West Virginia ended today what Belmont failed to on Thursday: an upset of second-seeded Duke, reports the AP. Joe Alexander had 22 points and 11 rebounds as West Virginia held the Blue Devils to 38% shooting, out-rebounding them 47-27 in the 73-67 victory. Duke has now missed the Sweet Sixteen 2 years running, after going every year from 1997-2006.
Alex Ruoff led West Virginia (26-10) with 17 points; Joe Mazzulla scored 13 and had 11 rebounds. Duke jumped to a 34-29 halftime lead, but then went cold from the 3-point line, missing 15 in a row. Greg Paulus was 2-7 from downtown at one point, but that was better than his teammates, who were a collective 0-11. (More NCAA stories.)