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NCAA West final preview: Oklahoma Sooners will test Oregon Ducks' athleticism

By Forrest Lee, The Sports Xchange

ANAHEIM, Calif -- Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski testily dismissed his team's history in the West Regional. In five previous trips to the Pacific Time zone for the Sweet 16 (1984, 2003, 2007, 2008 and 2011), the Blue Devils were sent packing each time to their home in Durham, N.C.

"I don't think it makes a damn bit of difference what we've done on the West Coast before," Krzyzewski said Wednesday, a day before his club played top-seeded Oregon. "If we started to compete because of Mondays, Tuesdays and West Coast, I don't think we ever would have had five national championships and 12 Final Fours."

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On Thursday night, Oregon used its quickness and talent to bounce the fourth-seeded Blue Devils from the West Regional for the sixth time. Dillon Brooks scored 22 points, sinking four 3-pointers, in the Ducks' 82-68 win over Duke in the semifinals at Honda Center.

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Elgin Cook added 16 points and nine rebounds, and Jordan Bell came off the bench to score 13 points, grab seven boards and record three blocks for Oregon (31-6).

Freshman Brandon Ingram led Duke (25-11) with 24 points, while Grayson Allen had 15 points and Luke Kennard contributed 13 points and 11 rebounds. However, Duke couldn't match Oregon's vigor, particularly the Ducks' frontline of Cook, Brooks and Chris Boucher, who finished with 11 points.

"You know, the blocked shots, their athleticism, where you think you're open and then they're so good laterally and then they have guys that go vertical," Krzyzewski said of the Ducks, who are 6-0 against Top 25 teams this season. "That combination, if you do get past the lateral on the drive, boom, the other stuff is there. That combination was, to me, something you just don't face very often. You can't -- first of all, we don't practice that much, we can't, but you can't simulate that."

The Ducks will face second-seeded Oklahoma, a 77-63 winner over third-seeded Texas A&M in the earlier semifinal, in the regional final Saturday.

The Sooners (28-7) wiped out a seven-point deficit with a 39-13 run to close the half for a 45-26 lead. The Aggies (28-9) never recovered.

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"I thought if we could get (the lead) under 10, we could put some pressure on them," Texas A&M coach Billy Kennedy said. "I think we had it to 11 one time with a number of opportunities to make free throws and cut into it."

The Aggies' shooting woes eliminated any chance of a rally. Though they forced Oklahoma to commit 15 turnovers (Texas A&M had 12), the Aggies couldn't coerce the Sooners into the meltdown they intimidated Northern Iowa into last weekend, when a 14-2 surge in the final 44 seconds allowed Texas A&M to force overtime and eventually score a 92-88 double-overtime victory.

The Aggies, who are 0-4 in Sweet 16 appearances, hit just 13 of 24 foul shots (54.2 percent) and were in the bonus with more than 13 minutes left in the contest. However, they failed to take advantage of it.

Texas A&M also shot poorly from the floor, where they made just 22 of 64 shots (34.4 percent). On 3-pointers, Texas A&M made only six of 28 attempts (21.4 percent).

Oklahoma wasn't much better from the foul line, but it didn't matter. The Sooners converted just four of nine free throws (44.4 percent). However, the Sooners hit 49.2 percent of their field-goal attempts and canned 11 of 25 (44 percent) from behind the 3-point arc.

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Still, the Sooners will need a better effort if they expect to defeat the high-flying Ducks. The Aggies held Wooden Award front-runner Buddy Hield to a pedestrian 17 points. He also committed a game-high five turnovers. Junior guard Jordan Woodard picked up the slack for Oklahoma, though, scoring 22 points on 8-of-11 shooting and nailing five of six 3-pointers.

"I'm really happy for Jordan," said Hield, who was 6-for-13 from the floor and only 2-for-7 from 3-point range. "I told him earlier that when he does that, the whole game opens up for everybody because they don't know who to pick from. They want to keep denying me the whole game, I just step up and he can drive baseline and make a play.

"So Jordan's shooting the ball really well, and he's going to shoot the ball this coming Saturday well, too."

The Sooners will need Hield, Woodard and the rest of the cast to shoot well against Oregon. Just ask Coach K. He has come West six times and misfired on each shot.

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