An Alabama team boasting the nation's highest-scoring offense was supposed to present a challenge for Duke.
It did not. Duke's defense handcuffed Alabama's high-octane attack while its own offense put on another clinic in a 85-65 win Saturday night in the East regional final. With the win, Duke advances to its first Final Four since 2022.
Armed with National Player of the Year candidate Cooper Flagg and arguably the best supporting cast in the nation, Duke will be the favorite in San Antonio to cut down the nets.
The Blue Devils demonstrated why on Saturday with an overwhelming effort on both side of the floor. It did so despite an off game on offense from Flagg. The Blue Devils simply leaned on that supporting cast that would add up to a title contender with or without its freshman phenom.
Duke established the tone with three early 3-pointers en route to a 13-5 lead. It extended its lead to 35-22 and threatened to run away with the game before Alabama responded to cut it's deficit to 46-37 at halftime.
But Alabama never threatened to overtake. It cut the Duke lead to 65-58, but got no closer than seven points after halftime. A 13-0 run extended Duke's lead to 78-58 and put to bed any long-shot hopes of an Alabama comeback n the game's final minutes.
While Duke's offense found success inside and out, Alabama's struggled to find the open looks from deep that it used just one game earlier to set the NCAA tournament record for made 3s with 25 against BYU the Sweet 16.
Instead, Alabama repeatedly hoisted contested looks from 3 or settled for inefficient mid-range jumpers that stood little chance of keeping pace. Good looks in the paint were also hard to come by. Duke's lineup that's the tallest in the nation by average height simply presented too many challenges. It added up to a 35.4% shooting rate from the field and 8-of-32 effort (25%) from 3-point distance by Alabama.
Duke's offense, meanwhile, was a model of efficiency, even with Flagg's relative struggles. Alabama zeroed in on the freshman phenom, limiting Flagg to a 6-of-16 effort from the field. No problem for Duke, which ran much of its offense through fellow freshman star and projected NBA lottery pick Kon Knueppel.
When he wasn't finding good looks from 3 (2 for 4), Knueppel used dribble penetration to score layups or set up a teammate with a lob at the rim.
Knueppel finished the night with 21 points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals. Flagg, while struggling from the field, was far from a non-factor. He finished with 16 points, eight rebounds, three assists and one block and was a force on defense alongside his teammates. Flagg won't have many off shooting nights. But even when he does, he impacts the game in so many other ways.
This story will be updated.