The No. 1 Duke Blue Devils were on the brink of NCAA Tournament exit as the UCF Knights nearly knocked them out in the second round but Zion Williamson and RJ Barrett saved Mike Krzyzewski’s side in the final moments of the game.
The Knights had a 3-point lead with 14 seconds to go but Williamson hit a heavily contested layup to cut the deficit to one and send the towering Tacko Fall to the bench as UCF’s center fouled out. Zion missed the free throw but Barrett secured an offensive board and scored from close range to put Duke up by one, 77-76.
UCF coach Johnny Dawkins, Krzyzewski’s former player and assistant, called the time out and set up the final play but his son Aubrey Dawkins failed to make a putback attempt with two seconds left and the Blue Devils survived the scare. “Heartbreak,” Dawkins said of the biggest miss of his college career. “When you invest this much in it, it breaks your heart.”
The Blue Devils got the second chance opportunity following Williamson’s missed free throw mainly because Fall wasn’t in the game, which pretty much eased Barrett’s job under the rim. According to ESPN Stats & Information research, Duke scored 20 of its 34 points in the paint with Fall off the court, including Barrett’s game-winning putback.
“It was definitely a different challenge,” Barrett said of facing Fall. “I’d never really played against something like that before … but we hung in there.”
“He’s 7-foot-6. He’s a big man down there, so you just have to run the right offense for it. He played great. Hats off to him. He played a great game,” Zion Williamson said after the game.
The Blue Devils now progressed to the Sweet 16 where they will face the No. 4 Virginia Tech Hokies in Washington, DC. Krzyzewski now improved to 28-5 in games against his former assistants but he was emotional while describing what it was like going against Johnny Dawkins.
“I love Johnny. I’m going to start crying. I love Johnny Dawkins,” Coach K said. “The moments, the times we’ve spent together and building the program and 10 years on our staff and the connections we’ve had with him at Stanford and Central Florida, we’re family. I feel bad they lost. It’s like a yin and yang because they were deserving of winning.”
Coach K comforted UCF players after today's wild finish. (via @ShawnKrest)pic.twitter.com/Gt6QXHBSCw
— ESPN (@espn) March 25, 2019
