March Rewind: '63 Blue Devils Make Final Four For First Time Ever

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 earned a spot in the Final Four for the first time ever, winning the 1963 East Regional with a 73-59 win over St. Joseph’s at Cole Fieldhouse in College Park, Maryland. The No. 2 ranked Blue Devils looked a little unsure at the start, while feisty St. Joe’s was ready to go.

St. Joseph’s jumped out to a 10-1 lead, forcing Vic Bubas to call time and help his team recover four minutes into the game.

“As soon as they got to the bench, I could tell there was no panic,” the coach said. “They were just a little tight.”

Jeff Mullins led Duke back, scoring six straight at one point to bring Duke back. His 30-footer at the buzzer gave Duke a one-point lead at the half. Mullins finished 10-of-16 from the field for 24 points. Art Heyman, who would go on to be named national player of the year and tournament Most Outstanding Player, as well as getting chosen first overall in the NBA Draft, shot only 3-for-14 but went 10-of-15 from the free throw line, doubling up St. Joseph’s entire team (5-of-7 from the line) to score 16. Heyman had 10 rebounds, while Jay Buckley added 18 boards.

Add us as a preferred source on Google