NCAA Tournament: Duke Cruises Past Creighton, 66-50

Late into the night in Philadelphia, No. 2-seeded Duke became the 16th and final team to advance to the Sweet 16 with a 66-50 win over No. 7-seeded Creighton. The Blue Devils used swarming defense to clamp down on Creighton’s high-powered offense from the jump, and All-American Doug McDermott was not immune to the pressure of Duke’s defense.

Creighton’s shooting percentage plummeted to just 30.2% (16-of-53) on the night, including a paltry 2-of-19 from three-point distance, and McDermott’s output (4-16 FG, 1-4 3-PT) wasn’t much better for the Blue Jays. It wasn’t a complete disaster for McDermott, as he managed to generate some efficient offense through the free-throw line (where he went 12-for-12), but his jump shot was certainly not flowing, and with the designs of the Duke defense placed on him, he struggled a bit.

[RELATED: Download the updated 2013 NCAA bracket here]

Duke’s offense didn’t have its normal explosiveness, either, as their two leading perimeter options (Ryan Kelly and Seth Curry) combined to shoot 5-for-20 from the field, but the rest of the cast picked up the slack. Rasheed Sulaimon had one of the best games of his young career, scoring 21 points on just 9 field goal attempts, and Tyler Thornton added 8 crucial points off of the bench. The Blue Devils didn’t manage to scratch 40% from the field as a team, but because they won the rebounding battle decisively (36-30) and limited themselves to 9 turnovers, it was good enough to outscore Creighton comfortably.

If anything, it was an encouraging performance for Duke despite the mediocre numbers, as they faced severe foul trouble to Kelly, Mason Plumlee, and J0sh Hairston, but used their normally limited depth to outlast the less-talented Creighton squad. As for Creighton, their performance likely left the country wanting more, but the Blue Jays simply couldn’t generate points with the ease that they normally would, and they couldn’t afford to have a bad shooting night at this level of competition.

It is on to Indianapolis for Duke, as they join Louisville, Oregon, and their Sweet 16 opponent, Michigan State, for a loaded regional next week. The Blue Devils are more than capable of knocking off both Michigan State and Louisville, and it appears (on paper) that the Midwest regional has the best remaining squads. Duke will certainly need to perform better offensively (with the help of Curry and Kelly, namely) in order to challenge for the national title, but with their talent level and veteran leadership, they are an extremely dangerous opponent for any team.

Be sure to stay tuned to FanSided.com throughout the entire tournament as we keep you up to date with the latest results.