Duke and Alabama faced off in the East Regional Final in the 2025 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. After wins on Thursday night, both teams were looking to replicate those performances on Saturday night in primetime at the Prudential Center.
In a complete team effort, Duke took down Alabama, 85-65, in front of a primarily pro-Duke crowd in Newark. Duke advances to the 18th Final Four in program history with the win.
Duke started hot as Cooper Flagg opened the scoring with a three on the Blue Devils’ first possession. From there, Duke went on a 10-5 run to enter the first media timeout, leading 13-5. The Crimson Tide went on an 8-2 run after the timeout led by Aiden Sherrell, who hit two threes as Alabama stopped Duke’s early momentum.
At the halfway mark of the first half, both teams struggled to hold on to the ball, committing a combined 10 turnovers. This did not hurt Duke ultimately as they dominated the paint with 14 points at the 7:57 mark of the half as they led 30-22. While Flagg made his fair share of shots, Kon Knueppel and Tyrese Proctor led the way for Duke, and everyone was a part of the early success. The Blue Devils picked up eight assists on 12 field goals.
Alabama’s success from beyond the arc on Thursday night did not continue in the first half of Saturday’s game as they shot 5-of-19 from three. They began to go inside and depend more on the mid-range game as they cut the Duke lead down to seven with four minutes left in the opening 20 minutes. The other major story was how the Crimson Tide bench bailed out the team, scoring almost half of the points for the Crimson Tide in the half as the starters struggled to find their shot.
The first ended with the Blue Devils leading 46-37 as Knueppel led Duke with 11 points while Flagg had 10 points and five rebounds through the first half. Sherrell and Grant Nelson each had six points for the Crimson Tide.
Alabama came out with the energy in the second half, highlighted by a Nelson block on Flagg at the basket as the Crimson cut the Blue Devil lead to seven early in the half. Throughout the half, Alabama tried to keep the lead in single digits, but Duke was able to counter whether the Crimson Tide did. Duke did themselves no favors by getting into the penalty with eight minutes left as they looked to push past Alabama.
With Duke up 69-58 with 6:39 left in regulation, Alabama needed a spark to attempt a comeback. Instead, they went over five minutes without scoring (with three turnovers). By the time Mark Sears went 1-of-2 from the line, the Duke lead ballooned to 19 and the result was no longer in doubt with 2:28 remaining as Alabama fans started making their way to the exits of The Rock as Duke advanced to the 2025 Final Four in San Antonio.
“San Antonio sounds great. I mean, look, first, couldn’t be more excited and happy for these guys to my left,” said Duke head coach Jon Scheyer, who will be making his first appearance in the Final Four since replacing Mike Krzyzewski as head coach in 2022. “I think Tyrese and I, the feeling of losing last year at this point, every decision we made, everything we did was to get back here and then have the team have the opportunity to advance to the promised land. To go to San Antonio, to go to the Final Four.”
Knueppel scores a game-high 21 points for Duke. Flagg added 16 points and nine rebounds as the Blue Devils won the rebound battle 41-30. The freshman phenom and potential number-one pick in the upcoming NBA Draft was also named the East Regional Most Outstanding Player.
“I mean, obviously it’s a big honor. It’s a blessing. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without the guys sitting next to me and the guys in the locker room,” said Flagg on being named MOP of the region. “All credit to them, the coaches for putting me in really good situations, spots on the court, giving me the ball in the right spots. And then just allowing me to play free off the ball, on the ball, whatever it was, just letting me be me. And just got to give all the credit to my teammates and coaches.”
Alabama was led by Labaron Philon, who scored 16 points. Mark Sears, who scored 34 points against BYU in the East semifinal, was held to six points on 2-of-12 shooting in his final collegiate game. The Crimson Tide went 8-of-32 from three-point range after hitting an NCAA Tournament record 25 on Thursday.
“You know, they did a good job of taking away our three ball,” said Sears after the game. “And that’s something that we do really well at a high level, and they just did a great job of taking away our three ball.”
“We had said coming into the off-season that if we have a tough shooting night — two years ago when we were the No. 1 overall seed, I think we shot 3 of 27 from three and lost,” said Alabama head coach Nate Oats. “But we had gotten 20 O-boards. We’ve got to figure out ways to win when we don’t shoot it well.”
Duke now awaits the winner of Houston-Tennessee on Sunday afternoon to round out the 2025 Final Four on Saturday.
