ACC Nation

Story by Patrick Hite
patrick@accnation.com

Once again Duke took an early lead. Once again Duke let the lead slip away. But this time the Blue Devils couldn’t recover and Coach K and crew are heading home after the second round, the second year in a row Duke won’t be in the Sweet 16.

Duke led by as many as eight early in the second half, but West Virginia went on an 18-3 run over a five-minute span and upset the Blue Devils 73-67.

“We didn’t put the ball in the basket,” said Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski. “Like I thought we played better than a five-point lead in the first half. And then we started the second half and we scored … we had a break and we didn’t get … we missed an open three, could have gone up 12. No matter how well or how hard you’re playing, you’ve got to put the ball in the basket, and we didn’t do that today. We had, I think, good looks, good things right around the basket. We didn’t have real good finishes.”

Trailing 37-29 in the second half, West Virginia got a jumper from Da’Sean Butler and three-point buckets by Darris Nichols and Alex Ruoff to tie the game. Gerald Henderson hit one of two free throws to put Duke back up by a point, but when Joe Alexander hit a layup at the 14:41 mark to put theMountaineers in front 39-38, West Virginia never trailed again, stretching the led to as many as 14 with two minutes remaining.

The loss marks another meltdown by the Blue Devils at the end of the season. Duke began the season 22-1, including wins in its first 10 ACC games, before dropping five of its next 11 games. Duke lost in the semifinals of the ACC tournament to Clemson, almost fell to Belmont in Thursday’s first round of the NCAA Tournament and ended its season with the loss to West Virginia.

“I’m proud of my guys,” Krzyzewski said. “I love coaching these guys. I have great kids and they gave us a great season. It’s tough to end on a loss, but the season was a really rewarding one and a happy one for me. I really loved working with these kids.”

Alexander led West Virginia with 22 points, while Ruoff had 17. But it was Joe Mazzulla who was the star of the game with 13 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists coming off the bench.

“We knew he was good, being more of a driver, tough, really good athlete, tough kid,” Krzyzewski said of Mazzulla. “But it seemed for awhile there he just got so many rebounds. Like if they played lacrosse, he’d be the guy on the faceoff, and whenever there was a loose ball or a scrum, all of a sudden, look, No. 3. And he was just the story. I think he’s the difference maker in this game, there’s no question about it.”

Duke got 18 points from Gerald Henderson and 13 from Greg Paulus. DeMarcus Nelson ended his college career with just six points on 2-of-11 shooting.

“I think he probably struggled with trying too hard,” Krzyzewski said of Nelson, who was named first team All-ACC this season and earned the ACC’s defensive player of the year award. “He’s the only senior on our team and really one of the main reasons we’ve won 28 games this year. I think sometimes at the end a person who cares sometimes puts too much on themselves. I think the last couple of weeks I think he’s done that. It’s just the fact that … he’s had a great year and he didn’t have a real good game tonight or this afternoon. But the kid cares as much as he can. It’s one of those things. I feel badly for him.”