Duke advances to round of 16 again

PHILADELPHIA – Let upsets take down the other heavy favorites. Duke is back to business as usual.

Rasheed Sulaimon scored 21 points, Seth Curry had 17, and No. 2 seed Duke held off seventh-seeded Creighton 66-50 on Sunday night to advance to the round of 16 for the fourth time in five years.

A year after they lost their NCAA Tournament opener, the Blue Devils (29-5) are back in the regional semifinals for the 27th time. They'll play No. 3 seed Michigan State (27-8) on Friday in Indianapolis.

Mason Plumlee, Josh Hairston and Ryan Kelly battled foul trouble all game long that could have doomed the Blue Devils.

Instead, they're moving on to Indy.

"It was just so difficult," coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "It was the best defense we played all (season)."

Florida Gulf Coast beat San Diego State 81-71 in the opener in Philadelphia that had the crowd of more than 20,000 buzzing after the upset win.

Duke's victory could not match it in excitement or intensity.

But that's OK for the Blue Devils. They're not in it for style points. They're here to win Krzyzewski's fifth national championship.

Still, the Blue Devils haven't advanced past the round of 16 since Krzyzewski won his fourth national championship in 2010. They lost last year to Lehigh and spent their first three days in Philadelphia still having to answer for that one. Yes, even after they beat Albany in the second round.

Creighton (28-8) went cold and never made a serious run in the second half. Doug McDermott scored 21 points but made only four baskets.

With McDermott slumping, the Bluejays were knocked out in the third round by an Atlantic Coast Conference team for the second straight season.

"They did a great job on me, really physical, switched on every screen, making it frustrating," McDermott said. "I missed a lot of shots I usually make, so that was unfortunate."

Foul trouble hounded the Blue Devils from the opening tip. Plumlee hit the bench after he was whistled for his fourth foul early in the second half.

Hairston picked up his fourth foul at the 15:21 mark, allowing Ethan Wragge to convert a three-point play that inched the Bluejays closer.

Curry came right back with a three-pointer and followed with a layup to make it 39-30. Plumlee and Kelly, each with four fouls, returned to the game as Krzyzewski clearly wanted his best players in there to try to put away Creighton.

"Seth got a couple of big ones for us," Krzyzewski said.

• Read more articles by Dan Gelston

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