Roach leads Duke to 74-51 rout of Oral Roberts in NCAA opener
ORLANDO, Fla.(AP) — Jeremy Roach matched his career high with 23 points, and No.5 seed Duke beat Oral Roberts 74-51 on Thursday night in theschool’s first NCAA Tournament game since Jon Scheyer took over asBlue Devils coach.
DariqWhitehead added 13 points for the Blue Devils (27-8), winners ofthe Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament. Roach has now scored 23points in back-to-back games after setting his career high in theACC championship game.
Scheyerhelped Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski win two of five nationaltitles as a former Duke player and assistant. He’s now trying toorchestrate some March Madness magic of his own.
In his firstNCAA Tournament game as Krzyzewski’s replacement, Scheyer led Duketo a 10th consecutive win and a second-round matchup in the EastRegion against fourth-seeded Tennessee (24-10), a 58-55 winner overLouisiana-Lafayette.
Krzyzewskilost his first NCAA Tournament game then led the Blue Devils to theFinal Four 13 times.
Scheyersmiled but cut short any comparisons.
“Let’s not godown that road,” Scheyer said. “He’s done everything you could do.I’m not going down that road.”
Oral Roberts(30-5) entered the tournament on a nation-leading 17-game winningstreak but was unable to replicate its success of two years ago,when the Golden Eagles upset Ohio State and Florida during asurprising run to the Sweet 16.
“Wrong nightto have a bad night. A lot of credit goes to Duke. They’reobviously really good,” Oral Roberts coach Paul Mills said.“Walking over here, they offered us Duke Blue Devil coloredPowerade, so it’s kind of an indication of how much it wasn’t ournight.”
Duke scoredthe first 15 points of the game and Oral Roberts missed 12 straightshots — seven were 3-point attempts — during a 12-minute scoringdrought to begin the game. Duke’s advantage was never fewer than 13the rest of the way.
Depleted byinjuries for prolonged stretches of the season, Duke improved to19-1 when Scheyer has his full roster available. While the BlueDevils have excelled defensively all year, their offense hasblossomed down the stretch.
That figuresto makes them a very dangerous team moving forward.
Roach made 9of 17 shots from field and all four of his free throws. DereckLively II had 12 rebounds and paced Duke’s defense with six blockedshots, a freshman record for the NCAA Tournament.
Scheyerpraised Roach, who has stepped up for Duke with the season on theline.
“Jeremy hasbeen on a tear. For me, it’s more just his mindset. I think thescoring, the play making comes with it. He’s never rattled,”Scheyer said. “He’s playing both sides of the ball. He played 36minutes, and defensively he did a great job.”
Summit Leagueplayer of the year Max Abmas was limited to 12 points on 4-for-15shooting for Oral Roberts. The high-scoring Golden Eagles shot just30.2% from the field, including 8 of 32 from 3-point range.
FINALGAME?
Abmas, whoaveraged 22.2 points per game, is a senior. He said he hasn’t madea decision on whether he’ll return for a fifth year at OralRoberts.
“I’m just inthe moment right now and enjoying every part of the season we justhad,” he said. “We’ll look at the future later.”
UPNEXT
Oral Roberts:Abmas and three other starters are seniors, which means the GoldenEagles could have a new look if any of them decide to not returnnext season.
“The goodnews for me right now is I can get them all back. They all haveeligibility to return,” Mills said. “I’m not telling you that theywill, but what I am telling you is that we have a group that isvery invested in getting better as players. I do feel that we’rebuilding something here that hopefully can get to a FinalFour.”
Duke: TheBlue Devils are a year removed from their 17th Final Fourappearance overall. The way they’re playing, another deeptournament run isn’t out of the question.
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