Malik Newman and his band of 3-point bombers advance to the Final Four after eliminating the Blue Devils

Grayson AllIt wasn’t until the game’s waning seconds, with the Jayhawks clinging to a five-point lead, that it felt like either team was truly in control. The contest featured 17 lead changes and 11 instances of an even scoreboard before the game’s leading scorer Malik Newman sunk a corner 3 with just under two minutes remaining in the extra period to give Kansas an 81-78 lead. Newman tallied all 13 of the Jayhawks’ points in overtime, and finished with a career-high 32.en had a chance to claim his Laettner moment.

With a trip to the Final Four on the line and the score locked at 72 on the last possession of regulation, Allen dribbled up the floor. His Duke teammates—up until now, the Blue Devils’ main source of scoring in the contest—cleared out and allowed him room to work. He reached the top of the key, spinning each and every way, looking for a basket to win the game. Finally, he released. At first, it looked good, but his floater fell off the rim after kissing seemingly every inch of the cylinder. And instead of a basket that’d surely cement him as a tournament legend, the senior captain faltered down the stretch, and Duke fell to Kansas 85-81 in overtime.

It wasn’t until the game’s waning seconds, with the Jayhawks clinging to a five-point lead, that it felt like either team was truly in control. The contest featured 17 lead changes and 11 instances of an even scoreboard before the game’s leading scorer Malik Newman sunk a corner 3 with just under two minutes remaining in the extra period to give Kansas an 81-78 lead. Newman tallied all 13 of the Jayhawks’ points in overtime, and finished with a career-high 32.

Bill Self’s game plan was evident from the start. Unlike past Duke teams, this iteration of the Blue Devils occasionally struggled beyond the arc, but had the potential to dominate inside thanks to future NBA lottery big men Wendell Carter Jr. and Marvin Bagley III. And so, rather than allowing Duke to ride the duo to success, the Kansas coach ordered a double team on Bagley from the opening tip, forcing the Devils to turn to their freshman shooters to space the floor.

he strategy paid off. Bagley, who scored 22 points in each of his first three tournament games, shot 2-of-5 in the first half and finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds, but turned the ball over with just seconds left to secure a Kansas victory. As a team, the Devils shot just 24.1 percent from 3 for the game with no individual player sinking more than two. The Jayhawks, on the other hand, used the deep ball to the same success they have all season, with more than half of their shots coming from beyond the arc. In the end, they finished 36.1 percent from 3—a hair below their average on the year, but in line with what they needed to convert against a Duke zone defense that challenges opponents to bury jumpers from range. Udoka Azubuike, Kansas’s lone true big man, was key to negating Duke’s size inside, and it wasn’t until he sat with foul trouble that the Devils found themselves back in the lead.