The Duke basketball team will play in the Final Four. These are the San Antonio Blue Devils’ players.
Duke’s Final Four game Saturday night will be against a foe it knows well.
The No. 1-ranked Blue Devils, winners of 15 consecutive games, will face Houston after the Cougars won the NCAA Tournament’s Midwest Regional by routing Tennessee, 69-50, on Sunday.
The Duke-Houston game, set to begin at 8:49 p.m. on CBS, will be the second of Saturday’s semifinal doubleheader at the Alamodome in San Antonio. Two other No. 1 seeds from their regionals, Auburn (South) and Florida (West), open the Final Four at 6:09 p.m. It’s the second consecutive year Duke and Houston have played in the NCAA Tournament, with the Blue Devils knocking off the top-seeded Cougars, 54-51, in last season’s South Regional semifinal game at Dallas.
This time, Duke (35-3) and Houston (34-4), will meet as top seeds as they both easily rolled through their regionals to reach the national semifinals. The Blue Devils hammered Alabama, 85-65, on Saturday night to win the East Regional at Newark, New Jersey. They’ll clash as the nation’s hottest two teams. Houston’s 17-game winning streak in the only active streak longer than Duke’s 15 in a row.
Here are some items of note about the Duke-Houston game:
Defensive minded
Duke and Houston have both been among the nation’s stingiest teams this season. While Duke is No. 4 in the nation in Ken.Pom.com’s defensive efficiency metric (allowing 90.5 points per 100 possessions), Houston is the nation’s best at 88 points per 100 possessions. The Cougars showed that dominance against Tennessee, limiting the Volunteers to 28.8% shooting in the Elite Eight game Sunday. Duke also won its Elite Eight game by clamping down on Alabama. The Crimson Tide shot 35.4% against Duke, making 8 of 32 3-pointers (25%). Tennessee made just 5 of 29 3-pointers against Houston.
Who is back from last year’s game?
Duke was the South Regional’s No. 4 seed when it knocked off Houston. The carryovers for Duke from that game, however, are small in number.
The only Duke player still on the team who played against the Cougars is junior guard Tyrese Proctor. He scored nine points with four assists and three steals, including causing two Houston turnovers in the final minutes to help the Blue Devils win.
Against Alabama on Saturday night, Proctor scored 17 points for Duke on 7 of 10 shooting. Key reserve Caleb Foster as on Duke’s roster a year ago, as well, but missed the NCAA Tournament due to injury.
It’s a far different story for the Cougars.
Houston has three starters back in guards L.J. Cryer and Emanuel Sharp and forward J’Wan Roberts. The 6-1 Cryer played 39 minutes against Duke last March, scoring 15 points but committing a team-high four turnovers.
A 6-3 guard, Sharp scored seven points in 36 minutes, hitting only 2 of 7 shots against Duke.
Both played well on Sunday to help Houston beat Tennessee. Cryer scored 17 points while Sharp finished with 16 points.
The 6-8 Roberts, who scored 13 points with eight rebounds against Duke last season, had nine points with two rebounds against Tennessee on Sunday.
The 6-8 Ja’Vier Francis also started against Duke last season but he came off the bench against Tennessee on Sunday. Another player, 6-2 guard Mylik Wilson, played as a reserve against Duke last season and against Tennessee on Sunday.
Joseph Tugler, a 6-7 forward, didn’t play against Duke in last year’s game as a freshman. But he scored six points with nine rebounds against Tennessee on Sunday.
Duke has the better offense
While Houston’s offensive efficiency is above average at No. 10 in the country, the Blue Devils have more firepower. Duke is No. 1 nationally at 130.1 points per 100 possessions, according to KenPom. The Cougars have scored 123.9.
Houston won on Sunday despite shooting just 42.4% against Tennessee. Duke, meanwhile, shot 53.6% against Alabama on Saturday night.
The Cougars are a 45.4% shooting team for the season, while the Blue Devils have made 49.6% (which is No. 6 in the country). Duke has shot 50% or better in all four of its NCAA Tournament games this season.
Youth vs. experience
Duke starts three freshman in 6-9 national player of the year candidate Cooper Flagg, 6-7 forward Kon Knueppel and 7-2 center Khaman Maluach. All three made the East Regional all-tournament team.
As mentioned above, Houston is a veteran team that’s played together for several seasons. Cryer and Roberts are seniors while Sharp is a junior.