March Rewind: '07 Blue Devils Bounced in First Round on Buzzer Beater

What's March without Duke Tournament basketball? With this year's ACC and NCAA Tournaments cancelled, we'll go back in time to look at the top Blue Devils postseason games from each date in March and early April. Special thanks to SportsReference.com for boxscores and the Duke Library for the newspaper archive.

Duke saw its nine-year streak of making the Sweet 16 snapped as it lost its first-round game for the first time in 11 seasons, 79-77 to VCU in Buffalo. VCU’s Eric Maynor hit a jumper with 1.8 seconds remaining to put the Rams over the top. The 6-seeded Blue Devils saw their 11-point lead midway through the second half evaporate. VCU shot 4-of-5 from three over an 18-6 run to take the lead with just under seven minutes remaining.

Duke missed 12 of 32 free throws and committed 17 turnovers, which helped allow VCU back into the game.

“This is the hardest loss I’ve ever had,” said freshman Jon Scheyer.

Maynor scored eight of VCU’s final 11 points, including the eventual game-winner. Greg Paulus attempted a buzzer-beating three but it was off the mark. Paulus finished with a career-high 25 points, four assists and three steals. Josh McRoberts also had a career-high 22 points with 12 rebounds, four assists and five blocks. No other Blue Devils reached double figures in scoring.

“If you’re in this tournament long enough, you’re going to go down,” coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “It hurts. When you lose in the last few seconds after playing so hard all game, that’s not an easy thing to forget.”

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