NCAA – Williams, Arizona knock Coach K & Duke out of NCAA Tourney

ANAHEIM (NCAA) - Arizona ended the title defense of Duke in the NCAA Tournament on Thursday night with a 93-77 hammering of the Blue Devils in the Sweet 16.

Duke led the West Regional semi-final 44-38 at half-time but after the break, they had no answer for the high-flying dunking machine, Derrick Williams.

The sophomore forward from California ended up leading the Wildcats with 32 points and 13 rebounds.

Blue Devils senior Nolan Smith, one of the nation’s best players, said: "The way they played in the second half, they should win it all.

"Williams is a monster. They hit us full force, and kept hitting.

"They did everything right, and we did a ton of things wrong."

Mike Krzyzewski, who led Team USA to the gold medal at last summer's FIBA World Championship, said: "They just got on a real roll. When you get on a roll, you have more energy than the other guy.

"We had no stop for them, and you kind of get overwhelmed there for a little bit. They knocked us back and got that double-digit lead."

Krzyzewski was stopped short of his bid to become the coach with the most wins in NCAA Division I history.

His 900 are one short of Bob Knight's record as the winningest men's coach.

Knight, the gold-medal winning Olympic boss of Team USA at the 1984 Olympics, coached Krzyzewski at West Point.

Arizona are coached by Sean Miller.

Also in the West Region, the University of Connecticut ended the NCAA Tournament run of San Diego State, winning 74-67.

Kemba Walker finished with 36 points for the Huskies.

Butler, the team Duke beat in last year's title game, won 61-54 over Wisconsin in the Southeast Region.

Matt Howard had 20 points and 12 rebounds for the Bulldogs.

Player of the Year candidate Jimmer Fredette saw his college career come to an end in Brigham Young’s 83-74 overtime defeat to Florida.

Alex Tyus scored 19 points and grabbed 17 rebounds for the Gators in that Southeast Region clash.

FIBA