By Ron Griffitts
Contributing columnist
On April 6, 1992 in the Metrodome in Minneapolis, Minnesota the Duke Blue Devils (33-2) coached by Mike Krzyzewski defended their NCAA title against the Michigan Wolverines (25-8) coached by Steve Fisher.
Michigan was well known because of the five freshmen they started, Jalen Rose, Chris Webber, Juwan Howard, Jimmy King and Ray Jackson who were dubbed the “Fab Five”.
Duke was led on offense by 6’ 11’ senior center Christian Laettner (21.5, 7.8rpg), 6’ 5” junior guard Thomas Hill (14.6 ppg, 3.4 rpg), 6’ 8” sophomore forward Grant Hill (14.0 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 4.1 apg), 6’ junior guard Bobby Hurley (13.2 ppg, 7.6 apg), 6’ 7” senior forward Brian Davis (11.2 ppg, 4.5 rpg) and 6’ 8” sophomore forward Antonio Lang (4.1 rpg).
The Blue Devils got past Campbell 82-56, Iowa 75-62, Seton Hall 81-69, and Kentucky 104-103 to face Indiana in the final four semifinal whom they defeated 81-78 to get to the final.
Their game against Kentucky was one of the most famous in NCAA history as the two teams fought to a 93-93 tie after regulation and went into overtime. With 2.1 seconds left in the game, Shawn Woods banked in a field goal over the 6’ 11” Laettner to give UK the lead at 103-102 and Duke getting the ball with 2.1 seconds on the clock
Kentucky did not guard the inbounding player and he threw a full court pass to the foul line on the opposite end where Christian Laettner was able to get the ball, turned, dribbled and turned again and put up a field goal attempt which went in and Duke wins 104-103.
Michigan was led by 6’ 8” freshman guard Jalen Rose (17.6 ppg, 4.3 rpg), 6’ 9” freshman forward Chris Webber (15.5 ppg, 10.0 rpg), and 6’ 9” freshman center Juwan Howard (11.1 ppg, 6.2 rpg).
Michigan defeated Temple 73-66, East Tennessee State 102-90, Oklahoma State 75-72 and Ohio State 75-71 to get to the final four semifinal where they defeated Cincinnati 76-72 to get to the final.
Michigan led after the first half 31-30 but Duke took control in the second half, outscoring the Wolverines 41-20 to go on to a 71-51 victory.
Grant Hill led the winners with 18 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocked shots while Bobby Hurley had 7 assists, Christian Laettner contributed 19 points and 7 rebounds and Thomas Hill contributed 16 points and 7 rebounds.
For Michigan, Jalen Rose had 11 points and Chris Webber had 14 points and 11 rebounds while they made 37.9% of their field goal attempts compared to 43.9 % for Duke. Michigan also had six more turnovers, 20 to 14, than Duke.
Duke was the first team to win consecutive titles since UCLA coached by John Wooden did it in 1973. Bobby Hurley got the game MVP award and Duke was back in the final in 1994 while Michigan with Webber, Howard and Rose were back in 1993.
Statistics for this article were from sports-reference.com and Youtube.com.
