NCAA - West

Nick picks up Kansas

KANSAS 69, DUKE 65: Nick Collison's career game helps coach Roy Williams beat Mike Krzyzewski for first time.

©Associated Press
March 28, 2003

[AP photo] Nick Collison, who scored 33, shoots over Duke's Casey Sanders in the second half.

Collison scored a career-high 33 and had 19 rebounds to lead the Jayhawks to a 69-65 victory over Duke in the West Region semifinals Thursday night.

A 6-foot-9 forward that Mike Krzyzewski tried to recruit to Duke, Collison scored seven straight to give second-seeded Kansas a 63-57 lead with 5:41 remaining. The Jayhawks were on top the rest of the way.

Kansas (28-7) faces Arizona on Saturday, with the winner going to the Final Four.

Williams, in his 15th season as Jayhawks coach, was 0-3 in matchups with Krzyzewski, including a 72-65 defeat in the national championship game 12 years ago.

Dahntay Jones led third-seeded Duke (26-7) with 23 points and seven rebounds. Daniel Ewing added 13 points and Chris Duhon scored 12.

Freshman J.J. Redick shot 2-of-16 and scored five.

The game matched two of college basketball's top coaches and elite programs. Duke has been to 13 Final Fours, nine under Krzyzewski, and Kansas to 11, three under Williams.

Krzyzewski's 60 NCAA Tournament wins are second behind the 65 of former North Carolina coach Dean Smith.

Williams, an assistant under Smith before taking the Jayhawks' job in 1988, is 32-13 in the tournament. His .806 winning percentage (416-100) at Kansas is the best among active coaches with six or more years of experience and third ever.

Krzyzewski is 663-274, including 590-175 in 23 years at Duke.

The game didn't reflect the fact that the Kansas entered averaging 83 points and Duke almost 82, making them two of the six highest-scoring teams in the country.

Aaron Miles scored with 52.7 seconds left to give Kansas a 67-61 lead, and Michael Lee added a free throw with 34.1 seconds to play for a seven-point lead.

Jones made two baskets for Duke before Miles made a free throw with 16.8 seconds left to complete the scoring.

Keith Langford added 13 points for the Jayhawks. Kirk Hinrich, averaging 17.5 points, shot 1-of-9 for two points, but it didn't matter.

Collison made 14 of 22 shots, with the senior scoring mostly from inside.

Jones scored five to spark a 9-1 run to start the second half that put Duke on top 44-36. But the Jayhawks scored the next nine, four by Collison, for a one-point lead.

Neither team led by more than two after that until Collison got going. He wound up scoring 12 straight Kansas points.

Hinrich scored his only points with 12:25 left on a short jumper to tie it at 49.

It was tied at 35 at halftime despite the fact that Hinrich didn't score and Redick shot 1-of-6 for three points. Redick, called the nation's best freshman by Krzyzewski, was averaging 15.3 points.

Lacking in depth to begin with in part because of a season-ending shoulder injury to starter Wayne Simien last month, Kansas received a blow when center Jeff Graves picked up his third foul midway through the first half.

But his teammates picked up the slack after Ewing and Redick made 3-pointers to give Duke a 22-13 lead, largest of the game for either team.

It was 27-20 when Kansas went on a 15-8 run to finish the half.

COACH CONSIDERS UCLA: Williams hasn't ruled himself out as a candidate for the vacant UCLA job. But he doesn't believe such speculation is a distraction for his team.

"My team believes me and they know my focus is with them," Williams said.

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