Blue Devils slug through first-round win
Duke advances with stingy defensive performance and enough going well on offense
NEW YORK – It wasn’t aesthetically pleasing.
It was a win and Duke is advancing, which is all that matters after the Blue Devils beat Vermont 64-47 on Friday night at Barclays Center.
Duke, the 4-seed in the South Region, advances to a matchup against 5-seed Wisconsin or 12-seed James Madison on Sunday. Their game was the last one scheduled in Brooklyn on Friday, with Northwestern and Connecticut winning earlier in the day.
Vermont trailed by as few as two in the second half but never led.
Duke’s offense in the second half came in flurries. Vermont got the Blue Devils’ five-point halftime down to two, at 36-34; after a couple of missed free throws by Mark Mitchell, Jared McCain and Tyrese Proctor made 3s on back-to-back possessions.
An acrobatic shot by McCain and a wildly aggressive finish by Mitchell a few minutes later pushed the lead out to 46-37 and prompted a timeout by Vermont coach John Becker.
Duke got a 3-pointer by Proctor and a three-point play by Jeremy Roach to put the game away in the last several minutes.
There were seven lead changes in the first six minutes. That included a 3-pointer by each team, but mostly aggressive takes to the basket and finishes around the rim.
Duke had a mini surge to lead 18-12, scoring on five straight possessions and finally stringing together some stops on the other end. It went to 19-12 when Becker earned a technical foul, and Jared McCain made the second free throw.
Duke’s lead reached 10 a couple of times, 26-16 and 28-18, between the 8- and 6-minute marks.
The Blue Devils couldn’t sustain that to halftime.
After one stretch in which the teams combined for five straight turnovers — Jaylen Blakes taketh and giveth away — Vermont got a couple of scores, including a 3-pointer by TJ Hurley that made it a 28-23 game.
Coach Jon Scheyer took a timeout after the 3. The Blue Devils steadied, kind of, thanks mostly to five straight points by McCain. But Vermont’s Aaron Deloney made a jumper in the closing seconds to send the game to halftime with a five-point margin, at 34-29.
Mitchell had 11 of Duke’s first 26 points, but didn’t score for the rest of the first half. Blakes played 8 minutes in the first half; that matched the most he’s played in any of Duke’s last seven games, which includes two DNPs and a one-possession showing in Duke’s loss to N.C. State last week.