Elite Eight: N.C. State keeps magical March Madness run alive; Duke advances
Dallas — DJ Horne blew kisses to the crowd and blew off the notion of North Carolina State as a Cinderella.
As for their opportunity to create a replay of 1983, yeah, the Wolfpack are aware.
Horne scored 19 points and N.C. State kept its magical NCAA Tournament run alive, beating Marquette 67-58 on Friday night to reach the Elite Eight for the first time since 1986.
Casey Morsell added 15 points and Mohamed Diarra had 11 points and 15 rebounds in N.C. State's eighth consecutive victory since the start of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament, which the Wolfpack had to win even to be a part of March Madness.
On the 50th anniversary of N.C. State's first national championship in 1974 – when the Wolfpack beat the Golden Eagles for the title – it's beginning to look a lot like the second one nine years after that.
“It’s magical, but I’m going to say we knew this from day one,” said Horne, whose team lost seven of nine to finish the regular season. “We knew we were a good team. It was all a matter of just locking in and understanding our roles, and no better time to be doing that than now.”
N.C. State (25-14), the 11th seed in the South Region, will face No. 4 seed Duke in an all-ACC duel for a spot in the Final Four.
The last time the Wolfpack went that far, 41 years ago, they had to win the ACC Tournament before the late Jim Valvano sprinted around the court trying to find someone to hug after a still-talked-about upset of high-flying Houston for the title.
The Cougars won't be the opponent in the South Region final because of the Blue Devils' 54-51 victory. But there are still plenty of reasons to be flashing back to 1983.
The lower-key Kevin Keatts is in charge of the latest unlikely crew, with a big personality between the lines in 6-foot-9, 275-pound forward DJ Burns Jr., whose spinning layup and five assists helped the Wolfpack build a 13-point halftime lead.
“We don't have to talk about that history because we celebrate it the entire time,” Keatts said. “It's been talked about since I've been here, and it's going to be talked about as long as we ever are going to remember.”
The No. 2 seed Golden Eagles (27-10) couldn't overcome an unsightly shooting performance in their first trip to the Sweet 16 since 2013. They went 4 of 31 (12.9%) from 3-point range and shot 33.3% overall.
“Our mentality is even if we have a tough shooting night, find a way to win anyway,” coach Shaka Smart said. “And we weren’t quite good enough on the defensive end to get that done with the shooting night that we had.”
Kam Jones scored 20 points and point guard Tyler Kolek had 17 points and 10 rebounds as a Big East team lost for the first time in eight games in this tournament.
Smart, in his third season at Marquette, is 0-2 in the NCAA Tournament in Texas – including North Carolina’s first-round blowout two years ago – after failing to win a tournament game in six seasons leading the Longhorns.
“The worst part about losing today is that we don't have practice tomorrow,” Smart said. “We don't have another game to prepare for.”
N.C. State found the same balance that led to five players leading the team in scoring during the current winning streak. Horne did it for the third time.
Horne answered two brief Marquette runs with 3-pointers, blowing a kiss to the Golden Eagles fans behind their team’s bench after the first and gesturing toward his supporters near the N.C. State bench after the second.
Marquette was within eight when Jones missed an open 3-pointer with six minutes to go. The Golden Eagles couldn’t get closer than six after trailing by 16 early in the second half.
“People still don't think we're supposed to be here, that we're going to go further,” said Burns, who had four points and seven assists. “We're going to keep trying to crash the party.”
Duke 54, Houston 51
Dallas — Kyle Filipowski had 16 points and nine rebounds, and Duke advanced to the Elite Eight with a 54-51 win over top-seeded Houston, which played the final 26 minutes Friday night without All-America point guard Jamal Shead after he turned his right ankle.
Even with Shead on the bench, the fourth-seeded Blue Devils (27-8) had to overcome a physical defense that has been one of the best in the country all season. They won despite a season low in points, and advanced to the South Region final against an Atlantic Coast Conference rival, No. 11 seed North Carolina State, for a spot in the Final Four.
“We know we’ve got a great team,” Filipowski said. “We’ve been through so much this year … we just stuck together.”
The Wolfpack, the only double-digit seed left in this NCAA Tournament, beat No. 2 seed Marquette 67-58, their eighth win in a row in a streak that included a 74-69 victory over the Blue Devils just two weeks ago in the ACC Tournament.
“It’s going to be crazy. A rematch of the ACC Tournament," Duke guard Jeremy Roach said. "Obviously they’ve done a hell of a job. … They’re on a crazy run.”
Roach scored all of his 14 points in the second half for the Blue Devils, including a jumper in the lane with 1:15 left for a 54-48 lead.
LJ Cryer had 15 points for Houston and J'Wan Roberts had 13. Shead finished with two points on 1-of-5 shooting with three assists and two steals.
Shead departed with 6:38 left in the first half after his right foot turned awkwardly on a drive while missing a contested layup. By then, he had been on the floor under the basket for about 15 seconds while play continued at the other end until Houston got the ball after a Duke miss.
The senior guard, who has been part of 120 wins at Houston in his four seasons, reached for his foot when he went down and then pulled his jersey up over his face. He walked gingerly past the Houston bench and to the locker room after getting tended to by an athletic trainer. He sat on the bench throughout the second half, and limped off the court after the Cougars (32-5) became the second No. 1 seed knocked out – a night after North Carolina lost to Alabama.
Second-year Duke coach Jon Scheyer was part of Duke’s last two national titles – as a player in 2010 and as an assistant coach in 2015. He was also on staff for the Final Four two years ago in coach Mike Krzyzewski’s final season.
When Shead exited, the Blue Devils trailed 16-10. They took their first lead when Tyrese Proctor made two free throws to make it 21-20 with 2:46 left in the first half – and they never trailed again, even after Cryer banked in a short floater at the buzzer to get Houston within 23-22.
Duke never led by more than six points, and Houston still had a chance to tie the game in the final seconds. Emanuel Sharp’s tough 3-point try over Proctor was no good. There was less than a second on the clock when Houston guard Mylik Wilson was out of bounds on the floor when trying to get the rebound.
Sharp converted a three-point play with 48 seconds left for the Cougars, and they got the ball back for a final possession after Ramon Walker Jr. rebounded a miss by Filipowski with 25 seconds left.
Duke finished with 14 turnovers, but that was after three on its first four possessions and falling behind 8-0 in the first 3 1/2 minutes.