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NCAA Tournament 2015: Duke Moves To Elite Eight With Win Over Utah

And sure enough, Utah didn't make it easy.

By JD King
Mar 27, 2015; Houston, TX, USA; Duke Blue Devils forward Justise Winslow (12) blocks the shot of Utah Utes guard Delon Wright (55) during the first half in the semifinals of the south regional of the 2015 NCAA Tournament at Reliant Stadium.
Mar 27, 2015; Houston, TX, USA; Duke Blue Devils forward Justise Winslow (12) blocks the shot of Utah Utes guard Delon Wright (55) during the first half in the semifinals of the south regional of the 2015 NCAA Tournament at Reliant Stadium.
Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Utah set out to stop Jahlil Okafor and they succeeded, holding the talented young big man to a career-low six points.

Unfortunately the Utes sort of forgot about Justise Winslow.

Winslow took over the game for Duke at critical points, hitting threes, grabbing rebounds and generally stepping up whenever Utah challenged.

It must have been a great night for the hometown kid.

The Houston native finished with 21 points on 8-13 from the floor, 10 rebounds, two blocks and two steals.

You kind of got the sense that on the Utah bench they thought "oh man, they have two of those guys?"

It was a good night to put on a great performance because aside from Okafor's containment, Duke, as Coach K said at halftime, played nervous in the first half.

Okafor had some unusual turnovers for him, four in total. Tyus Jones shot 3-9. Quinn Cook took just five shots, making two. Matt Jones was just 1-4 as was Grayson Allen.

Still, Duke built a healthy 15-point  lead with about 8:00 to go.

Then things got a bit screwy. Tyus Jones had a turnover. Okafor missed a shot. Cook missed a shot and had a turnover. Matt Jones had a turnover, Cook fouled, Tyus Jones missed a layup, and Grayson Allen missed a jumper.

Utah scored nine points was Duke was slumping.

Then Winslow stepped in, making a three point play. Delon Wright tried and missed a three and Winslow got the rebound.

After that it was a question of free throws.

With 2:54 left, Duke was up 11 and had 12 free throws.

The Blue Devils hit 11 of them.

During that 2:54, Utah actually outscored Duke 14-11.

No one had any illusions about who carried Duke.

Matt Jones said "[w]hen he’s playing like that, we’re a different team. He fills a void on our team that no guy can really fill. He’s like the hub of the team."

In the main, Utah played really, really well, but the Utes also played well but their turnovers seemed to come in momentum-swaying patches. And for significant parts of the game, Utah really had trouble hitting baskets. When they did start hitting, it was too late to catch up.

Duke will now move on to face Gonzaga for the right to go to the Final Four. Gonzaga is a big, tough and experienced team. It's not like it's going to get easier - not that it's supposed to.

We will say this: as great as Kentucky was against West Virginia - and it was an incredible show - we'd rather go into the regional finals with Duke's win than UK's. There's no question that Kentucky will be favored over Notre Dame, but that performance against West Virginia is a standard which will be hard to match.

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