-5 in the league.
They regrouped again Saturday. From down 12 they surged to down five, a Williams’ and-one 3-point play trimming Duke’s lead to 53-48 at 13:19, and Krzyzewski calling timeout at 13:13.
Duke forward Paolo Banchero scored coming out of the timeout, launching a 10-0 run.
The Razorbacks never recovered, scrapping to the end just to close a 15-point deficit to a final nine.
“They ran a wedge play, a little mid-post up-screen for No. 5 (Banchero),” Musselman said. “And he converted or got fouled, and we go down to the other end and didn't convert and hence the 10-0 run.”
One statistical comparison, Arkansas’ 12 assists vs. 11 turnovers to Duke’s seven assists vs. 15 turnovers leading to Arkansas’ 21-12 points off turnovers advantage, indicated a result different from the final score.
The other numbers add up for Duke, especially 34-25 rebounding and 46-34 points in the paint.
Though Arkansas sank all its free throws, the 11 of 11 didn’t send the Hogs to the line their nationally leading average of times while Duke sank 16 of 18.
Jaylin Williams, Arkansas’ superbly double-doubling 6-10 sophomore center, double-doubled again, scoring a game-leading 19 points with 10 rebounds. But his 8 of 17 shooting night included hurried misses, pressured by Duke seven-foot center Mark Williams who had three blocked shots among his 12 points and 12 boards.
“Obviously, Mark Williams is tough to score over,”Musselman said. “We left some baskets at the rim. Not just one guy. The whole team.”
Mark Williams’ fellow twin tower, 6-10 Banchero scored 16 points with seven boards with Duke forward AJ Griffin, 2 of 3 treys, scoring a team-leading 18 points while Duke’s Wendell Moore scored 14.
They proved too many guns for Arkansas to holster, especially with Jaylin Williams and Toney in first-half foul trouble.
Williams and Toney did play the entire second half but senior guard JD Notae, the SEC’s leading scorer, fouled out at 3:47. Notae scored 14 points, matched by Razorbacks grad transfer Stanley Umude.
Saturday in San Francisco marked an ending the Razorbacks will lament, but also a second consecutive Elite Eight finish, their first two since Richardson’s 1995 national runner-ups.
A far piece from where they were in December, losing to Hofstra in North Little Rock, then starting 0-3 in the SEC.
“Yeah, of course, we all wanted to get further in this,” Jaylin Williams said. “But the fight this team has showed all year has been incredible. For the way that we started off conference, nobody would have expected us to get this far. They were just a better team than us tonight.”