Written by Brian Pohl
Columbia, SC- After a tight first half, overall top seed Duke separates and coasts to an 85-62 victory over NDSU.
Similar to fellow one seed in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament in UVA, top one seed Duke struggled early with 16 seed NDSU in their opening round matchup, but found their legs in the second half and leave the first round with a win never much in doubt.
Duke started cold from the field, shooting just 20 percent at the under-16 media timeout in the first half. NDSU would take advantage, building a 12-5 lead over the one seed at the first break.
The Blue Devils would battle back, however, as starting forward Zion Williamson would take over the show with his highlight dunks and athleticism, and Duke would go to halftime with a 31-27 lead.
In the second half, Duke just took over. Coming out of the gates with a 9-0 run to grab a 40-27 lead and force an NDSU timeout, the Blue Devils set the tone that they were going to use the athleticism and try and jump out of the gym playing above the rim.
The Bison had no answer once Duke began to pull away, and once their shots stopped falling it was all over. NDSU shot just 36 percent for the game and really struggled with turnovers early in the second half.
Zion Williamson will always get more of the headlines, but the player of the game was fellow freshman star, RJ Barrett. The talented lefty led all scorers with 26 points while completing the double-double by pulling in 14 rebounds. Barret sometimes doesn’t get the attention he deserves because of Williamson, but this team is really something to watch when they are firing on all cylinders and Barret is a major reason for that.
Duke finished the game shooting 51 percent from the field but really cashed in on their defensive effort with 17 points off turnovers. Duke is the heavy favorite to win the National Championship, and if they can continue their great play from tonight, it just might come to fruition.
With the win, Duke advances to the round of 32, where they will play the winner of tonight’s final game from Columbia, South Carolina between the 8th seed VCU and the 9th seed UCF.
The second round will take place Sunday, March, 24th in Columbia, South Carolina from Colonial Life Arena, with tip-off still yet to be determined as of this writing.
