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Arizona-Duke game blog: Wildcats win NIT Season Tip-Off

by Anthony Gimino on Nov 29, 2013, under Arizona basketball

Champs. Photo by Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

Champs. Photo by Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

Arizona’s Sean Miller goes 2-0 vs. Duke as the Wildcats’ head coach, as a second-half surge carried the team to a 72-64 victory over Duke in the championship game of the NIT Season Tip-Off.

Arizona was down 45-42 with 11:42 to go before roaring back behind suffocating defense and Nick Johnson. He tied the game with a tough 3-point shot from up top near the end of the shot clock to fuel an 8-0 run. The Blue Devils made just five baskets the rest of the way.

The Cats eventually went on a 24-8 run.

“I thought Nick, once we got through that patch, really stepped up and became the player we know he was capable of,” Miller told ESPN in a postgame interview.

Johnson was selected the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament.

All five UA starters scored in double figures, led by Johnson with 15. T.J. McConnell had 10 points and eight assists.

Fourth-ranked Arizona improved to 7-0 win the victory over sixth-ranked Duke.

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Dick Vitale: “It’s a proud moment for Arizona hoops.”

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Aaron Gordon hasn’t always been flashy, but he’s had a solid second half, coming up with a great block on Rasheed Sulaimon, who tries to drive to the hoop to cut the lead to four.

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Sean Miller calls timeout with 49.7 seconds left after a turnover gives the ball to Duke. Arizona up 65-59.

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Rondae Hollis-Jefferson misses two free throws with 1:31 to go, but Arizona retains possession as Duke fails to corral the rebound and the ball goes out of bounds.

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Give it up to Duke’s Quinn Cook, who drives, spins, goes behind the back for Jabari Parker who fouls out Brandon Ashley on the and-one play. Still a ballgame, as the free throw makes 63-58 with 1:46 to go.

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Lots of deserved love for T.J. McConnell tonight. He has eight points and eight assists with 2:24 to go.

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Defense will be Arizona’s calling card, and a damn fine one. The Cats have held Duke to only five baskets through nearly 17 minutes in second half as they have taken control. UA, 61-51 after a 24-8 run.

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Wildcats on a roll in final several minutes, now with Rondae Hollis-Jefferson flushing the ball for a 61-51 lead.

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Duke goes to a 2-3 zone, so T.J. McConnell throws the alley-oop lob to Aaron Gordon for a dunk.

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Huge second half for Nick Johnson, who sizes up a 3-pointer in transition for a swish. It’s 57-48 after an 8-0 run.

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Aaron Gordon moment: A strong drive down the lane, plus the foul … and his free throw gives Arizona a 54-48 lead — its’ largest — with 6:47 to go.

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Duke goes 6:04 without making a basket, but Rodney Hood gets a short jumper to fall as he’s fouled by Nick Johnson with 7:47 to go. Hood makes the free throw to cut the lead to 49-48.

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What is Brandon Ashley’s season-long problem? Fouls. He picks up his fourth with eight minutes to go.

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Arizona exerts its advantage inside, as Brandon Ashley rebounds a high-bouncing 3-point miss from Nick Johnson and puts in a layup to give the Cats their first lead of the second half — 47-45 with 8:58 to go.

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Didn’t think Nick Johnson had much of a chance to hit a step-back 3-pointer as the shot clock was winding down, but it went in to tie the game at 45 with 11:07 to go. He missed his first three 3-point shots tonight.

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Huge 3-pointer from up top by Aaron Gordon to make it a one-point game, and the Arizona fans at MSG start chanting, “U of A … U of A.”

Gordon is 5 of 9 from beyond the arc this season.

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With Aaaron Gordon on the roster, not enough people are talking about Rondae Hollis-Jefferson. He doesn’t have a jumper to speak off, but he’s smooth and aggressive, and his dunk pulled Arizona within 43-39 after Duke had taken its largest lead of the game.

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The turnovers haven’t stopped for Arizona, which is up to 12 for the game with 15:57 left. That’s one reason why the Cats haven’t climbed over Duke, which clings to a 38-37 lead.

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Underrated story line so far this season. Kaleb Tarczewski shot 63.3 percent from the line last season, is at 80.7 percent this year (21 of 26).

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Arizona definitely focusing on getting the ball down los to Kaleb Tarczewski but he hasn’t been able to finish. When he gets more aggressive, he gets fouled on a two-handed dunk attempt with 17:36 to go. He makes both free throws to cut the lead to 38-37.

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First half ends. Duke is up 36-33 in a taut game that already has featured 11 ties and eight lead changes. Jabari Parker has 11 points for the Blue Devils on 5 of 13 shooting.

“He’s hard to defend,” Arizona coach Sean Miller said in a halftime interview on ESPN. “We struggled more toward the latter end of the half because we’re in foul trouble. But in large part you’re in foul trouble because you’re defending him.”

Arizona needs Aaron Gordon in the second half. He had just two points and three rebounds while burdened with early foul trouble. Brandon Ashley has 11 points to lead UA. T.J. McConnell has six points, five assists and four rebounds.

All in all, the Cats are in fine position after having to sit three starters because of foul trouble. Miller said his second-half goals are getting the ball inside, cutting down on turnovers (eight in first half).

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T.J. McConnell’s fifth assist is to Gabe York for a 3-pointer that ties the game at 30. Arizona, with three players on the bench with two fouls (Tarczewski, Johnson, Gordon) using its depth to try to hang on until halftime.

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The battle of star freshmen has yet to develop, but Jabari Parker’s strong move and short jumper in the lane puts Duke up 28-27 with just over five minutes to go before halftime.

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Aaron Gordon picks up his second foul with 6:58 left in the half, heads to the bench. Nick Johnson joins him with two fouls 30 seconds later. Jordin Mayes is going to pick up some key minutes here, which we’re pretty sure was not part of the game plan.

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Could T.J. McConnell be the best player on the floor right now? He has six points, four assists, two rebounds and a steal. Arizona leads 27-25 with 7:01 to go in the half.

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Aaron Gordon gets his first dunk of the game off a dish from Kalb Tarczewski, who passes to the freshman out of a double team. Good patience and vision that time by Zeus.

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Kaleb Tarczewski bumps Rasheed Sulaimon on a 3-point attempt, and Sulaimon makes all three free throws for a 25-23 lead.

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Dick Vitale just said he didn’t realize Damon Stoudamire was on the Arizona coaching staff. Something he should have known, yes?

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A lot of great action in the second segment of the game, but Duke leads 19-15 at the media timeout. Arizona having a hard time checking guard Quinn Cook, who has eight points on 4 of 5 shooting.

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So, the Cats come back with a 7-0 run and now the game looks as advertised. Love the move from T.J. McConnell, who head fakes his way along the baseline, goes under the hoop and dishes to a cutting Brandon Ashley in the lane for a layup.

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A quick 7-0 run from Duke: Jumper from Jabari Parker, 3-pointer from Rasheed Sulaimon and a steal that leads to a goaltend. Duke 11-6. Brandon Ashley ends the run with a 3-point shot.

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First big freshman vs. freshman moment: Aaron Gordon drives to the basket and his short scoop is swatted away by Jabari Parker, leading to a Duke layup. Game tied at 4 with 15:38 to go. Neither team shooting well (both 2 of 6) as each offense probes the defense with jumpers.

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Kaleb Tarczewski starts with a turnover (steps on baseline while catching an entry pass over the top) and lets himself get tied up for a jump ball while he tries to a back-in move.

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Usual starters for the Wildcats. Sophomore center Kaleb Tarczewski is coming off a career-high 15 points and his first double-double, also grabbing 10 rebounds vs. Drexel on Wednesday night. His size is one of UA’s advantages vs. Duke (or will that size be a liability against a smaller lineup?).

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The Arizona-Duke game will tip-off about 55 minutes late, at 4:59 Tucson time, because the Drexel-Alabama game at Madison Square Garden painfully went to triple OT.

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Arizona coach Sean Miller has faced a Mike Krzyzewski-coached Duke team 16 times — 14 times as an assistant coach, including 13 meetings while he was with head coach Herb Sendek at North Carolina State.

Miller’s team won only twice in those 16 meetings — when unranked North Carolina State upset No. 7 Duke in the 1997 ACC tournament and with Arizona in the 2011 Sweet 16.

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The Arizona Wildcats’ non-conference season has been leading up to this: Duke in the championship game of the NIT Season Tip-Off.

The Cats covered themselves in glory the last time the programs met, in the 2011 Sweet 16. Derrick Williams propped Arizona on his shoulders with 25 first-half points — including five 3-pointers and dunks for the ages — and then the rest of the Wildcats showed up in the second half, running the top-seeded Blue Devils out of the NCAA Tournament with a 93-77 victory.

Senior guard Jordin Mayes is the only Wildcat left from that team, a freshman at the time.

“That was very exciting,” Mayes said earlier this season.

“I loved being there and being with the team I was with. Beating how we did beat them, it was a great experience and it was huge. Being on the bench, you’re like, ‘Are we really doing this to Duke?’ I was jumping around.”

Arizona is 6-0 and ranked fourth in the country. Duke is sixth nationally. Aaron Gordon vs. Jabari Parker. From Madison Square Garden. On ESPN.

Hard to get bigger than this in college basketball in late November.

Coach Sean Miller, in USA Today, said it’s important for Arizona to play in New York because the Cats “want to be a national program. We have a team and program that I think a lot of people need to see. Being in this city and on this stage, I think gives us that chance, that visibility.”

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Sean Miller following Arizona’s win over Duke in 2011:

“We had a saying going into the game: ‘Attack or be attacked.’ Which one is it, because there is no in between.”

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Jon Rothstein of CBSSports.com conducted a Q&A with Miller.

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ON TWITTER

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Derrick Williams

Derrick Williams did this to Duke. Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

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