Nolan Smith stared at the box score as if it were something rotting and contagious. Kyle Singler looked red-faced and raw. In that moment, waiting for the postgame autopsy to begin, the seniors from Duke looked like freshman: vulnerable, overwhelmed, broken-hearted.
This was to be their glorious final act. Everything was in place for the West Region's No. 1 seed. The Blue Devils, college basketball's most blue-blooded program, had the experience, the balance, and with Kyrie Irving returning from an injured toe, an abundance of talent. Their march to a second consecutive national championship would coincide with their coach gaining the all-time record for victories.
But now Mike Krzyzewski is stuck on 900. And his seniors are stuck with the memory, a fine season ruined in a single bad evening. Or, more accurately, an inexplicably bad half.
The better team won, sure, but neither the coach nor his seniors could explain — to us or themselves — exactly how. Derrick Williams — Arizona's transcendent sophomore talent — doesn't suffice alone as an explanation.
"It hurts," said Singler, who likely cost himself millions of dollars by not turning pro a year ago.
A visual arts major, Singler said he wanted the full college experience. Someone should've warned him; for most of us, the four years includes an education in regret. That's not to say Singler — whose labor and best efforts were fully exploited by the NCAA — was in any way thinking about the money. It was plain to see you could not quantify his grief in dollars. The same was true of his teammates, even the soon-to-be rich kids. Irving, whose 28 points did nothing to diminish his projected lottery pick status, was weeping in the locker room.
"I just hugged him because he's crying," Krzyzewski snapped. "I'm not talking to him about going pro. Those things will happen in due course."
One wonders if it was the question that really pissed off the coach — or the loss. Going into the second half, it seemed as if Duke was fully in control.
"We thought we could have been up by double digits at halftime," Krzyzewski said.
The only thing between Arizona and facing a first-half blowout was Derrick Williams' 25 points. As halves go, this had to be the best individual effort of the season, concluding as it did, at the buzzer, with a bomb from, oh, about 30 feet.
“I wasn't expecting it to go in,” Willliams said. "But I knew we were still down six points, so I'm not going to celebrate."
His fifth three-pointer of the half, and it was 44-38, Duke.
"We talked at halftime about taking care of the ball and moving on offense," said Arizona coach Sean Miller, who also harped on the 11 points Duke got off offensive rebounds.
But so what? Coaches point out all sorts of stuff at halftime. That doesn't mean players listen. Or did they?
"The second half was like a second game," Miller said. "We were a total team."
Williams would only score another seven points. The Wildcats didn't need more from him. They had Momo Jones. The point guard tied the score at 53-53 on a jumper and took the lead with a pair of free throws on the next possession. Jones, of Tuscon by way of Harlem, finished with a half-dozen assists and 16 points, 14 of them in the second half when the Wildcats went on a 19-2 run.
"It's not about the name on the jersey," Jones said. "It's about how hard you play."
Put another way, it's about the rebounding. If there's a stat for this game, it would be the second-half rebounds: Arizona 25, Duke 9.
"It was such an overwhelming advantage for us," Miller said. "To me, that was the difference in the game."
But why?
"I can't explain that," Krzyzewski said. "They just got on a real roll. When you get on a roll, you have more energy than the guy who doesn't get on a roll. I don't think it's something our kids did poorly, but we had no stop for them."
In other words, even after 900 wins across 36 seasons, the coach couldn't say for sure.
"I'm very proud of my team," said Krzyzewski, nodding at Smith and Singler. "Especially these two kids."
The seniors were at a loss, as dumbfounded as they were crestfallen.
"We got hands on rebounds," Singler said. "But we didn't secure them."
"We were in position to get rebounds," Smith said, "and we just didn't come up with them."
Only now, had they finally been educated. It took four years at Duke for them to learn that sometimes, there are no answers.
