Rick Pitino is one of the all-time great coaches in the history of college basketball. For Duke to get to the Final 4, Jon Scheyer was going to have to match up with some Hall of Famers. How would he handle it in a tight game?
Well, if the Sweet 16 was any indication – pretty freaking well.
St. John’s had seized control of the game in the 2nd half. With 15 minutes left in the game led by 10. Cayden Boozer looked overwhelmed by the Red Storm pressure, and St. John’s Ruben Prey was having the game of his life, knocking 3 after 3 down. St. John’s still led by 6 with 11 minutes left.
Then Jon Scheyer made a couple of brilliant moves. Here was one of them when he went zone.
Scheyer’s decision to go to a zone in the second half and extend pressure flipped the game.
St John’s offense never found rhythm after that, and it stopped their surprisingly hot shooting.
Been Duke’s HC for four years, and he’s going to his third straight Elite Eight.
Unreal.
— Brian Rauf (@brauf33) March 28, 2026
He also sat a clearly struggling Cayden Boozer, and went with a compromised but really gutsy Caleb Foster. Foster steadied Duke to get the Blue Devils back into the game, and Scheyer managed his minutes the rest of the way. He even deftly had Cayden Boozer play some late critical minutes. Rick Pitino, for comparison, sat his hottest player, Prey, for the majority of the 2nd half.
Duke had to overcome some shaky FT shooting in the final minutes, but it was Scheyer getting the better of Pitino with some of his best coaching yet. You had Isaiah Evans coming up big as well, and Cam Boozer not being denied in the paint.
Duke needed it all to advance against a very feisty St. Johns team.
Now they are 1 game from a return trip to the Final 4.
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