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ORLANDO, Florida—In the eight minutes and change it took Oral Roberts to score a point on Thursday night, you can listen to nearly all of Don McLean’s 1971 single American Pie, the longest such song to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 to Taylor Swift’s All Too Nah (10 Minute Version) in 2021.
At that time, the Blue Devils not only collected 15 points, but two blocks and 13 rebounds in the absolute domination of their opponent. It didn’t end once the Golden Eagles finally picked up the bucket too. In the opening round of the NCAA tournament at the Amway Center in Orlando, the fifth-seeded Blue Devils roared through 40 minutes of play to defeat 12th-seeded Oral Roberts 74-51 thanks to a productive day from junior captain Jeremy Roach.
“It’s money time here,” Roach said. “[I’m] just playing with confidence all the time now. When a sense of urgency is at an all-time high, that’s when you really lock yourself in. Every possession matters, every bucket matters. So that’s what I’m trying to do, prepare myself mentally and physically.”
While the first half was a group effort, hot hands Dariq Whitehead and Roach single-handedly outplayed Oral Roberts overall for most of the period, leading Duke to a 40-23 halftime lead. The two combined for 23 points by the end of the half—matching the Golden Eagles—with nine of them coming from beyond the line.
For the first four minutes, the Golden Eagle’s bus wheels were noticeably loose a bit but didn’t fall off completely, with the Blue Devils leading 8-0 thanks to some quick scores in the paint. That was until Roach drilled three to put Duke up 11-0 and drove the first nail into Oral Roberts’ casket. Head coach Paul Mills immediately called a timeout to try to inject some life into his team, but to no avail. Roach tied for a career high with 23 points by the end of the game, including 13 in the first half, on 9-of-17 shooting.
“Jeremy was crying. For me, it was more than his mindset,” said head coach Jon Scheyer after the game. “That’s what I expect of him, and I think that’s what he wants me to expect. But very proud of what he’s done, and just leading the way for us.”
Not much happened between Oral Roberts’ time limit and the ensuing stoppage less than a minute later, but after that, the Golden Eagles let Kyle Filipowski pickpocket them three times in four possessions before fouling Roach on a layup attempt. The Leesburg, Va., native made both free throws, and after Patrick Mwamba made three outs, newly-graduated center Ryan Young made Mwamba work quickly under the basket for a layup.
Only after all that did Oral Roberts score thanks to a fine pass from star Max Abmas to DeShang Weaver. Enter Whiteheads. The Freshman came off the bench and scored 10 points in the first half, first clearing the lane and then hitting two triples, including one race from the wing to the top of the lock. With just over five minutes left in the frame, Whitehead tapped into one of Duke’s total 13 offensive rebounds for a second chance jumper.
“Going into the game a lot of people before told me to be confident like Jeremy, who is our captain. He told me to go in and be confident so that’s what I did,” said Whitehead.
It’s hard to argue that there is one factor that determines the outcome of the game, but how easily the Blue Devils win the battle in the glass is certain. Duke outscored the Golden Eagles 46-32, led by 12 from Dereck Lively II, despite a 7-foot Connor Vanover waiting in the paint. This only adds to the misery of Oral Roberts’ grisly shooting.
If you’re going to shoot 30% from the field, you better at least have more chances than your opponent. But as the Blue Devils kept the Golden Eagles in their own cup with 33 defensive rebounds, on most of the possession Oral Roberts could only miss one shot and tried to get back on defense as quickly as possible.
“You have to value every possession, you have to value every ball, you have to value every shot. That’s something that’s going to mean a lot to us in this March Madness, being able to ensure that we stop possession and finish it off.” material possessions to launch our attack,” said Lively. “I’ve made sure that I can parry the ball, make rebounds difficult for them or rebound myself, and make sure that we get out and running.”
For about three minutes, it changed. Midway through the second half, the Golden Eagles stringed a desperate 11–0 run, cutting Duke’s lead to 14 in the process. New signing Tyrese Proctor cut short the Golden Eagles’ hopes of a comeback, as he threw in a wide open wing three to end their run and keep the Blue Devils easily above 57-40.
Next, the Blue Devils will face either 4th seed Tennessee or 13th seed Louisiana Saturday with a trip to New York for the Sweet 16 on the line.
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| Sports Executive Editor
Sasha Richie is Trinity senior and sports managing editor of the 118th volume of The Chronicle.
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Sources 2/ https://www.dukechronicle.com/article/2023/03/duke-mens-basketball-oral-roberts-ncaa-tournament-jeremy-roach-jon-scheyer-dariq-whitehead-dereck-lively The mention sources can contact us to remove/changing this article |
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