Duke knocks out Texas

Gerald Henderson finally will find out what the second weekend of the NCAA tournament is like.

Henderson scored 24 points and made three free throws in the final minute to help Duke beat Texas, 74-69, on Saturday night in the second round of the East Regional.

Kyle Singler had 17 points and Jon Scheyer made a heady play in the final minute for the second-seeded Blue Devils (30-6). They reached the round of 16 for the first time since 2006 and will face third-seeded Villanova on Thursday in Boston.

A.J. Abrams scored 17 points for the seventh-seeded Longhorns (23-12), who rallied from a 10-point deficit to tie it twice in the final two minutes -- the last time coming when Gary Johnson’s free throw with 1:07 left made it 69-all.

Nolan Smith made two free throws with 47 seconds left to put Duke up, 71-69, and the Longhorns missed two chances in the final 40 seconds to tie it.

The Blue Devils overcame the Longhorns’ 50% shooting by forcing 15 turnovers and improved to 12-0 in NCAA tournament games at the Greensboro Coliseum -- where their two most recent national title runs have started.