INDIANAPOLIS – Seth Curry shot Duke right into the regional final – and put Mike Krzyzewski on the verge of another milestone.

Curry scored 29 points, and the Blue Devils beat Michigan State 71-61 on Friday night to advance to the Midwest Regional final in the NCAA Tournament.

"Seth was just at a different level than anyone else on the court offensively tonight," Krzyzewski said. "To get 29 points in a game like this against a good team is just incredible."

If No. 2 seed Duke (30-5) beats top-seeded Louisville (32-5) in Sunday's regional final, Krzyzewski will tie John Wooden's record with 12 Final Four trips.

Third-seeded Michigan State (27-9) couldn't keep up with Curry and Duke's shooters. Keith Appling had 16 points for the Spartans, and Adreian Payne finished with 14.

Curry's sixth three-pointer of the game broke a 38-38 tie early in the second half, sending Duke on a 9-0 run. It also matched the school record for most threes in an NCAA Tournament game, most recently accomplished by Jason Williams on March 22, 2001, against UCLA.

The Blue Devils never trailed again.

Rasheed Sulaimon had 16 points and Mason Plumlee 14 for Duke.

The win comes 16 months after Duke beat Michigan State to give Krzyzewski the NCAA record for wins. Now, one year after Duke fell to Lehigh in the second round of the tournament, Krzyzewski is on the verge of breaking a second-place tie with North Carolina's Dean Smith and matching Wooden's mark.

Louisville coach Rick Pitino has made six appearances in the Final Four. Another win would tie him for fourth with Roy Williams in a game that likely will be played in front of another highly partisan Cardinals crowd.

But this night belonged to Curry, who averaged 21.5 points in the Blue Devils' first two tournament games. He scored 14 in the first half, and when he hit his third three of the second half with 17:10 left, Duke took off.

"I was just trying to set up my cuts a little better," Curry said of the opening part of the second half. "The guys were setting screens a little better, so I credit my teammates to get me open and get me into a rhythm."

The Blue Devils finally broke open the back-and-forth game by scoring five straight points midway through the second half, extending the lead to 56-46. They never trailed again in an entertaining contest between two of college basketball's most successful coaches.

Unfortunately for the Spartans, coach Tom Izzo's son's prediction of a Duke victory proved to be correct, preventing a third Big Ten team from reaching the regional finals.

"They're a good team, they played well, Curry hurt us, no question about it," Izzo said. "We didn't quit; we hung in there. I thought we played poorly for us, but the better team won tonight."

Louisville 77, Oregon 69 in Indianapolis – Even a nasty cold can't stop Russ Smith.

With his teammates struggling with the virus he gave them and Louisville facing its toughest test of the postseason, Smith put on his best show yet. He matched his career high of 31 points and the Cardinals proved they can win close games, too, beating Oregon.

"Without Russ Smith, we couldn't win," said Pitino, who improved to 11-0 in the regional semifinals of the NCAA Tournament.

Louisville's game against Duke will be the first time Pitino and Krzyzewski have met in a regional final since Christian Laettner's famous shot in 1992.

Louisville (32-5) has been nearly untouchable during its 13-game winning streak, beating opponents by an average of 17 points. And it appeared this was going to be more of the same when Smith outscored Oregon 9-8 through the first 10 minutes.

But the 12th-seeded Ducks (28-9) made a game of it late.

After Louisville went up 66-48 with 9:01 left, Oregon made six straight field goals to close to 70-64 – the closest anyone has been to the Cardinals in weeks. But Kevin Ware scored on a layup, and Chane Behanan threw down a monstrous dunk to put the game out of reach.

Ware finished with 11, topping his previous career best by one, and Gorgui Dieng had 10 points, nine rebounds and four blocked shots.

"Russ Smith is a talented young man. They've got a lot of talented players," Oregon coach Dana Altman said. "When he got going, we didn't have an answer."

E.J. Singler scored 15 points to lead five Ducks in double figures. But Damyean Dotson had an off night, held without a field goal until five minutes were gone in the second half, and Oregon couldn't recover from its poor start.

Early foul trouble didn't help.

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