Duke defeated Cal State-Fullerton 78-61 Friday night to advance to Sunday’s round of 32.
It wasn’t the kind of 40-minute beat-down we’ve sometimes seen from Duke in NCAA openers. But the outcome was never seriously in doubt and it was a pretty good introduction to the Big Dance for a bunch of youngsters who were making their NCAA Tournament debuts.
“I would describe it as amazing,” Wendell Moore, Jr. said. “This is for sure a special moment.”
Paolo Banchero agreed.
”It definitely felt good, just actually playing, being out there. Just a surreal experience.”
It’s been six days since Duke’s loss to Virginia Tech in ACC Tournament title game and words like “reset”, “renewed hunger” and “re-calibrate” were used in the post-game.