Game blog: Duke beats Texas 74-69, advances to sweet 16
Nolan Smith calls out a play during Duke's second round NCAA Tournament game against Texas on March 21, 2009.
Mar 21, 2009
10:37 p.m., It's over: Duke is moving on with a 74-69 win. They will meet Villanova in the next round.
10:35 p.m., Wow: Elliot Williams missed them both! But Henderson comes up with a wild loose ball after the fight for the rebound. Gerald got fouled and made his first to make it 73-69.
10:33 p.m., High drama: Abrams missed a runner, the ball went flying 70 feet into the backcourt, and Texas got called for a loose ball foul. Duke will be at the line to ice it here.
10:29 p.m., James just misses: Damion James 3-pointer for the lead goes around the basket and out. Duke is on the line with a chance to go up by four. Henderson missed the second. Texas has a chance to tie it with a three!
10:26 p.m., Singler fouled out: He gave Duke the lead with a tip-in on Henderson's miss. Then he fouls out at the other end. Gary Johnson is on the line shooting two. He hits 'em both!
10:24 p.m., Tied!: Right now Varez Ward is happy to be back in NC, he just hit the game tying shot. It's 67-67 with 1:36 to go. Duke will have the ball.
10:22 p.m., Duke clings to lead: It's 67-65 with two minutes left. Texas has the ball with a chance to tie.
10:19 p.m., Texas hangs in: On two straight sets they got great efforts from freshman guard Varez Ward. He actually played his high school ball at The Patterson School, just west of Winston-Salem. He made a hoop, and then took it strong and got fouled. He will be at the line with a chance to cut it to a two point game. Duke leads 67-63 with under four minutes to go.
10:11 p.m., Pick pocketed: Abrams just walked right up to Scheyer who was dribbling in the backcourt and stole it right away from him and took it back for an easy two. He is a senior and has averaged over 15 ppg in three straight seasons. He is a big time player. Texas needs some plays like that down the stretch. They just got another bucket here to cut it to five. It's 66-61 with five minutes to go. This is unfortunate for the Longhors, Damion James appears injured. I think he smacked his head agaisnt Pittman, or the court. Either way both are immovable objects and it doesn't look like he is all there.
10:06 p.m., Singler at the line: He is trying to give his team a 10 point lead, and he does after hitting both free throws. The Duke fans get very loud now. Singler just fouled Abrams shooting a 3-pointer. He will go to the line for three shots! Duke now leads it 64-57 with under seven minutes to go in this one.
10:02 p.m., Love the underdog: The announcer just gave a scoring updates for the fans here watching live. "Gonzaga 61, Western Kentucky.....60," he said. After that all of the UNC fans let out a collective, "ooooooooo". Either way Carolina is facing a mid-major for a chance at the elite eight.
9:59 p.m., Barrage of threes: Kyle Singler and Jon Scheyer both knocked them down on consecutive trips down the floor. Duke is 7-13 from downtown and they are very hard to beat when they shoot it that well. We are coming down the home stretch now with 8:20 to play. Who wants to go to the sweet 16 more? Duke is up 60-54.
9:52 p.m., Four fouls for the big man: Dexter Pittman picked up his fourth foul and there is still 11 minutes to play. Lance Thomas took the ball right at him. Duke leads it 51-47. I am sitting right near the Texas band and cheerleaders and I do think their fight song, "Texas fight" is one of the best in college sports. It's up there with Michigan's "The victors". Jon Scheyer comes in and buries a big 3-pointer right out of the timeout. That's a huge shot. A seven point Duke lead now.
9:48 p.m., Nice hat: CBS' Clark Kellogg told that to a guy sitting in the row behind me when he was walking back to his seat after halftime. It is one of those Kangols like Samuel L. wears.
9:46 p.m., Duke getting through it: Texas made a run, and Gerald Henderson had an "oh baby" dunk and a foul. Kyle Singler just made a sweet one-on-one move over Clint Chapman to get a one-handed turnaround shot to fall. Duke is up 51-45 with 12:33 to go.
9:42 p.m., Paulus anyone?: Remember when Greg used to play? Normally when three year players get to the senior year they become vital assets to the team. It's too bad he can't be involved at all. He hasn't taken the warm-up top off yet.
9:38 p.m., Texas fight!: That's the chant they yell, and that's what the team did in the first four minutes. They were inspired and quickly made up the seven point deficit. A Gerald Henderson drive makes it 43-41 with under 15 minutes to play in the game. Who wants it more tonight? These teams are pretty even in talent level in my opinion. Texas was just a little less inconsistent this year. Hey, they did beat Villanova, UCLA, Wisconsin, and Oklahoma this year.
9:34 p.m., Heating up: A.J. Abrams is a teriffic scorer and if his sleeved arm gets hot Texas could take this lead quickly. He hits an early three here in the second half.......but a moment later it is answered by Kyle Singler's 3-pointer. And then his is answered by a Damion James 3-pointer, who also runs the floor on the break and puts in a two for the tie. It's 39 all here in the second round!
9:33 p.m., refreshed: I got my coke, filled with ice in my vitamin water cup (they don't let you bring the can out to the floor). Also, before the two games they served up a nice media meal. Salad, rice, and your choice of chicken or fish. I had both.
9:28 p.m., Run in: I just ran into Duke play-by-play voice Bob Harris. We had a quick chat about the first half. We both agreed that Duke's defense was the reason they have a seven point lead. They were disruptive and caused nine turnovers. Duke itself only had four. Bob is also one of the nicest guys in broadcasting. He had to be racing back to his broadcast and still had time for the stop and chat. Many are not fans of the stop and chat.
9:10 p.m., Good way to end: Texas answered Henderson's lay up, but right at the buzzer of the half Nolan Smith buries a two-point shot. Duke goes to the locker room with a 36-29 lead. Smith has been a key on offense for Duke with nine points off the bench including a 3-pointer. Henderson leads Duke with 11. Singler and Scheyer have been quiet with just five a piece. A.J. Abrams leads Texas with nine points. Damion James has eight. The winner of this game has the right to play Villanova in Boston next week.
9:08 p.m., Tight game: They all seem to be tight when you get in the round of 32. Duke right now is doing enough on defense to cause fits when Texas is moving the ball around. Atchley just got whistled for an offensive foul. Gerald Henderson is pacing the Blue Devils with 11 points, just recently a sick drive with an up-and-under lay up. Duke is up 34-29 with under a minute to go.
8:56 p.m., How bout that first game: Of course we get the luxury of seeing North Carolina and Duke at the same site here in Greensboro. There was a group of 50 reporters around Ty Lawson at all times in the post game area where they sit the players on a nice black sofa. They always put the players you need to talk to the most in a place where only four people can fit. So instead I tried to ask Tyler Hansbrough if Lawson was playing with any pain through that game in his toe. He responded in a tone like he had been asked that 100 times already. "I don't know, it's noy my toe," he said to me. Either way Lawson's performance was incredible coming back from injury, whether he felt pain in the toe or not (he might have said he had pain, I just haven't heard yet). He had 23 points and 21 of them after the half. Now that I think of it, he had to have some pain because shortly into the game he had the shoe off and the trainers were rubbing it. He even winced (in pain) a few times. Back to the current game, Duke is in the lead 26-23 after the media timeout with 3:30 to go in the half. Texas is making a little run.
8:51 p.m., Balance: There is some real balance in the scoring right now for both sides. Henderson, Scheyer, and Singler all have five points a pop. Abrams, James, and Pittman all have four points a piece for Texas. Fitting those are the top three season scorers for Duke, and the top three season scorers for Texas.
8:48 p.m., Making up for lost time: Hello again, here I am. Internet is a drag at Greensboro Coliseum. Not only that but it aint free! The things we go through to bring you live coverage. Right now Duke holds a 22-14 edge at the third media timeout with 7:11 to go in the half. They are spacing well on offense and hitting the jump shots, but doing an even better job on the defensive end of the floor, causing Texas to be a little careless with the ball. I think Texas is doing that on their own at times too.
8:25 p.m., And we're off: Texas came out of the gates and took a quick 6-2 lead. They forced two early fouls as Duke had trouble with them down low. Lance Thomas got off to a good start with the games first points. We are at the first media timeout and everyone has their feet wet now. Duke leads it 8-6.
7:45 p.m., One game down, one to go: Well the games do get a little better on Saturday and Sunday. Funny the way that works when a trip to the sweet 16 is on the line. I am more excited about this Duke game than I was for the Carolina one. I am really high on this Texas team and I don't think their low seed is a reflection of how much talent they have.
Thursday's win for the Longhorns gave them a tournament win in eight of the last nine years. A.J. Abrams is as good a scoring guard as any in the country. He was red hot making 8-15 from three-point land against Minnesota.
Look for this team to stay very close to the Blue Devils the entire game, and maybe win in the end.
Duke did look very good in it's first game against Binghamton. They certainly didn't leave it in the balance like they did against Belmont last year. They had six score in double figures in a very balanced attack. Can Lance Thomas have a great game against a Texas center that is two inches taller and 80 pounds heavier?
