NEW YORK — After their bus weaved around the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and dropped them off for practice at Madison Square Garden on Thursday morning, the Arizona Wildcats noticed something was missing inside their locker room.
The elephant.
Yes, they will play Duke today and, after living so many one-game-at-a-time mandates, can finally acknowledge what just about everyone else has anticipated since NIT Season Tip-Off pairings were drawn up: their biggest game of the nonconference season.
Of course, Arizona’s Dec. 14 true road game at Michigan could be tougher, as could any number of Pac-12 games but, well, this is … Duke.
You know, the Wildcats’ biggest cross-country rivals. The team Arizona fans love to beat.
And the team everyone else loves to beat, too.
“That’s to their credit,” UA coach Sean Miller said Thursday. “Everyone wants them as an intersectional rival because they’re such a storied program. They win year in and year out, they have one of the greatest coaches arguably of all time on the sideline in the twilight of his career, and they represent excellence.
“Any time you play a program like that, you have to be at your best. It brings out the best in you. If it doesn’t, then I think we all know usually how that goes.”
By now, after an all-time Division I-high 963 career wins, Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski knows how it feels to wear the target.
“Teams play well against us,” Krzyzewski said after Duke beat Alabama 74-64 on Wednesday. “It’s a great opportunity for the sun to shine on a program. We have to expect that.”
While Duke held off Alabama despite the Tide’s 12-0 second-half run, Arizona earlier escaped its semifinal with Drexel, winning 66-62 after trailing by 19 points in the first half Wednesday.
That set up what will be the Wildcats’ first crack at Duke for the first time since they convincingly knocked off the Blue Devils in the 2011 Sweet 16, and only their second meeting since Duke beat UA in the championship game of the 2001 NCAA tournament.
Also on the line today: The NIT Season Tip-Off title, which Duke has won four times. The Wildcats have won it three times but not since 1999, when Gilbert Arenas was the MVP.
“Obviously, for a team, for a player and coach, it’s exciting to have a chance to play in the championship game at this event,” Miller said. “And to have such a storied program and such an excellent team in Duke to play against, that’s why you want to be a part of Arizona’s program.”
Between the lines, the game matches one of the country’s most efficient offensive machines against an Arizona team that is giving up just 58.3 points a game and keeping opponents to 34.0 percent shooting.
The Wildcats also have size, especially if center Kaleb Tarczewski continues the tear he began in the second half Wednesday, that Duke can’t quite match.
“Arizona is older, and they’re really big,” Krzyzewski said. “They have guys who played prominent roles back, and they added a great guard (T.J. McConnell) and a great wing (Aaron Gordon) to their lineup. … And we’re not real big so that will be interesting how we try to get that going.”
But the Blue Devils are almost ridiculously efficient on offense. They average 1.246 points per shot, for an average of 90.0 points a game. In Kenpom’s adjusted offensive efficiency, they rank second nationally, behind only Gonzaga.
One major reason: Freshman forward Jabari Parker, who has scored 20 or more points in all seven of his college games, shoots 60 percent from the field, 61 percent from three-point range, has blocked 12 shots and … said Wednesday that he’s “still got a ways to go.”
Uh huh. Arizona would love nothing better than to exploit that weakness, whatever it is.
“He’s just a tough guy to defend because he can score really anywhere on the court,” Miller said. “It’s surprising how skilled he is, being as big (6 foot 8 inches) as he is. He has kind of like a next-level skill set in that he can shoot the ball deep and score in the post. He’s a very good passer, too.”
Parker is only one of Duke’s two potential 2014 NBA lottery picks. The other is wing Rodney Hood, who averages 19.9 points a game and is shooting 63 percent from the field.
Duke’s point guard, former UA recruiting target Quinn Cook, happens to have nearly a 4-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio, too.
“They’re very, very difficult to defend,” Miller said. “They are very good at picking a matchup that favors them, and they exploit foul problems. That’s really been the history of Duke, and they do it as well this year as they ever have because they have one player (Parker) who’s just dynamic in his ability to score both inside and outside.”
Bottom line: Arizona will be able to find out if, as guard Nick Johnson says, its identity is in being a good defensive team.
Meanwhile, the Wildcats — and their fans — could also have a lot of fun.
“All of us want to be challenged at the highest level, and we know that we have to play better than we played (Wednesday) night,” Miller said. “We have to play an excellent game, but I know we’re capable of doing that.
“They’re the type of team that’s competing for the national championship, and I think we’ll learn a lot about where we are.”
