Duke falls short of Final Four in OT loss to Kansas

With a trip to the Final Four in San Antonio at stake, the No. 2 Duke (29-7, 13-5 ACC) takes on top-seeded Kansas (30-7, 13-5 Big 12) in the Elite Eight Sunday in Omaha.

The Jayhawks’ shooting has been on display this tournament.

Duke are back in the Elite Eight for the first time since their 2015 team won it all after holding off a late charge from rival Syracuse 69-65 on Friday night in the Midwest regional semi-finals.

However, the Jayhawks have All-America point guard Devonte’ Graham leading the way, as well as what appears to be a now healthy center in Udoka Azubuike, who originally had an MCL sprain. The Jayhawks have won the last two meetings, an 11-point victory in 2013 and by two in ’16. “It just feels (perfect)”.

The game was an awesome battle overall, featuring 18 lead changes (including seven in three and a half minutes in the second half) and 11 ties.

But it didn’t, and instead the Jayhawks are moving on. The Tigers got as close as four, but the Jayhawks made enough free throws to seal their third straight 30-win season.

Nothing was falling – the look Allen had at the end of regulation to win the game looked like it nearly dropped in the basket twice only to fall off the rim.

It’ll be the first meeting of these bluebloods in the NCAA Tournament since 2003, when Kansas knocked off Coach K and the Blue Devils in the Sweet 16.

And Malik Newman was on fire, finishing with a game-high 32 points while adding seven rebounds and three steals. As of Sunday morning, the Blue Devils and Jayhawks are each getting 50 percent of the wagers for this game with Duke as the slight favorite. Went back left. Their big stepped in to help. “And it hurts that we couldn’t get it done for him”. It would also be their third Final Four in the last nine years. The end of an era for Grayson AllenKansas: This might be the unlikeliest of coach Bill Self’s three Final Four squads. The Jayhawks were awful to start the season, losing back-to-back home games for the first time in the Bill Self era. And with the final buzzer about to sound and the outcome suddenly in focus, Self clenched both of his fists and lifted his arms in the air for a celebration years in the making. A quick and somehow incomplete list of top National Basketball Association prospects Allen played with: Jahlil Okafor, Justise Winslow, Brandon Ingram, Jayson Tatum, Luke Kennard, Marvin Bagley III, Wendell Carter Jr. Bagley has been one of the game’s best players as a freshman, an athletic 7-footer who can shoot from the perimeter, drive to the basket and soar for alley-oops.

Largely absent of controversy this season, Allen led a starting group at Duke over the past four months that consisted of him and four freshmen. The redshirt-sophomore connected on a 3-pointer less than a minute into the overtime to hand KU a one-point lead, 75-74.

Villanova came into the game needing just 11 3-pointers to set a Division I single-season record.

It got a fine supporting-actor effort from Silvio De Sousa, the Angolan who joined the team in December, and it got another gem from the March-hot guard Malik Newman, who shot 6 for 11 overall and 4 for 7 from 3-point range, had 17 points and said: “My confidence is just sky-high”. A very tough – and arguably under-seeded at No. 16 – Penn team posed a challenge in the first round before Kansas pulled away to win by 16 points.

In particular, Duke’s advantage on the boards will be a task for KU’s guards to overcome, but the Blue Devils know they can’t take their size for granted – the way Duke’s own guards rebound the ball proves that KU’s can be capable of the same thing. Now the final two of the Final Four will be determined by the high seeds on the right.