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Standing between Arkansas and the Final Four is the team it beat to win its lone national championship.
Despite trailing for a big chunk of the night, Duke rallied for a 78-73 win over 3-seed Texas Tech in the other semifinal of the West Regional in San Francisco on Thursday.
The Blue Devils were down by two when ACC Freshman of the Year Paolo Banchero knocked down a 3-pointer with about three minutes left. That was the last of 13 lead changes, as Duke — the 2-seed in the West — ended the game on a 13-5 run.
For much of the game, it seemed like the Red Raiders would end the legendary career of Mike Krzyzewski, who is retiring at the end of this season.
They raced out to a 10-2 lead and led for most of the first half and went into halftime with a 33-29 lead. Texas Tech still led by five after the first five minutes of the second half, but Duke’s 7-foot-1 center, Mark Williams, kept it in the game.
He scored eight straight points for the Blue Devils at one point and had 12 of his 16 points in the second half. They also got a strong second-half performance from Jeremy Road, with 11 of his 15 points coming after halftime.
However, Banchero — an AP third-team All-American — hit the biggest shot of the game and scored a game-high 22 points to go along with 4 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals. The 6-foot-10 power forward averaging 17.2 points, 7.8 rebounds and 3.2 assists this season.
Before beating Texas Tech, the Blue Devils had to get by 15-seed Cal State-Fullerton 78-61 and 7-seed Michigan State 85-76. They are now 31-6 and ended the regular season at No. 9 in the AP Poll.
Duke's matchup with Arkansas in the Elite Eight will be their first time playing each other in basketball since the 1994 national championship, which the Razorbacks won 76-72 with the help of a late 3-pointer by Scotty Thurman.
Tip off is scheduled for about 7:49 p.m. CT Saturday, but it won't start until after the end of the Villanova-Houston game in the South Regional, which starts at 5:09 p.m. CT. Both games will be televised on TBS.
