– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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NEW YORK — As it turned out, the Dukes were no match for Duke. Specifically, the Duke of Sacramento.
The Blue Devils ended any hopes of a Cinderella run for James Madison, as their talented freshman, Jared McCain, poured in 30 points in Duke’s 93-55 victory in NCAA Tournament second round action inside of the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Sunday. The highly-touted freshman from the Golden State, McCain nailed eight three-pointers on the evening — with six coming in the first half — as Duke dominated on all aspects of the game in opening up a 47-25 halftime lead.
The game was a complete role reversal for the twelfth-seeded Dukes, who did not trail at any point during their first-round win over No. 5 Wisconsin. Duke never trailed today as it 14 three-pointers while committing only six turnovers against the Dukes, who made the Badgers turn over the ball 19 times on Friday. James Madison had its 14-game winning streak, the second-such streak of that length this season, come to an end, and finish the season at 32-4. The Blue Devils move on to the Sweet 16 in the South Region where they will take on top-seeded Houston, who had to survive overtime in defeating Texas A&M 100-95 in Memphis later on in the day.
There was no such close call in the second game in Brooklyn, as No. 1 overall seed Connecticut completed a dominating weekend with a 75-58 victory over No. 9 Northwestern to advance to the East Regionals in Boston which start on Thursday. Center Donovan Clingan, off the heels of his 22-point, 16-rebound effort against Marquette in the Big East Tournament championship game across the rover from Brooklyn in Manhattan’s Madison Square Garden, dominated once more in putting up 14 points, 14 rebounds and eight blocks against the Wildcats. For the second consecutive game in this tournament, the Huskies never trailed and opened up a lead of at least 30 points.
The Wildcats, who made the NCAA Tournament for a second consecutive year and also won a game in the Big Dance for two years running, were led by Brooks Barnhizer’s 18 points.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Sunday evening’s contests, with photos taken by ALOST staff photographer Danny Suriel. After clicking on the first photo to enlarge the picture, make sure to press the left and right arrow buttons to scroll through the rest of the pictures. There are 41 pictures in total.
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