Final Four Recap
(2) Connecticut 79, (1) Duke 78
Emeka Okafor and Rashad Anderson scored 10 of 12 unanswered Connecticut points that brought the Huskies back in the final minutes in a 79-78 win over Duke to advance to Monday night’s national championship.
Okafor, who was saddled with foul trouble, scored all 18 of his points in the second half after playing just under four minutes in the first half while saddled with foul trouble. In fact, the anticipated matchup of big shot-blockers Okafor and Shelden Williams (Duke) didn’t materialize in the first half as both were in early foul trouble. Williams, who scored just four points on 1-9 shooting, sat for some time in the first half with three fouls and fouled out with just over five minutes left to play and the Blue Devils leading 70-62. With Shavlik Randolph and Nick Horvath also fouling out, Duke could not look inside for offense, and it made a big difference on the offensive end. The Blue Devils’ only field goals after that were a three-pointer by Daniel Ewing with 4:43 left that put the Blue Devils up 73-64 and a meaningless three-pointer as time expired by Chris Duhon.
The teams traded runs to start the game, with the Huskies (32-6) running out to an early 15-4 lead before the Blue Devils (31-6) answered with a 15-1 run, capped by 11 unanswered points, to take the lead for the rest of the first half. They would hold a 41-34 lead at the break, and took their largest lead early in the second half by scoring the first four points.
During the Blue Devils’ funk in the final minutes, they helped the Huskies by taking long jump shots, a couple of them early in the possession. Duhon made two free throws to make it 75-67 before the decisive run, and made their last field goal on his buzzer-beater from just past midcourt. He finished his college career with 15 points and 6 assists.
Ben Gordon, the NCAA Tournament’s leading scorer, also had 18 points, while Rashad Anderson had 14 and Josh Boone had a big game inside with 9 points and a game-hig 14 rebounds, picking up the slack inside while Okafor was out. Luol Deng led five Blue Devils in double figures with 16 points and 12 rebounds, while J.J. Redick had 15 points on just 4-12 shooting.
