Nolan rollin’ and Brian flyin’ as Duke behind Zoubes and Smitty advances to the Sweet 16

Nolan Smith and Brian Zoubek help send Duke to the NCAA Sweet 16

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – When Brian Zoubek is calling for the ball and scoring at will, you know things are going really well for Duke.

Exploiting a huge advantage in size and depth in the frontcourt, the top-seeded Blue Devils glided into the round of 16 of the NCAA tournament for the 19th time under coach Mike Krzyzewski with a 68-53 victory over eighth-seeded California on Sunday.

The 7-foot-1, light-scoring Zoubek had 14 points and 13 rebounds while teaming with Lance Thomas and reserves Miles and Mason Plumlee to dominate a suspension-weakened Cal frontline featuring 6-foot-8 Duke transfer Jamal Boykin — and little else.

Nolan Smith led the Blue Devils (31-5) with 20 points and spearheaded Duke’s trademark man-to-man defense that made it difficult for Cal’s high-scoring trio of Jerome Randle, Patrick Christopher and Theo Robertson to get open looks.

Kyle Singler scored 17 for Duke, which advanced to the South Regional in Houston, where the Blue Devils will face fourth-seeded Purdue on Friday. Zoubek’s 6-for-6 shooting more than made up for leading scorer Jon Scheyer going 1 of 11 and finishing with seven points.

Boykin, who transferred from Duke after spending a little more than a season with the Blue Devils, led Cal with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Randle had 12 points and Robertson 10, but the Golden Bears misfired on nine of 12 3-point attempts and Christopher was held to two points — 14 below his average.

When Zoubek and Duke’s best defender, Thomas, weren’t clogging the lane on defense and taking advantage of their size to score easy baskets on offense, the Plumlee brothers were doing the job for the Blue Devils.

Zoubek and the Plumlees were a combined 7 for 7 from the field in the opening half. Cal made one run in the second half, scoring eight straight points to pull within 44-37 before Zoubek’s tip-in started a burst that put the game away.

from www.theacc.com:

One thought on “Nolan rollin’ and Brian flyin’ as Duke behind Zoubes and Smitty advances to the Sweet 16

  1. Nolan Smith and Brian Zoubek help send Duke to the NCAA Sweet 16
    JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – When Brian Zoubek is calling for the ball and scoring at will, you know things are going really well for Duke.
    Exploiting a huge advantage in size and depth in the frontcourt, the top-seeded Blue Devils glided into the round […]

    Read The Complete Article – Nolan rollin’ and Brian flyin’ as Duke behind Zoubes and Smitty advances to the Sweet 16

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