A win away from the Final Four, No. 2 Duke battles No. 4 Arkansas Saturday night in San Francisco in the championship game of the NCAA Tournament West Regional at Chase Center. Duke’s 23 Elite Eight appearances are third most in NCAA history, while the 17 trips to the Elite Eight by head coach Mike Krzyzewski extend his NCAA record. Duke is 16-6 in the regional final round.
The Blue Devils and Razorbacks have met three times previously, including twice in the Final Four. In 1990, Duke won, 97-83, to reach the championship game, while Arkansas won the title in 1994, 76-72.
The Blue Devils own the best winning percentage in NCAA Tournament history at .755 (117-38), while the program’s 117 wins rank third and five championships are fourth most. Only five programs have more tournament wins than Coach K’s 100 – Kentucky (129),UNC (128), Duke (117), Kansas (111) and UCLA (108).
About Duke
- Sophomore Jeremy Roach has scored 15 points in each of Duke’s last two wins over Michigan State and Texas Tech – of his 30 points, 24 have come in the second half.
- A second-team consensus All-American and the ACC Freshman of the Year, Paolo Banchero is the program’s 75th All-American (52nd under Coach K). He is the 31st consensus pick under Coach K.
- In the postseason, Banchero is averaging team highs in points (17.7), rebounds (7.8), assists (4.0) and steals (1.7), while shooting .586 from the field with two 20-point games and three double-doubles.
- Sophomore Mark Williams’ .713 field goal percentage is second on Duke’s single-season list. He would lead the nation, but falls just short of the minimum five field goals per game to qualify (4.9).
- Williams is the nation’s only player shooting .700+ from the field and .700+ free throws (min. 150 FG). Since at least 1992-93, only one other player in college basketball has posted a similar statline.
- Wendell Moore has stepped up this postseason, averaging 15.7 points on .508 from the field, .417 from three-point range and .957 (22-of-23) from the free throw line in both the ACC and NCAA Tournaments.
- Duke has trailed or been tied in the final five minutes of four postseason wins this season — Syracuse, Miami, Michigan State, Texas Tech — and closed those games on combined runs of 57-22.
- The combination of sophomore Jeremy Roach (15 points), junior Wendell Moore Jr. (12), freshman Paolo Banchero (11) and freshman Trevor Keels (10) and accounted for nearly 85 percent of Duke’s points in those runs.
- Texas Tech became the 82nd different program that Coach K has defeated in the NCAA Tournament. Duke trailed 33-29 at halftime — now 3-2 when trailing at the half.
- Trailing 56-55 with 8:19 remaining, Duke finished the game 8-of-8 from the field and 6-of-9 at the free throw line. Duke shot 17-of-24 from the field in the second half – the .708 shooting percentage was its single-half high this season. The 78 points allowed by Texas Tech were its most yielded in regulation this season.
- Duke is 16-3 overall this season in road and neutral site games.
- Duke had five players in double figures in points for the game.
- Duke is unbeaten versus ranked teams this season – including multiple top-10 wins (beating then-No. 10 Kentucky in the Champions Classic , 79-71, then No. 1-Gonzaga in Las Vegas, 84-81) and Thursday’s 78-73 win over No. 12 Texas Tech.
- Of the 20 teams with multiple top-10 wins, only Duke, Texas Tech and Arkansas have one that includes a win over No. 1.
About Arkansas
- Arkansas is making its 11th NCAA Elite appearance and second straight. This is the first time Arkansas has made consecutive Elite 8 berths since winning the national title in 1994 and finishing runner-up in 1995.
- Arkansas became the first team to ever beat an AP #1 team in the regular season (vs Auburn on Feb 8) and defeat the AP # 1 (overall #1 seed Gonzaga) in the NCAA Tournament (ESPN Stats).
- Arkansas forced 15 turnovers, but only committed eight. Arkansas had six blocked shot compared to three by Gonzaga. The Bulldogs entered the game #6 in the NCAA in blocked shots per game (5.9).
- Arkansas is 22-1 this year when leading at the half and 55-3 in the Eric Musselman era.
- Arkansas is 12-3 since the calendar flipped to February. Two losses were QUAD 1 games (at NCAA NET #27 Alabama and at NCAA NET #8 Tennessee) by a total of five points. The third loss was a QUAD 1 game vs Texas A&M in the SEC semifinal.
- The Razorbacks were 7-1 in February, including a 3-0 record versus top 25 teams and 4-1 record vs QUAD 1 games. The Razorbacks are 5-2 in March.
- JD Notae led the team in scoring (21), assists (6), steals (3) and blocked shots (2) while adding six rebounds . He is the first Hog in at least 25 years to get at least 21 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks in a game.
- JD Notae leads the SEC in steals, ranks 2nd in scoring, is 10th in assists and is 15th in defensive rebounding.
- Trey Wade was 3-of-4 from 3-point range. The 3 triples are his most in a Razorback uniform. His seven rebounds ties for his second-most rebounds as a Razorback.
- Chris Lykes made two free throws with 15 seconds left. He is now 46-of-49 (.939) at the line inside the final three minutes and overtime.
- Kamani Johnson was the first sub off the bench for the second time. Arkansas is 2-0 in those games beating #1 Auburn and #1 Gonzaga.
- Jaylin Williams has drawn NCAA-best 52 charges, has 46 steals and 41 blocked shots for a total of 139 big defensive plays.
- Au’Diese Toney has arguably been Arkansas’ best defender while being a key scorer and the team’s second-best rebounder over the last 20 games.
Duke vs Arkansas
- Duke and Arkansas have met just three previous times, but not since the Razorbacks clipped the Blue Devils to win the 1994 National Championship, 76-72, in Charlotte, N.C.
- Duke beat Arkansas, 97-83, in the 1990 Final Four in Denver to advance to the Championship Game.
- The only non-Final Four meeting was a 98-88 UA victory in the NIT Season Tipoff, Nov. 21, 1990 at Madison Square Garden.
Game Info
Time: 8:49 p.m. (ET)
TV: TBS (Jim Nantz, Bill Raftery, Grant Hill, Tracy Wolfson)
Stream: NCAA.com
Radio: Blue Devils Sports Network (David Shumate, John Roth)
Per Release
