A late Arizona rally from 19 points down in the second half fell short in a 100-93 loss to Duke in the East Regional Semifinals on Thursday night in Newark, New Jersey. Arizona trailed 70-51 with 13:12 remaining and rallied to cut the deficit to 91-86 with 1:56 but could not get a critical stop.
Caleb Love was sensational for Arizona in setting a program high 35 points in an NCAA Tournament game. The performance by Love broke the previous program record of 31 points set by Sean Elliott in the Final Four to Oklahoma in 1988. Love had one stretch in the second half where he scored 15 consecutive points.
Love battled with projected top pick Cooper Flag throughout the game. Flagg finished with 30 points, seven rebounds and six assists. Kon Knueppel complemented Flagg with 20 points. Duke began to pull away by scoring the final six points of the first half and starting the second half 8-2 to extend the lead to 56-44.
Duke continued pulling away from there to eventually take the 70-51 lead before Arizona slowly mounted its comeback. Carter Bryant, who struggled for most of the game, made some big shots late and finished with eight points, three rebounds and two steals in what could be his last game for Arizona.
Arizona was able to get back into the game because they started scoring in and defending the paint. Duke finished with a 42-30 advantage in points in the paint, but it had a 38-8 edge earlier in the game. Duke made 60.0 percent of its shots from the field and 11 of 19 three-point shots.
There was controversy in the second half when Jade Bradley was called for a flagrant foul and Duke received two free throws. Moments later, Duke center Patrick Ngongba appeared to hook Henri Veesaar and take him to the ground. Ngongba was called for a foul, but not a flagrant.
Bradley finished with 15 points on 6-10 from the field and five assists and Veesaar scored 13 with six rebounds after struggling versus Oregon. Duke center Khaman Maluach finished with 13 points, six rebounds and four blocks and Sion James had 16 points on 5-6 from the field and 3-4 three-point field goals with three rebounds and four assists.
Duke advances to the Regional Final for the second straight season, where they will play Alabama. Alabama beat BYU 113-88 on Thursday night. The Crimson Tide set an NCAA Tournament record with 25 made three-point shots, including nine with eight assists by Mark Sears.