Duke dances into Sweet 16 with 68-49 win over San Diego State
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Freshman center Jahlil Okafor scored 26 points and top-seeded Duke rolled to a 68-49 victory over eighth-seeded San Diego State in the NCAA South Regional third round Sunday afternoon at Time Warner Cable Arena.
Guard Quinn Cook’s 15 points and forward Justise Winslow’s 13 points also propelled the Blue Devils, who built a double-digit lead 6 1/ 2 minutes into the game and kept a comfortable margin for most of the contest.
Winslow also had 12 rebounds.
Duke (31-4) heads to the Sweet 16 for the 28th time, taking on fifth-seeded Utah on Friday night in Houston.
San Diego State (27-9) received 13 points from forward Winston Shepard.
Duke, which has won 14 of its last 15 games, claimed a couple of blowout wins in Charlotte. The Blue Devils became the third team from the state of North Carolina to advance to the regionals, joining North Carolina State and North Carolina.
San Diego State, which entered the game allowing 53.5 points per outing, had few defensive answers in the lane for Okafor, who made 12 of 16 shots from the field.
Forward Malik Pope hit a pair of 3-pointers that helped the Aztecs climb within 44-37 about seven minutes into the second half. After both teams missed, Cook canned a 3-pointer. That ignited an 11-0 run for the Blue Devils.
Meanwhile, the Aztecs went about nine minutes without a field goal.
Duke didn’t shoot a free throw until Okafor made two with 7:49 remaining in the game. Those were the team’s only foul shots in the game.
After going up 33-15, Duke led 37-24 at halftime. Okafor accounted for 18 points on 9-for-12 shooting in the first 20 minutes.
San Diego State missed its first seven shots, falling into an 8-0 hole. The Aztecs didn’t make a first-half 3-pointer.
Okafor and Cook had six points apiece in Duke’s game-opening 15-4 run. The margin ballooned to 33-15.
Duke didn’t have a turnover for nearly the game’s first 17 minutes.
NOTES: Duke won the only previous meeting between the teams on Dec. 29, 2001, at home. … Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski and San Diego State coach Steve Fisher were on the opposite benches as head coaches for the 1992 national championship when Duke defeated Michigan. … San Diego State never lost consecutive games this season. With victories in their last 18 games following a loss, the Aztecs will carry the longest streak in the country in that category into next season. … Duke’s victory Friday night against Robert Morris made it only the third program to reach 100 NCAA Tournament victories. … The NCAA committee member on site in Charlotte was LSU athletic director Joe Alleva, who’s the former AD at Duke.
