Winslow Leads Duke Past Houston to Face Edey v. Mutombo-Mourning

 This was the Sweet 16 game we most looked forward to, because Houston 2021 was so impressive in their 102-50 win over 2023 Princeton in their opener, that the shot up from our preseason 70th to 35th in our rankings - making them a 4th seed and getting them a bye in this tournament. This team started the current five season streak Houston has going of years in which they've been in the top 6 in the AP poll and held opponents to less than 60 points per game - and this was the Final 4 team during this streak.

Duke 2015 was just the opposite - starting as the 44th ranked team in the preseason but then barely beating Tyler Kolek's Marquette and the 2014 Nebraska team to drop down to a lower seed for the tournament. However, once in the tournament and with the low seeding, they destroyed Miami 2023 look more like the team that just took over late as Justise Winslow bloomed late to run all the way to the 2015 title after Wisconsin upset what many thought was the greatest Kentucky team until that point.

Therefore this was on of those games where the worst seed was the favorite, because we rank this Duke team a +3, meaning three points better than the average all-time great team in the game - but rank Houston as a +0 - meaning exactly average in the game. That's about how it ended up with a 74-70 Duke win to advance.

However, out of the gates Houston did what they do every year - dominating the offensive boards. This is the first time we ever recall a team grabbing the first 9 rebounds of the game as they shot to a 28-21 lead after grabbing 7 offensive rebounds and 2 defensive rebounds to none for Duke. However, Winslow was not yet in the game, so he came in and steadied it with 15 points and 12 rebounds and as a result Duke only lost the rebound battle 39-44.

 

Duke 2015	Game Highlights	NBA?	Ht	Summary
Tyus Jones	16 pts	nba	6'1	11.8 Pts, 3.5 Reb, 5.6 Ast
Quinn Cook	6-7 free throws (90% season)	nba	6'2	15.3 Pts, 3.4 Reb, 2.6 Ast
Justise Winslow	15 pts, 12 reb	nba	6'6	12.6 Pts, 6.5 Reb, 2.1 Ast
Jahlil Okafor	18 pts, 10 reb	nba	6'11	17.3 Pts, 8.5 Reb, 1.3 Ast
Amile Jefferson		nba	6'9	6.1 Pts, 5.8 Reb, 0.8 Ast
Rasheed Sulaimon			6'5	7.5 Pts, 2.0 Reb, 1.8 Ast
Matt Jones			6'5	6.0 Pts, 2.3 Reb, 1.0 Ast
Grayson Allen	DNP (dominant next season)	nba	6'4	4.4 Pts, 1.0 Reb, 0.4 Ast
Marshall Plumlee		nba	7'0	2.2 Pts, 2.4 Reb, 0.3 Ast
Semi Ojeleye		nba	6'8	3.0 Pts, 2.3 Reb, 0.2 Ast
Houston 2021	Game Highlights		Ht	Summary
Marcus Sasser		nba	6'1	13.7 Pts, 2.6 Reb, 2.2 Ast
Dejon Jarreau	16 pts, 2 blocked shots	nba	6'5	10.6 Pts, 5.4 Reb, 4.3 Ast
Quentin Grimes	15 pts, 10 reb	nba	6'5	17.8 Pts, 5.7 Reb, 2.0 Ast
Justin Gorham	15 pts, 14 reb		6'7	8.4 Pts, 8.6 Reb, 1.2 Ast
Brison Gresham			6'8	3.0 Pts, 3.0 Reb, 0.3 Ast
Jamal Shead		nba	6'1	3.3 Pts, 1.1 Reb, 1.5 Ast
Tramon Mark			6'5	7.8 Pts, 3.0 Reb, 1.7 Ast
Fabian White			6'8	6.2 Pts, 4.1 Reb, 0.8 Ast
Reggie Chaney			6'8	4.7 Pts, 2.8 Reb, 0.5 Ast
J'Wan Roberts			6'7	1.9 Pts, 3.8 Reb, 0.3 Ast
Team Stats	Duke listed 1st, then Houston 2nd
Points	74-70 Duke win
Rebounds	39-44 Houston edge (started 0-9)
Free Throws	14-21 to 8-12
Steals	6-5 Duke edge
Turnovers	10-9 Duke 1 more but very low both
Blocked Shots	4-7 Houston edge
Fouls Committed	16-21 Five more fouls called on Hou

This round has more higher seeds than any other round we've played in our three tournaments, as only two to four of the Elite 8 will be a top 8 seed. The 2023 UConn was the 1-seed and barely survived by closing out their Sweet 16 game on an unprecedented 17-0 run. Western Kentucky's 1966 team is also in the Elite 8 as the 3-seed. The other two still alive are the 6-seed Fab 5 from Michigan in 1993 who will need to beat Tennessee 2023 to advance and meet Western Kentucky, and in the ultimate battle of big men, Purdue's Zach Edey will face the 1989 Georgetown's Alonzo Mourning and the one and only, late great, Dikembe Mutombo to see who faces Duke 2015 in the Elite 8.