The NCAA’s “March Madness” Tournament continued at the Prudential Center on Saturday, March 29, as Duke and Alabama faced off in the Elite Eight to determine who would emerge from the East region of the tournament and secure a spot in the Final Four. This comes following the East Regional Sweet Sixteen on Thursday, March 27, which was also at the Prudential Center, where Duke and Alabama won their respective games.
Starting with the latter, Alabama defeated the BYU Cougars, 113-88, thanks to a historic 3-point shooting performance. The team set a new NCAA Tournament record for both 3-pointers made and attempted, as they went 25-51 (49%) from 3-point range. Alabama’s backcourt of graduate guard Mark Sears and sophomore guard Aden Holloway combined for 16 of the team’s total 3-pointers, with Sears hitting ten 3-pointers himself—just one shy of the NCAA Tournament record set by Loyola Marymount’s Jeff Fryer in 1950.
Their opponents, Duke, came into this game after defeating the Arizona Wildcats, 100-93, behind a 30-point performance from freshman forward Cooper Flagg, who is the projected No.1 pick in the NBA draft. He also managed to grab six rebounds, tally seven assists, and hit an incredible buzzer-beating 3-pointer as time expired in the first half to help the Blue Devils secure the win over Arizona.
Duke started this game by making five of their first seven shots (63%), while Alabama went two for five (40%) in comparison. This helped the Blue Devils build an eight-point lead early in the first, as they led 13-5 four minutes into the game. Alabama freshman forward Aiden Sherrel had an instant impact off the bench, as he hit back-to-back 3-pointers to bring the game back within four points, with Duke still leading 15-11.
Minutes later, a driving graduate guard Sion James found freshman guard Kon Knueppel in the corner as he hit a 3-pointer to give Duke their biggest lead of the game thus far at 11, as they led 30-19 with nine minutes left. Knueppel was the first player of the game to score double figures, as he tallied his 10th point with an and-one layup moments later. Junior guard Tyrese Proctor then found freshman center Khaman Maluach on a huge alley-oop dunk a few possessions later to extend Duke’s lead to 13, with them leading 37-24. With two minutes remaining in the half, Alabama graduate guard Mark Sears scored his first basket of the game as Duke still led 41-33. Alabama graduate forward Grant Nelson scored a buzzer-beating layup to end the first half, with Duke leading 46-37.
Alabama struggled against Duke’s stifling defense in the first half, as they turned the ball over 10 times compared to the Blue Devils’ six. Even when Alabama managed to get inside the paint, Duke contested everything—with an average height of 6-foot-8-inches, Duke is the tallest team in Division I basketball, and their interior defense ranks among the best in program history.
Knueppel led all scorers with 11 points, while Flagg contributed 10 of his own in the first half. After scoring 17 points in the first half against BYU, Sears had just two points thus far in this game. Duke continued their efficient shooting from the game prior, as they went 56% from both the field (18-32) and from 3-point range (5-9). Meanwhile, Alabama struggled, shooting just 26% (5-19) in the first half.
Proctor scored his 10th point of the game early in the second half to become the third Duke player in double figures, as they led 50-40. After Flagg’s dunk attempt in transition was stuffed at the rim by Alabama’s Nelson, Sears hit his first 3-pointer of the game on the other end to cut the deficit back down to seven with 16 minutes remaining.
Duke regained their double-digit lead minutes later, as Knueppel hit a pair of free throws to make it 56-46. After Alabama exceeded the foul limit, Duke continued to make free throws, extending their lead to as much as 16. With Sears guarding him, Flagg took advantage of the mismatch, scoring a layup inside to extend Duke’s lead to 18 as they led 76-58 with just two minutes left. Duke maintained their lead until the end of the game, extending it to as much as 20 points, as they ultimately won 85-65.
In the end, Knueppel led all scorers with 21 points, while Proctor followed with 17. After his 30-point performance against Arizona, Flagg finished with 16 points and nine rebounds. Like in their last game, Duke had four of their starters in double figures (Knueppel with 21; Proctor with 17; Flagg with 16; and Maluach with 14). In an effort to mount a comeback, Alabama freshman guard Labaron Philon scored 11 points in the second half, finishing with 16 in the game. Scoring 34 points against BYU, Sears finished with just six points in this game—his second-lowest point total of the season.
After shooting historically well against BYU, Alabama struggled from 3-point range, shooting just 25% (8-32). Sears said after the game that Duke’s ability to prevent Alabama from hitting 3-pointers was key to their success.
“They did a good job of taking away our 3-ball, and that’s something that we do really well,” Sears said. “They were just ‘building out’—we would drive, and they had great rim protection [which] made it hard on us, and they did a really good job doing that.”
With the loss, this game marked the final collegiate game for Sears, who finished his career at Alabama with the second-most points scored in program history. Born just 100 miles south of campus in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, he reflected on his time with the university and expressed his deep gratitude for it and its basketball program: “I’m just blessed to be able to play for the University of Alabama, especially being from the state,” he said. Even though this season didn’t go the way we wanted it to, I’m very thankful that I got the chance to play for [head coach Nathan Oats] and the university.”
Although disappointed by the loss, Oats expressed that he was proud of what the team was able to accomplish this year.
“With the standard of excellence we set across all of college basketball, we’ve established ourselves as one of the best programs in the country,” Oats said.
Since Oats was hired in 2019, the Crimson Tide had won two SEC titles (2021 and 2023) and had their best season in program history in 2023, where they earned the No.1 overall seed in the NCAA tournament. Last season, they advanced to the first Final Four in program history before falling to UConn, the eventual national champions.
Now in the offseason following the loss, Oats also discussed the difficulty of building a roster for next season in the new era of NIL and greater player agency: “Everybody’s a free agent, so you have to do a really good job [recruiting] guys who are going to be loyal and fit your system,” he said.
He emphasized that Alabama sticks to a more traditional, now somewhat antiquated, recruiting process, where they focus on bringing in players they can develop over time.
“You see multiple programs across the country that get an entirely new roster every year—that’s just not the way we do it,” he said. “We like to get guys that are good, loyal, [and] fit the program.”
“It’s tough to build a roster every year,” he added. “But when you win at the level we have, and when you develop guys for the NBA like we have, I think a lot of people want to come to this program.”
As has been the case all season, Duke won this game handily, as they led for the entirety of the game (they spent 39:41 of 40 minutes of total game time with the lead). According to the NCAA’s cumulative statistics, Duke has a scoring margin of 21 points this season, which is the most amongst teams in Division I men’s basketball. Although the stakes have never been higher, Duke has been dominant so far in the tournament, winning by an average of 23.5 points through four games (including this game against Alabama).
After the game, Duke head coach Jon Scheyer expressed how excited he was for the team, especially after they were upset by N.C. State in last year's Elite Eight.
“I couldn’t be more excited and happier for these guys,” Scheyer said. “Every decision we made, everything we did was to get back here, and to [give] the team an opportunity to advance to the ‘promise land.’”
Graduate guard Sion James also expressed his excitement about advancing to the Elite Eight while acknowledging that “nothing is guaranteed,” even when playing for a program with a history of winning like Duke.
“Just because we go to Duke and play for Duke, doesn’t mean that we’re going to be in the Final Four every year—it’s a grind,” James said. “We had to work from the minute we got here to get to this position…but it’s really cool to know that we’re following in the footsteps of some of the Duke greats and that we have a chance to make history next week.”
Flagg, who was named the Most Outstanding Player of the East Region of the tournament, reflected on what the moment meant to him, while acknowledging his teammates and coaches in the process.
“It’s a big honor, [and] a blessing,” Flagg said. “I wouldn’t have been able to do it without the guys sitting next to me here and the rest of the guys in the locker room. I have to give a lot of credit to them and the coaches for just putting me in a lot of really good situations.”
He added that the coaching staff ran plays that put him in spots on the court where he could play freely and be at his best: “Wherever it was, [they] just let me be me, and I just got to give a lot of credit to my teammates and coaches.”
With the win, Duke advances to their 18th Final Four in program history, and the first under head coach Scheyer. The Blue Devils will face Houston on Saturday, April 5, in the Final Four of this year’s NCAA Tournament, as they continue to pursue their first national championship of the post-Coach K era.
Zachary Mawby is the head editor for The Setonian’s Sports section. He can be reached at zachary.mawby@student.shu.edu.
