UConn vs. Duke--Finally

The band of jokesters who make up America’s roving comedy club, staging laughers everywhere they went, Saturday night turned into one of those panel discussions, for a change offering the very serious. The end of their run, for example.

Duke, having won its previous 13 games by an average of 29 points, led gritty Michigan State by only four with seven minutes remaining in the NCAA semifinals.

Curiosity came in the rarity: How would the Blue Devils respond?

Well.

They beat Michigan State, 68-62, before 41,340 at Tropicana Field to advance to the title game Monday night as Elton Brand had game highs with 18 points and 15 rebounds despite sitting out nearly six minutes down the stretch because of foul trouble.

Not well.

“Our youth showed,” said Quin Snyder, the associate head coach. “[Brand] goes out of the game and guys’ faces showed some angst. There was doubt.”

Well-founded, at that. Michigan State had rallied from 14 points down with 18 minutes left, had used defensive pressure to closet Duke’s best perimeter weapon, Trajan Langdon, and also, by crashing the boards in the second half and providing a rare physical challenge for the Blue Devils, had helped put Brand on the bench with four fouls.

Only a spot in the championship game, a rather necessary step to win the crown most of the country had conceded it weeks ago, was on the line for Duke. As if that wasn’t enough, Duke was also on the line, an extra burden as it missed seven consecutive free throws in one stretch as the Spartans lingered.

Langdon missed the front end of a one-and-one.

Corey Maggette did too, the next possession.

Chris Carrawell, fouled inside about 2 1/2 minutes later, missed two.

About 90 seconds after that, Carrawell made it seven in a row, before making the second attempt.

The invincible, can’t-lose Blue Devils had allowed Michigan State to stay close.

Whether they were feeling it depends on whom you ask.

“I never saw any worry in their eyes,” Spartan forward A.J. Granger said. “They did a nice job of handling that.”

Said Langdon: “I think we did a great job of responding. They got within three, four points, and a lot of guys hit big shots.”

None bigger than Langdon, who came in averaging 11 shots and then got only three in the first half and nine in all. It wasn’t only a few less launches, but that they came this time with bodies almost always close by.

In fact, three of Langdon’s previous four shots had been misses, before he got the ball on the left side as Duke held a precarious 51-48 lead. The possession before, he had missed from about the same spot, also on a three-pointer. This time, with 8:15 remaining, he didn’t.

“I didn’t call any play,” Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “He just shot it.”

He just saved the day.

“It was the big basket,” Krzyzewski said.

Snyder said the emotional value, with Brand in the middle of his stint on the bench that would last from 10:12 remaining to 4:44, made it a nine-point shot. One of the Spartans, guard Charlie Bell, called it the dagger shot. Langdon, who would finish with only seven points on three-of-nine shooting in 37 minutes, simply labeled it an opportunity he did not waste.

Michigan State (33-5) still hung close. The Big Ten champions, in the Final Four for the first time in 20 years, were down only 54-50 with seven minutes remaining.

But William Avery made a three-point shot for Duke this time. The seven-point cushion grew when Avery came down the lane for a score on the ensuing possession, which turned out to be insurmountable. Brand returned soon after, the free-throw woes ended, and the Blue Devils finally were in the clear.

“You get so close,” said Mateen Cleaves, the star point guard who ended his junior season, and maybe his Michigan State career, by making only five of 16 shots. “I mean, you kind of see it. You feel it, you feel it coming back. We got so close. We couldn’t get over that hump.”

Duke, trying to become the first top-ranked team to win the national championship since UCLA in 1995, did.

The Blue Devils, who had to deal with their nerves for one of the few times in a dominating run that has placed them among the great teams in recent years, had wondered how they would respond in a close game.

“I was,” Avery said. “I know the coaches probably were too. And I thought we handled it well. When our best shooter’s off like that and we win, I think we handled it tremendously well.”

Even without the laughs.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

COVERAGE

MEN’S FINAL

DUKE (37-1) vs. CONNECTICUT (33-2)

6 p.m. Monday, Ch. 2

FRIENDS, ENEMIES

Duke’s William Avery and Connecticut’s Ricky Moore are longtime friends, but won’t show it Monday. Page 9

WOMEN’S FINAL

DUKE (29-6) vs. PURDUE (33-1) 6 p.m. today, ESPN

THEY’RE BACK

Boilermaker transfers come to Blue Devils and now are in position to make their old school pay. Page 10

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GAME 2: Duke 68, Michigan State 62, Coverage, Page 9.