HOUSTON — Well, the Duke conspiracy theorists will have a field day with this one. Baylor had whipped Reliant Stadium into a frenzy, built itself a two-point lead late in this South Regional final, and Quincy Acy made a layup — plus the foul — that threatened to all but drive the Bears to Indianapolis.
Only, there was a problem.
That whistle? It wasn’t a foul on Brian Zoubek, who looked as if he arrived at the spot late and would have been disqualified. The call was a charge on Acy. Remember the time: 4:37 left. Over the next 3½ minutes, Duke outscored Baylor 15-3. From nearly down five to up 10, all the way to a 78-71 win that secured Duke’s first trip to the Final Four in six years.
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“There’s not much to say, to be honest,” Acy’s frontcourt mate, Ekpe Udoh, said. “Duke needed to make a play and they did. We needed some stops after that and didn’t get them. If we make those stops . . .”
He didn’t finish the thought, and didn’t have to. None of the Bears used that turning point as an excuse, even if the entire team seemed on the brink of tears after its extraordinary run through the NCAA tournament came to an end one game shy of the program’s first Final Four in 60 years.
Instead, Duke will play West Virginia next week in one national semifinal, and the Blue Devils will be the clear favorite to win Mike Krzyzewski’s fourth national title (in his 11th trip to the Final Four) as the only surviving No. 1 seed.
“It’s just so exciting,” said senior guard Jon Scheyer, who shook off a puzzling shooting slump by burying five 3-pointers and scoring 20 points, qualifying for his first-ever trip to the Final Four. “You come to Duke and this is part of your goals every year. It’s so gratifying when you know how well you had to play just to get there.”
Udoh gave Baylor its last lead, 61-60, with 3:50 left. Fourteen seconds later, Duke’s Nolan Smith — who was huge for Duke, scoring a game-high 29 points and earning the Region’s Most Outstanding Player honor — made a free throw, missed the second, but then retrieved the ball after an offensive rebound and swished a back-breaking 3. Duke led 64-61, and never trailed again.
“We had to make plays,” Smith said. “It’s about doing your job and that’s what I felt like I had to do.”
LaceDarius Dunn led Baylor with 22 points. Duke won despite seeing its best player, Kyle Singler, struggle through an 0-for-10 day from the floor, settling for just five free throws.