NCAA East Regional at East Rutherford, N.J. : Duke Quickly Dispatches Minnesota, 87-70

Richard M. Nixon, Duke man, hoops fan, stopped by to see his favorite college basketball team again. When Nixon drove over from his new New Jersey home a few weeks ago to catch the Blue Devils as long as they happened to be in the neighborhood, they lost, but this time he brought them luck.

The former Duke law student and former President must have been tickled blue by his alma mater’s 87-70 annihilation and elimination of Minnesota Friday night, which carried Duke into Sunday’s championship game of the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. tournament’s East Regional.

Tricky Robert Brickey--who made all but one of his 10 shots--and smooth guard Phil Henderson each scored 21 points, and All-American Danny Ferry threw down 18 as the Blue Devils barely broke a sweat, progressing within striking distance of their third Final Four appearance in four years.

Nixon was here Feb. 26, when Duke played Arizona at Brendan Byrne Arena in a game between nationally ranked teams. Because of its strong subway ties, the Durham, N.C., school likes to schedule a game or two whenever it can in the New York area, strictly for alumni enjoyment. And the Blue Devils particularly favor the setting here at the Meadowlands, where they won East Regional championships in 1986 and ’88.

After the two-point loss to Arizona, the man from Saddle River stopped by the Duke dressing room to commiserate. It was the first time he had seen Duke play in person in 55 years, Nixon said.

Nixon went up to Duke forward Christian Laettner that day and said: “I know you feel badly, young man, but everything will be just fine. I know. I’ve won a few and lost a few myself.” He also assured the Devils, as any good booster would, that when the Final Four came around, they would be a part of it.

Nothing Duke did here Friday dispelled that notion. Coach Mike Krzyzewski’s club (27-7) breezed through Minnesota with the ease of an intrasquad scrimmage. The score was 20-7 before anybody could blink, and it took the Gophers more than seven minutes to score more than those seven points.

From that point on, not once did Minnesota slice Duke’s lead to anything less than double figures. The Gophers went home with a record of 19-12 and the satisfaction of knowing that they shouldn’t have gotten so far in the first place.

Easy to see why Duke likes it here--the winners got 42 free throws to Minnesota’s 10.

“That wasn’t what beat us, though,” Minnesota Coach Clem Haskins said. “The pressure got to us. They beat us in every phase of the game.”

You could count on two hands the number of clean shots Minnesota got off during the first half against Duke’s tight man-to-man defense. First trip to the offensive end, Gopher guard Kevin Lynch air-balled a layup. Omen time.

“I thought we played a wonderful defensive game,” Krzyzewski said.

Ferry, Brickey and Henderson, meantime, each had reached double figures for the Blue Devils by halftime, combining to sink 15 of 19 shots. And Brickey even sat out half of the half. The 6-foot 5-inch junior forward needed only 22 minutes to get his 21 points.

All but toying with the Gophers, the winners made five steals and blocked four shots in the first half alone, taking a 45-30 lead into intermission. Nixon should have visited the Minnesota players’ locker room at that point--to pardon them from having to return.

Willie Burton, still playing with a protective mask on his broken nose, led the losers with 26 points. But his team made barely 40% of its shots--including a gruesome three of 16 from three-point range.