Blue Devils’ Defense Drowns Crimson Tide in Elite Eight

Newark, N.J. - The Alabama Crimson Tide was searching for their second straight Final Four appearance. However, to accomplish levels unreached in the state of Alabama yet, the Crimson Tide would have to take down the bluest of blue bloods in college basketball - the Duke Blue Devils.

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The Blue Devils came out hot to start the game, with the No. 1 overall pick in June's NBA draft, Cooper Flagg, opening things up with a triple for Duke on their first possession. Alabama started slower than the Crimson Tide has in recent games, falling 13-5 early in the contest. Duke was dominant on the glass early in the game, so the Crimson Tide needed to improve in that area.

The Tide's bench helped get the team back into the hunt against Duke, with Aiden Sherrell sinking two three-point shots early and Aden Holloway distributing the ball effectively. Labaron Philon, a true freshman from Mobile, Alabama, was playing well early with five points, a rebound, and an assist over the first eight minutes of game time. Freshmen were all over the court for both Alabama and Duke.

Alabama's pace of play was clearly bothering Duke, with the Blue Devils incurring four fouls and four turnovers with eight minutes left in the first half, but the shots were not falling for Alabama the way they did against BYU. Additionally, Alabama's two veterans, Mark Sears and Grant Nelson, had yet to score by the under-eight-minute media timeout.

Alabama tried to get the offense jump-started by aggressively pushing the three-point shot, but the threes did not fall in the first half for Alabama. With two minutes to go until halftime, Alabama and Duke had both made five three-point shots, but the Crimson Tide had attempted 18 while the Blue Devils had attempted nine. Kon Knueppel was having a big night early, with 11 points and 2-4 shooting from three in the first half.

Alabama went into halftime down by nine after spotting Duke ten points early. The Tide was outperforming Duke in several categories (points off turnovers, offensive rebounds, bench points), but the three ball was not falling for Alabama early, and Mark Sears had only two points at the half. Alabama had 20 minutes to flip the script and save their season, or the Crimson Tide would have a long flight back to Tuscaloosa.

The Tide started the second half much stronger than it did the first half, with a couple of big-time buckets from Mark Sears and Labaron Philon. Grant Nelson also got on the board with a big block on Cooper Flagg. Despite the strong play from Alabama early in the second half, the Crimson Tide only cut two points off the deficit against Duke four minutes into the second half.

Alabama had Duke where the Tide wanted them. The Blue Devils went three minutes with no made field goals, giving the Tde a chance to cut into the deficit with a big run, but the defense of the Blue Devils was too much, as Alabama could only muster one basket during the scoring drought for Duke. a seven-point deficit turned into 11 points for Alabama, meaning the Tide would need a massive defensive performance over the final 11:50 to save their season.

The Tide continued to struggle shooting - a testament to the defensive gameplan of Duke. Alabama, less than 48 hours after shooting 49 percent from three against BYU, could not buy a three on the first shot of a possession. The Blue Devils, led by Knueppel and Flagg, were squeezing the energy out of Alabama. A shift in tone defensively and a couple of good bounces on threes could have saved the game for Alabama, but the clock kept slowly ticking.

Alabama was able to cut it to seven points quickly, but then a couple of major slams by Duke ended the hopes that that was the run to get Alabama back in the game. With 6:39 to go, the Tide was down by 11 points and looking for something, anything, to help them claw their way back into the game.

The Duke fans began to feel the energy in the building shift with four minutes left in the game. As the Tide trailed 72-58 with 3:57 left at the final media timeout, the energy on the Alabama sideline evaporated as the Tide's chance at a second-straight Final Four disappeared behind the dynamic duo of Cooper Flagg and Kon Knueppel.

Alabama's magical season comes to an end in the Elite Eight with an 85-65 loss to the Duke Blue Devils.

One positive of the night was Labaron Philon's performance, with the freshman from Mobile leading the Tide in scoring. Philon will have an NBA draft decision to make now that Alabama's season has come to an early end at the hands of the Duke Blue Devils.

Alabama Stat Leaders

Points: Labaron Philon - 16
Rebounds: Grant Nelson - 7
Assists: Mark Sears - 5

Alabama Players in Double-Digit Points

Labaron Philon - 16 points
Chris Youngblood - 10 points
Grant Nelson - 10 points

The loss to Duke is a bitter one, with the Elite Eight exit marking the final college game for Mark Sears, Grant Nelson, Chris Youngblood, and Clifford Omoruyi. All four have exhausted their collegiate eligibility.

Congrats to Sears, Nelson, Youngblood, and Omoruyi on their incredible college careers.

Wyatt Fulton is the Tide 100.9 DME and Brand Manager, primarily covering Alabama Crimson Tide football and men's basketball. For more Crimson Tide coverage, follow Wyatt on X (Formerly known as Twitter) at @FultonW_.