Any college basketball fan left disappointed by Gonzaga's wire-to-wire manhandling of UCLA on Tuesday night had to feel made whole by Friday's epic showdown between No. 1 Gonzaga and No. 5 Duke in Las Vegas, won by the Blue Devils by a score of 84-81 in a game played on Nov. 26 that had the feel of a late March or early April grudge match.
The battle between future NBA lottery picks Chet Holmgren of Gonzaga and Paolo Banchero of Duke was among the must-watch elements of the contest, with Banchero (21 points on 8-of-18 shooting, including 20 points in the first half) leaving with the upper hand statistically as Holmgren (16 points on 8-of-13 shooting) also showed frequent flashes of his potential No.