Duke beats Cal State Fullerton, advances in NCAA tournament to face Michigan State
No. 9 Duke flexed its muscles early and made the first game of Mike Krzyzewski’s final NCAA tournament relatively stress-free.
Seeded No. 2 in the West Region, the Blue Devils needed only six minutes to build a 13-point lead and they cruised to a 78-61 win over No. 15 seed Cal State Fullerton Friday night at Bon Secours Wellness Arena.
Duke (29-6) advances to Sunday’s second round to play No. 7 seed Michigan State, which eliminated No. 10 seed Davidson, 74-73, on Friday night.
All five of Duke’s starters scored in double figures as the Blue Devils shot 51.7%.
“I think we’ve locked back in on the defensive end,” Duke freshman Paolo Banchero said. “We can still improve, though, just with rebounding and stuff, but I think our mindset’s there and our willingness to go out and do it is there. So just got to keep going, keep building.”
Banchero scored 17 points with 10 rebounds to lead the Blue Devils in both categories. Mark Williams, Duke’s 7-1 sophomore center, scored 15 points and blocked five shots as the Blue Devils swatted away a season-high 10 shots. Williams also collected a career-high five assists.
Wendell Moore scored 13 points and led Duke with six assists while A.J. Griffin scored 10 points.
“It’s really just a step in the right direction,” Moore said. “We’ve had a great week of practice. We got better this week in practice as well. So I definitely feel like everything we worked on in practice kind of translated into the game today. So we can keep building on what we’ve been learning, what we’ve been working on. I think soon we’ll reach our full potential.”
Jeremy Roach, in the starting lineup for the first time since Feb. 12 at Boston College, finished with 12 points and four assists.
Big West champion Fullerton (21-11) shot 37.5% overall, making only 5 of 17 3-pointers (29.4%). Seeing his team throttle Fullerton’s offense like that pleased Krzyzewski.
“It’s a big improvement,” Krzyzewski said. “We’ve been a really good defensive team, but the last four games we were a really bad defensive team.”
Leading by 10 points at halftime, Duke hit 5 of its first 10 shots of the second half, including all three of its 3-pointers, to double its lead and build a 55-35 advantage with 12:40 to play.
Griffin hit a pair of 3-pointers during the flurry. Duke showed its offensive versatility working its halfcourt offense to get the ball inside to Williams and Banchero. Each scored, drew fouls, and completed conventional 3-point plays.
When Banchero took a pass from Williams to score his basket, Krzyzewski celebrated with Williams, yelling “That’s right” multiple times and slapping hands with Williams.
Duke opened the game on a tear, hitting nine of its first 15 shots to lead 17-4 and maintain that advantage at 22-9 with 11:24 to play in the first half.
“Unfortunately, you’d like to see us compete at a higher level,” Fullerton coach Dedrique Taylor said. “I thought the shots that we got, even in the time-outs, I said to the guys, the shots were getting are good shots. They just weren’t falling.”
But the Blue Devils gave the Titans a bit of hope. After Fullerton had hit just 3 of its first 17 shots, the Blue Devils turned the ball over on three consecutive possessions. Tray Maddox and Jalen Harris hit 3-pointers to slice Duke’s lead down to seven points.
A Roach 3-pointer from the left corner with 6:25 to play pushed Duke’s lead to 31-17, it’s largest of the first half. But, when Duke’s defense allowed gaps, the Titans struck back again, scoring eight consecutive points on two layups and jumpers in the lane.
Leading 33-27, Duke scored the final four points of the half on a Williams spin move and Banchero’s up-and-under move for a dunk and the Blue Devils took a 37-27 lead to halftime.
Duke hit 51.7% of its first-half shots but also turned the ball over eight times. Most of them were live-ball turnovers as Fullerton recorded five steals, which helped the Titans cut into Duke’s lead.
This story was originally published March 18, 2022 at 9:05 PM with the headline "Duke beats Cal State Fullerton, advances in NCAA tournament to face Michigan State."