Duke beats Gonzaga What we learned from Friday's elite level college basketball showcase

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. The Blue Devils won 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. 1 pick-style brilliance. The celebrated freshmen were hardly the only story, as Gonzaga's Julian Strawther (20 points, 10 rebounds) and Andrew Nembhard (6 points, 11 assists, 8 rebounds) and Duke's Mark Williams (17 points, 9 rebounds, 5 blocks) and Wendell Moore Jr. (20 points, 6 assists, 4 steals) were also outstanding in the contest.

The loss was Gonzaga's first in the regular season since Feb. 22, 2020, when the Bulldogs fell at BYU.