They almost had 'em. It was so, so damn close.
UCF took Duke right down to the wire; even after the Blue Devils pulled ahead in the final seconds, the Golden Knights still had two opportunities at the rim to take down the prohibitive favorites in the 2019 edition of March Madness. They missed on both, and as a result Zion Williamson (who had 32 points), RJ Barrett (who had 16, including the final two points that put Duke up for good), and company move on and up.
Ninth-seeded UCF (24-9) had a final chance, but B.J. Taylor missed a short jumper and Dawkins failed on his tip attempt with less than 2 seconds left. Duke got the rebound, ran out the clock and moved on to the Sweet 16 for 27th time and fourth time in the past five years.
It's sadly the end of the line for Tacko Fall's team, which put together the maybe the most thrilling game of the tournament so far. Upsets are fun, and that's why we do this thing the way we do it, which is why this one in particular sucks so much.
