ANAHEIM, Calif. — You knew if the Arizona Wildcats played a perfect game, maybe they would have a chance to keep it close against the defending national champions.
But this? An Arizona 93-77 victory in the Sweet 16 over the top-seeded Blue Devils? A 25-point first half by Derrick Williams? And a 19-2 second half run?
It happened Thursday, as the surprises continue to get bigger in the second season of Sean Miller’s "rebuilding" job.
"Hey coach Miller," a UA fan yelled at Miller as he prepared to do a postgame radio interview. "This rebuilding stuff is fun!"
Miller grinned and loosened his tie.
He and the Wildcats, now 30-7, are amazingly just one win away from the Final Four that Duke was expected to occupy. The Wildcats will take on Connecticut, a 74-67 winner over San Diego State in the other semifinal game earlier tonight, in the West Regional final Saturday at a time to be determined later tonight.
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For longtime Wildcat fans, the win was also an avengement of sorts for the Blue Devils’ win over Arizona in the 2001 national championship game. The two teams have not met since then.
Ending its season at 32-5 this time, Duke was unable to defend the national championship it won last season.
With 32 points, Williams tied Khalid Reeves' school record for points scored in an NCAA tournament game. Reeves had 32 against Loyola, Md., on March 18, 1994.
A full 25 of those points came in the first half, when Williams carried the Wildcats on his back before his teammates awoke in the second half.
Suddenly after halftime, MoMo Jones was driving inside with aggression and making shots. Jamelle Horne was throwing down a supremely athletic dunk. And Kyle Fogg and Kevin Parrom were hitting three-pointers.
Horne made a spinning slam dunk to make it 77-63, after UA had finished its runs of 19-2 and 24-4. Arizona’s 19-2 run included several big plays. Among them: A three-pointer from Horne, a layup in traffic by Kevin Parrom and a steal and layup by Brendon Lavender.
What was also amazing during the 19-2 run: Derrick Williams only scored two points during it. Arizona outrebounded Duke 13-3 over the first nine minutes of the second half.
The Wildcats started the run by rattled off six straight points to tie the game at 53 on MoMo Jones' 15-footer with 15:35 left. Jones then hit a pair of free throws to give Arizona its first lead since the early moments, 55-53.
In the first half, Williams put on a show but Duke still led 44-38 entering halftime.
Williams scored 25 points, hitting a mind-blowing 5 of 6 three-pointers and making 8 of 11 field goals overall, though his teammates combined to make only 5 of 16 shots.
Williams hit the first four three-pointers he took and made an emphatic, one-handed rebound slam in the first half, though Duke maintained the lead once Kyle Singler hit a pair of three-pointers within a minute early in the second half. Williams then fired in his fifth three-pointer just before the halftime buzzer, cutting Duke's lead to six at the half.
Duke earlier built up eight-point leads before Williams hit his third and fourth three-pointers, cutting Duke's lead to 37-33 with 3:21 left in the first half.
Seth Curry made a three-pointer with nine minutes to go to give Duke its biggest lead of the half, 23-18, although Williams scored inside to cut it to three.
Jordin Mayes hit his 10th straight three-pointer to pull the Wildcats within 17-16 though Kyrie Irving scored to put Duke ahead 19-16 at the second media timeout.
Irving also put on a show, totaling 14 points off the bench to tie Kyle Singler as Duke's top scorers in the half. Irving has not started since missing the bulk of the season with a toe injury. Irving and Williams, not surprisingly, are both projected as lottery picks in the June NBA Draft. Williams was hot virtually the entire half, collecting 10 points and three rebounds through the first eight minutes.
Early in the half, Williams hit a second three-pointer and followed up with an emphatic one-handed putback dunk of Mayes' miss to pull the Wildcats within 14-13.
But Irving then hit a three-point play to put Duke ahead 17-14. Singler hit two threes on consecutive Duke possessions to give the Blue Devils an 8-6 lead at the first media timeout (15:45). Former UA coach Lute Olson was scheduled to attend the game, while several former UA athletes were also expected to be on hand: Luke Walton, Harvey Mason, Kenny Lofton, Pete Williams, Justin Wessel and Trevor Hoffman.
UA commit Angelo Chol of San Diego also said via Twitter that he would attend the game.
