2/26/1989

Arizona Thrives On Duke Miscues

By MALCOLM MORAN, Special to the New York Times
Published: February 27, 1989

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J., Feb. 26— Somewhere between the last goodbyes of their final home games of the season and the exhilaration and almost inevitable pain of the National Collegiate Athletic Association basketball tournament, the Wildcats of Arizona and Blue Devils of Duke learned something about themselves today.

At this point in the season, too early for finality but too late for reconstruction, the lessons are not too painful.

Arizona's 77-75 victory at Byrne Meadowlands Arena was one more step for the Wildcats (22-3) toward establishing a position as one of the four top-seeded teams in the N.C.A.A. tournament.

Duke's ability to come back from a 19-point deficit in the first half, a shocking problem that temporarily left even the hoop-head students from Durham, N.C., speechless, made the Blue Devils (21-5) determined to avoid a similar situation in the future.

Not long before the risky business of conference tournament play, a down-to-the-last-second game simulated the highest of stakes.

''This is the kind of game you win to go to the Final Four,'' said Sean Elliott of the Wildcats, whose 24 points included 5 of Arizona's last 7. ''This is the kind of game you win in the Final Four, or in the championship game.''

Before a crowd of 18,196 and a national television audience, the Blue Devils and Wildcats prepared for the games that will define their seasons by struggling to overcome their flaws.

Elliott, the 6-foot-8-inch senior who was effectively and consistently bumped by two and sometimes three Blue Devils when he penetrated the defense, made just 6 of 21 shots.

But his 3-point shot, over Danny Ferry of Duke, broke a 70-70 tie with 53 seconds to play. And Elliott's two foul shots, in a one-and-one situation with 18 seconds to go, gave the Wildcats the points that would make the difference.

The Duke perspective is that the game should have been in control by then. Duke scored on 1 of its first 13 possessions, and 3 of its first 19.

If anything, the early negative numbers were kind. Missed shots were just not missed, they were airballs and bricks. Turnovers included unforced errors. Duke's eighth and ninth points, 9 minutes 47 seconds into the game, were the result of the first of two technical fouls against Coach Lute Olson of Arizona.

''The thing we have to take away from this is the first 10 to 15 minutes,'' said Ferry, whose mid-season back problems became a more distant memory as a result of his 29 points, 12 rebounds, 5 assists, 5 blocked shots and 2 steals in 40 minutes of play. His five turnovers were the only blemish.

It was not until just before a timeout with 2:57 to go in the half, after scores on three consecutive possessions brought the Blue Devils within 14, that Coach Mike Krzyzewski recognized something familiar.

''I told them, 'We're playing like Duke right now,' '' Krzyzewski said, and smiled. ''It's an expression I use.''

But not until then, today. Whether the lapses were a result of a lack of emotion after their farewell to the crazies at Cameron Indoor Stadium in their last home game Feb. 23, or a pause in the demands of the Atlantic Coast Conference, was a discussion for another day. What was important today was that the Blue Devils had created severe early problems.

But Ferry's 3-point shot with eight seconds to play in the half brought Duke within 6, and a 16-2 run at the beginning of the second half gave the Blue Devils an 8-point lead with 15:34 to play. The lead changed four times, and the score was tied five times, in the next 13 1/2 minutes, leading to a 70-70 tie on Jud Buechler's foul shot with 2:04 to go.

With less than a minute to play and the score still tied, Elliott tried something different. He avoided Duke's collapsing tenacity by pulling up for a 3-point shot for a 73-70 lead, his first points in more than eight minutes.

But still, at the end, the Blue Devils had their chance. A traveling violation against Ken Lofton, a Wildcat guard, led to Quin Snyder's layup for a 2-point deficit with eight seconds left. And when Anthony Cook missed a foul shot two seconds later, a freshman, Christian Laettner, was fouled by Lofton and went to the line in the bonus situation with one second to play.

His shot, too strong, was rebounded by Elliott.

''That's not where we lost the game,'' Ferry said. ''We lost the game in the first 10, 15 minutes.''