Duke Shuts Down Cal

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — California trailed Duke by 7 points when Golden Bears guard Jerome Randle got the ball with space to work, a rare occurrence for him against the Blue Devils on Sunday. It was an irresistible open look at the basket, and Randle, a noted bomber, let fly a 27-foot shot off one leg.
Enlarge This Image Andy Lyons/Getty Images
Nolan Smith (2) of the Blue Devils passes the ball while defended by Jorge Gutierrez (2) of the Golden Bears.
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The shot missed, and so did a host of others by the Bears in the second-round N.C.A.A. game in the South Region. Top-seeded Duke seemed to wall off Cal from the basket and hounded the Pacific-10 regular-season champion Bears into 40 percent shooting on the way to a 68-53 victory.
Duke (31-5) advanced to the Round of 16 to play Purdue next Friday night in Houston. California finished its season 24-11.
Blue Devils guard Nolan Smith stayed in front of the quick Randle on the 3-point arc and kept him from getting into the lane where he can create for his teammates. Randle is the fuse to the Bears’ offense, but he made just 5 of 14 shots and finished with 12 points and had just one assist.
“I don’t think we got a catch-and-shoot situation the whole game,” Cal forward Theo Robertson said. “They have four players who can play outside defense and they communicate very well, which means they can switch on everything and not give up open looks.”
Smith was also Duke’s best player on offense, shooting 9 of 18 and scoring 20 points. Forward Kyle Singler added 17 for the Blue Devils.
Almost as important as Smith’s play was the offense Duke received from the 7-foot-1 center Brian Zoubek, who scored 14 points. Zoubek made all six of his shots from the field, and also had 13 rebounds.
Jon Scheyer, Duke’s other guard, made just 1 of 11 shots, but the Blue Devils made sure it did not matter because of the defense it played. Cal’s Patrick Christopher, the team’s second-leading scorer at 16 points a game, had just 2.