On Thursday night, he likely gave more ammunition to his legions of haters when he refused a hug from OR guard Dillon Brooks after OR dominated Duke 82-68 in the Sweet 16.
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OR was the champion of the first NCAA Tournament in 1939, but hasn’t been back to the Final Four since.
Elgin Cook had 16 points and nine rebounds for the Ducks (31-6), who will meet Oklahoma on Saturday.
Up by 11 points on the Duke Blue Devils with 15 seconds left in the game, a trip to the Elite Eight secured, the Oregon Ducks had the ball with eight seconds on the shot clock.
That sentiment appeared to come out from the Duke side after the win when OR sophomore Dillon Brooks encountered Blue Devils coach Mike Krzyzewski in the handshake line after the game. OR outrebounded Duke, 42-32.
“I didn’t say that”, Krzyzewski said.
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) – The Oregon Ducks took a double-digit lead early in the second half against the defending national champions, and they never flinched down the stretch.
One final spurt pulled Duke within 77-67 with 1:31 remaining in the game, but when Ingram’s 3-point attempt bounced off the backboard and rimmed out at the 1:17 mark, all hope was lost.
The Ducks were disrespected a little bit entering the NCAA’s, as many people (including us) wondered if they were actually that good.
Ingram scored almost half of Duke’s points in the first half, but couldn’t keep up the pace in the second. I just feel like I was happy to win and I was excited to beat Duke. They were life-and-death for an uncomfortable amount of time against UNC Wilmington in the first round and then had all kinds of trouble with pesky Yale in the second round before gutting out a win to advance to Anaheim. They’ve been supporting me all my life so I just wanted to go out there and play my heart out. Suddenly Brandon Ingram isn’t enough and Grayson Allen isn’t that special. “I think (Grayson) Allen played the whole game”. We just kept going and kept going, knowing they’d wear out.
OR didn’t play well against Saint Joseph’s last game, but the final five minutes saw them find a way to pick up a win.
OR made 6 of 12 from beyond the 3-point arc in the second half to cap a 49 percent shooting effort from the field.
The Ducks’ abilities were on full display Thursday with a roster that features four players who average at least 12 points a game and five players who average at least 4.4 boards. “Coach told us we had that and how he’s going to remember us and how proud he is of us as being a real Duke team”.
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Krzyzewski said that’s not what happened. The Ducks led 11-10 before opening a cushion with seven straight points, including a Dorsey three-pointer.
