Duke vs. UNC Wilmington: Score and Twitter Reaction from March Madness 2016

The fourth-seeded Duke Blue Devils weathered a first-half scare to defeat the No. 13 seed UNC Wilmington Seahawks 93-85 Thursday in the first round of the NCAA tournament at the Dunkin' Donuts Center in Providence, Rhode Island.  

With the win, Duke kept its hopes of repeating as national champions alive, and it will move on to face the winner of Thursday's clash between No. 5 Baylor and No. 12 Yale.

The Blue Devils overcame a three-point halftime deficit to pick up the victory, as head coach Mike Krzyzewski's team was far more effective in the second half after some patented Coach K adjustments.

Per WECT News, Krzyzewski praised Wilmington's performance after a hard-fought triumph:

Three Duke players topped 20 points, as senior center Marshall Plumlee and sophomore guard Grayson Allen each netted 23, while freshman guard Brandon Ingram added 20.

According to ESPN Stats & Info, that trio helped Duke to its best offensive performance in the NCAA tournament in 12 years:

That was enough to beat out a strong, 22-point effort by Seahawks senior guard Craig Ponder.

Duke entered the game as a 9.5-point favorite, according to OddsShark, but the Blue Devils quickly learned that UNC Wilmington would be a handful.

The high-flying Seahawks came out of the gates with plenty of energy and confidence, which allowed them to remain within a few points of Duke for the first several minutes of the contest.

They were able to do so even with the Blue Devils making a few spectacular plays, such as this and-1 layup from freshman forward Chase Jeter, via NCAA March Madness:

UNC Wilmington lurked for the next several minutes and made it clear that it wasn't at all intimidated by the reigning national champions.

According to Laura Keeley of the Raleigh News & Observer, that got a large portion of the fans in attendance very much behind the Seahawks:

Tim Cowlishaw of the Dallas Morning News praised Wilmington for its strong start, but he also pointed out that Duke wasn't playing anywhere near its potential for much of the opening half:

It is difficult to argue the notion that Duke boasted the more talented roster, but UNC Wilmington was able to bridge the gap to some degree with hustle plays, such as this rejection of Blue Devils freshman guard Luke Kennard, via CBS Sports:

The Seahawks pulled ahead in the closing minutes of the first half due in large part to the play of junior guard Chris Flemmings, who led all scorers at the break with 13 points.

Two of them came courtesy of this emphatic, follow-up jam to give UNC Wilmington a four-point advantage:

That lead grew to as much as seven points, but Ingram was able to cut the deficit to just three points with a timely trifecta just before the buzzer.

After watching Ingram knock down that shot, Joe Giglio of NJ.com compared him to one of the NBA's most deadly offensive players:

While Duke has been somewhat susceptible to early exits against unheralded opponents in recent years, trailing at halftime in the NCAA tournament was a fairly foreign concept entering the tilt, per ESPN Stats & Info:

Duke managed to tie the game at 46-46 less than two minutes into the second half, which was part of a 14-0 run that put the Blue Devils on top 56-46 by the 14-minute, 11-second mark.

As seen in this Vine, courtesy of ESPN College BBall, that got the Duke bench very much involved after what was a tense opening 20 minutes:

"

14-0 run for Duke. Blue Devils' mood: https://t.co/fYc0yQtRLV

— ESPN College BBall (@ESPNCBB) March 17, 2016"

UNCW's scoring drought lasted more than four minutes, and that lack of success on the offensive end created a deficit the Seahawks were never able to bounce back from.

Head coach Kevin Keatts' squad also hurt itself on the defensive end by fouling Duke far too often, which put the Blue Devils in the double bonus fairly early in the second half.

While that led to some social media chatter regarding inconsistent officiating, Jacob Feldman of SI.com pointed out that the Seahawks have had a problem with fouling all season:

Duke finished the contest making 31 of 43 free throws, while UNC Wilmington made just 14-of-19, and that deficit played a significant role in determining the result of the game.

Allen finished with 15 successful free throws on 17 attempts, which set a new NCAA tournament record for the Blue Devils, according to Duke M. Basketball:

"

.@GraysonJAllen... AND ONE! With that made free throw, he's got the Duke record for most made free throws in a NCAA Tournament game with 13!

— Duke M. Basketball (@Duke_MBB) March 17, 2016"

Aside from the free throws, UNCW gave up far too many easy baskets, especially to Plumlee, who continued to establish himself as one of the most prolific dunkers in school history with six more on the day.

He was especially effective on back-to-back possessions in the closing minutes with dunks such as this one:

Plumlee then added another with less than four minutes on the clock to give the Blue Devils a nine-point advantage:

As pointed out by ESPN's Mike Greenberg, Plumlee may have been the biggest individual difference-maker for Duke throughout the contest:

Duke left the door open a crack for Wilmington with just under five minutes left when junior guard Matt Jones fouled out, and the Seahawks pulled within five points of the lead.

Plumlee then fouled out with just over two minutes remaining and Duke leading by eight, which stretched Duke even thinner.

Those foul-outs could have been disastrous for the Blue Devils since a lack of depth has created an extremely short bench, but they managed to do enough offensively to hold off UNCW.

While it was far from a perfect performance for Duke, especially in the first half, the Blue Devils ended up excelling offensively and shooting 53.7 percent from the field.

The Blue Devils are part of a somewhat wide-open region in the West since the teams that are seeded higher than them—Oregon, Oklahoma and Texas A&M—aren't necessarily dominant and certainly seem beatable.

Duke has some defensive deficiencies and depth could be an issue, but if it continues shooting the ball from the field and the charity stripe like it did Thursday, it has a chance to make a deep run.

Postgame Reaction

UNC Wilmington gave Duke all it could handle for a large portion of Thursday's game, but David was ultimately unable to slay Goliath.

Even so, Keatts was extremely pleased with the Seahawks' effort against Duke and for the entirety of the 2015-16 campaign, according to A Daly Dose of Hoops:

While UNCW certainly laid it all on the line, Krzyzewski felt as though his Blue Devils squad wanted it more in the second half of play:

Wilmington putting Duke on the free-throw line so many times in the second half put the underdogs at a huge disadvantage, and Keatts felt as though the Blue Devils' mystique contributed to the way the game was officiated:

Despite that notion, Coach K gave all the credit to his team, and pointed toward how inexperienced it is despite last year's national title win:

Krzyzewski also had plenty of great things to say about the Seahawks, as he was especially impressed by their team unity:

He pointed toward UNC Wilmington as a great representative of the NCAA tournament and everything it stands for:

While Duke didn't come out of the gates particularly well Thursday, Coach K's comments suggest that it didn't take the Seahawks lightly, and that may be why it was able to turn things around.

Check out Bleacher Report's live updating bracket to track your picks along the road to the Final Four.

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