Top-seeded Duke reaches round of eight with 70-57 win over Purdue

Duke advances to round of eight, beats Purdue

HOUSTON — Duke keeps marching through the NCAA tournament and silencing its critics along the way.

The top-seeded Blue Devils are back in the round of eight for the first time since 2004, with Kyle Singler and Jon Scheyer helping them pull away for a 70-57 win over Purdue on Friday night in the South Regional semifinals.

The Blue Devils (32-5) had lost in the regional semifinals in three of the past five seasons, leading many to wonder if the mighty program was losing its edge.

But Duke is back all right, one victory from their 11th Final Four appearance under coach Mike Krzyzewski.

“We’re hungry,” said Scheyer, who scored 18 points. “We need to keep preparing like we’ve been preparing, and we know each step is harder.”

Duke will play third-seeded Baylor in Sunday’s regional final. While the Bears will probably have more fans from nearby Waco roaring for them, the Blue Devils will have history on their side — they’ve reached the Final Four in 10 of the past 11 times they’ve advanced this far.

“It feels good, but we really can’t relax at all,” Scheyer said. “It’s really important to refocus. We can’t enjoy wins right now. After the season, we can look back and enjoy them. But for us, we want to keep moving forward.”

Singler scored 24 points and Nolan Smith added 15. Brian Zoubek grabbed 14 rebounds and Duke dominated the undersized Boilermakers inside, as expected, building a 48-27 edge on the boards.

“The rebounding was the key to the ballgame,” Krzyzewski said.

The absence of injured do-everything forward Robbie Hummel finally caught up with fourth-seeded Purdue (29-6), which lost in the regional semifinals for the second straight season. Hummel tore his right ACL in late February and watched Friday’s loss in street clothes from the bench.

“It’s frustrating,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said, “because Rob is such a special piece to that puzzle.”

JaJuan Johnson scored 23 points and E’Twaun Moore added 18 for the Boilermakers. No other Purdue player reached double figures and the team shot 37 percent (20 of 54).

“This team had a great season,” Johnson said. “We had a lot of adversity but this team never quit. When a lot of people counted us out, we just moved forward. I think this team just did a good job of coming together through adversity.”

Coach K watched the game from a stool on the raised floor, a few feet above the Duke bench, and had a front-row seat to a rough first half.

The Blue Devils missed 22 of 29 shots, had 11 turnovers and led 24-23 only because of a 29-13 edge in rebounding. Scheyer was 0 for 6 from the field, continuing his slump after going 1 for 11 in Duke’s second-round win over California.

Singler characterized both teams’ struggles in the half when he went for a dunk in the last minute and the ball got stuck between the rim and the glass.

Scheyer swished a 3 from the wing with 17:52 left, and Krzyzewski leaped up and punched the air, a sign of how much the shot meant to both the team and its leading scorer.

“That was a huge 3, him to finally see something go in,” Smith said. “That got him going. Now he’s ready. See it go in the hole, you get confidence.”

Purdue tied it at 31, but Duke started wearing down the Boilermakers after that.

Chris Kramer, Purdue’s top 1-on-1 defender, plowed into Zoubek, who was setting a screen, about a minute later and crumpled to the floor. He seemed dizzy and needed help as he walked off the floor.

Purdue cut it to two before Smith scored seven straight points, finishing the one-man spurt with a 3-pointer with 7:58 to go. Smith held his follow-through as the Blue Devils’ bench erupted, sensing that the stubborn Boilermakers were finally breaking.

“This is an example of a game someone doesn’t lose,” Krzyzewski said. “We had to win this game, because Purdue’s effort was a winning effort.”