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Duke's three biggest stars step up to help avoid an early exit

Jeff Eisenberg
·Senior writer

They lost to 15th-seeded Lehigh in the opening round in 2012. They lost to 14th-seeded Mercer in the opening round in 2014. They trailed 13th-seeded UNC Wilmington by three at halftime in the opening round on Thursday.

Just when it seemed Duke's even-year hex might continue, the fourth-seeded Blue Devils' three biggest stars rose up and carried the defending national champions to a 93-85 victory.

Guard Grayson Allen, forward Brandon Ingram and center Marshall Plumlee combined for 66 points to spark the Duke rally. Allen (23 points) and Ingram (20) aggressively attacked the rim and combined for 27 free-throw attempts while Plumlee (23) did an excellent job finishing dump-offs from those two around the basket.

After ditching the face mask he wore in the first half, Plumlee also changed the game in the second half by giving Duke a defensive presence at the rim. Whereas UNC Wilmington attacked off the dribble with ease against Duke's suspect defense in the first half, Plumlee erased three layups at the rim in the second half and helped force the Seahawks to settle for more jumpers.

Allen, Ingram and Plumlee each had a hand in the 14-0 early second-half run Duke used to turn a four-point deficit into a 10-point lead. That was all the cushion the Blue Devils needed to survive a series of mini-pushes from the Seahawks and advance to face Yale on Saturday.

The nation always gets angry when Duke has a massive advantage at the foul line, but the Blue Devils' 43-19 edge in foul shots was deserved. They drew those fouls with their aggressive forays to the rim and they came at the expense of a UNC Wilmington team that commits more fouls per field-goal attempts than any other team in the country.

The last time Duke had three scorers eclipse 20 points in an NCAA tournament game was the 1990 Elite Eight against UConn. The Blue Devils needed all 66 of those points from Plumlee, Allen and Ingram on Thursday to avoid another even-year early exit.

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Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at daggerblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!