Former Duke basketball guard gets bounced from NCAA Tournament

Former Duke basketball guard Alex O’Connell has been bounced from the NCAA Tournament. 

The Gonzaga Bulldog freight train keeps on rolling, and it has now bounced former Duke basketball guard Alex O’Connell from the NCAA Tournament.

O’Connell left the Blue Devils last season after his junior year as a transfer and planned on sitting out this season before the NCAA passed a blanket waiver for all transfers to be immediately eligible due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Much like in Durham, O’Connell was expected to be a lethal three-point shooter, but his perimeter struggles continued in Omaha despite the up-tempo and perimeter-dominant system head coach Greg McDermott runs.

The 6-foot-6 guard played in 24 games for Creighton this season and averaged 3.5 points and 2.3 rebounds per game on 37.8-percent shooting and 31.7-percent shooting from three-point range.

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O’Connell logged five minutes in Sunday’s loss 83-65 to Gonzaga in the Sweet 16 while adding two points and one rebound on 1-of-2 shooting.

Prior to the defeat against the ‘Zags, the former Blue Devil had not scored in this year’s NCAA Tournament despite playing a combined six minutes against Santa Barbara and Ohio.

In the Big East Tournament Championship, O’Connell posted 11 points on 3-of-12 shooting in a 73-48 loss to the Georgetown Hoyas.

Alex O’Connell’s best game of the season came on January 9 against St. John’s as he added 16 points on 6-of-7 shooting in a 97-79 victory.

Duke basketball could be next team to knock off Gonzaga

The heavy favorites to cut down the nets on the first Monday in April are the Gonzaga Bulldogs, and the next team to defeat the ‘Zags could be the Duke Blue Devils.

Both programs will meet on November 26, 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada in one of the most anticipated games of the 2021-22 season.

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Gonzaga has not lost since February 22, 2020 against BYU, and the program has won 60 of its last 62 games.

The last time Duke and Gonzaga took the floor against each other, the Bulldogs held off a furious Blue Devil comeback in the Championship Game of the 2018 Maui Invitational.