Duke's great D sends Blue Devils to their 18th Final Four with an 85-65 win over Alabama

NEWARK, N.J. — Duke freshman Cooper Flagg swooped across the paint and swatted an Alabama player’s shot completely off the court.

The ball landed in the stands. Flagg and the Blue Devils -- they’re headed to the Final Four.

Duke’s long, tall, NBA-ready standouts smothered the Crimson Tide’s nation-leading offense and even papered over Flagg’s rough shooting night to lift the Blue Devils to the program’s 18th Final Four with an 85-65 victory Saturday night in the NCAA Tournament’s East Region final.

Flagg made only 6 of 16 shots, including a brick that got stuck in the flange of the rim, but still finished with 16 points. Kon Knueppel, another potential lottery pick, led the Blue Devils with 21 points, and Tyrese Proctor — who came to the postgame news conference with the freshly cut net hanging from his neck — finished with 17.

But the most important stat: Alabama’s offense, one coming off a record-setting night from 3 in the Sweet 16, failed to crack 70 points for only the second time this season.

The Crimson Tide’s 35.4% shooting from the floor was their worst all season and their 25% from behind the arc (8 for 32) matched their fourth-worst showing of 2024-25.

‘‘To hold them to 65 points is incredible,‘’ Duke coach Jon Scheyer said. ‘’We watched them play the other night. They scored 113 and made 25 3s. The biggest thing for us was not taking the bait of getting so spread out.‘’

Mark Sears, who came one short of a tournament record with 10 3s two nights earlier, finished with one this time. His six points were his fewest since he got shut out in limited playing time in a win over LSU in January.

‘‘They’ve got length all over the place, just look at their starting lineup,‘’ Alabama coach Nate Oats said when asked to explain his team’s struggles.

The top-seeded Blue Devils (35-3) won their 15th straight. At the Final Four in San Antonio, they’ll play the winner of Sunday’s game between Houston and Tennessee.

Their win erased any chance of an all-Southeastern Conference show at the Final Four, but with No. 1 Florida winning earlier, it kept alive the prospect of all four top seeds playing on the sport’s biggest stage for only the second time.

Khaman Maluach — he of the 9-foot-8 standing reach — scored 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting, had two blocks and altered a few more Alabama shots.

Duke shot 53.6% despite its best player’s rough night.

Flagg was hardly bad in this one. He had nine rebounds, three assists and the one mega-block that sent Mouhammed Dioubate’s floater flying over press row.

But in a game in which both teams were focused on taking away the other’s best player, it was Duke that did it more effectively, switching off on Sears, locking down the perimeter and never letting him find breathing room.

The fifth-year senior’s first bucket of any kind came nearly 18 minutes into the game and the shot was a 16-footer from the elbow — the exact kind of midrange shot Oats’ team of dunkers and 3-point specialists avoids.

Sears’ first 3 came with 16:19 left in the game. His final line: 2 for 12 from the floor, 1 for 5 from 3. He also had six assists.

‘‘It was by committee,‘’ Duke guard Sion James said. ‘’We were switching a lot. We knew the biggest thing for him is showing him bodies, making sure whoever was guarding the ball is not on an island by himself.‘’

Labaron Philon led the second-seeded Crimson Tide (28-9) with 16 points. Not a single Alabama player made more shots than he missed.

Scheyer, leading the program to the Final Four for the first time since his predecessor Mike Krzyzewski’s last season in 2022, has up to six NBA prospects on his roster.

‘‘Loose, confident, competitive and not fazed by this environment,‘’ Scheyer said of his group of freshmen, led by the 18-year-old Flagg, who are trying to bring the first title back to Cameron Indoor Stadium since 2015.

Final Four firsts

The only other Final Four to feature all No. 1 seeds was in 2008 when Kansas, Memphis, UCLA and North Carolina made it. The site: San Antonio.

Another title for Tide wheelchair team

It wasn’t a totally lost night for Tide fans. Shortly before tipoff, the Alabama women’s wheelchair hoops team beat Texas-Arlington 67-52 for its fifth straight national championship.

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