NEWARK, N.J. -- In Duke's first meeting of the season, back in the summer, there was a picture of San Antonio up on the screen. The Blue Devils wanted to get to the Final Four for the first time since Mike Krzyzewski retired, the first Final Four of the new Duke era.

"That was our main focus all year," Tyrese Proctor told ESPN earlier this week.

The top-seeded Blue Devils took the next step in their seasonlong quest Saturday night, knocking off No. 2 Alabama 85-65 to advance to next week's national semifinal in Texas.

The Blue Devils advanced to their first Final Four since coach Jon Scheyer took over in 2022, their 18th overall, and will face the winner of Sunday's Houston vs. Tennessee regional final. It's one step further than last season, when they lost to NC State in the Elite Eight.

"The feeling of losing last year at this point, every decision we made, everything we did was to get back here and then have the team have the opportunity to advance to the promised land," Scheyer said. "To go to San Antonio, to go to the Final Four."

Kon Knueppel led the way for Duke with 21 points, while Cooper Flagg -- who earned Most Outstanding Player of the East Region -- finished with 16 points and nine rebounds. Labaron Philon had 16 points for Alabama.

It was inevitable that Mark Sears and the Crimson Tide wouldn't carry over their incredible shooting display from Thursday night against BYU, when Alabama set an NCAA tournament record with 25 3-pointers and Sears finished with 34 points, 10 3s and 8 assists.

Alabama coach Nate Oats spoke Thursday night after the Crimson Tide's win about "regression to the mean," in reference to Sears' performance after he had gone 5-for-35 from 3 in his previous six games. But on Saturday, it could just as easily have been used to describe the Crimson Tide coming back to earth after making history two nights earlier.

They hit three of their first five 3s but missed nine of the next 10 while Duke jumped out to an early lead by scoring 13 points in the first 3:10. The Crimson Tide shot 5-for-19 from behind the arc in the first half and missed six straight in the second half when looking to get back in the game.

They finished 8-for-32 from 3-point range.

"The big thing for us was just playing our defense," Duke's Sion James said. "We recognized that, as good of a shooting team as they are, they look to drive you and then hit spray-out 3s. So we really just stayed true to who we are defensively, didn't give them easy ones and make them hit tough 3s over the top."

Oats' team struggled to get anything going offensively early against Duke, especially when the Blue Devils had freshman Khaman Maluach in the game as a rim protector. Sears finished with two points on 1-for-4 shooting in the first half. The All-American guard wasn't getting the clean looks he consistently found against BYU, with Duke defending him far more aggressively -- and with more size.

Sears' frustration peaked late in the second half, when he was called for a travel and an offensive foul on back-to-back possessions with Alabama trailing by 14. He finished with six points on 2-for-12 shooting.

"First of all, it was by committee," James said of how Duke defended Sears. "We were switching a lot, especially in the second half, so Khaman was on Sears just as much as me or Tyrese was. The big thing for him was showing them bodies, making sure whoever was guarding the ball knew they weren't on an island by themselves and making sure Sears knew that he wasn't on an island with our big or whoever else. And I think we did a good job for the most part of keeping him off the foul line where he gets a lot of his points from."

The Crimson Tide, who shot better than 60% inside the arc during the season and had more points in the paint than any team in the NCAA tournament through the first two rounds, also had extreme difficulty finishing in the paint against Maluach. It wasn't until Maluach was subbed out of the game late in the first half that Grant Nelson was able to get free for two dunks through a wide-open lane.

"We made the point to our guys, we're not going to go in and score on him, and we had a few guys still try to challenge him," Oats said. "It's kind of a habit, you can tell them going in. And then he ended up having two blocks. We ended up having more blocks than them, but the way he challenges, it's a problem. He challenges at the rim."

Duke ultimately held Alabama, the nation's top-scoring team at more than 91 points per game, to 26 points below its average -- and to 48 points fewer than it scored Thursday.

"These guys, they're incredible, the way they compete on both ends," Scheyer said. "They are so connected, and tonight, they were so disciplined. I'm incredibly grateful. When you're at a special place like Duke, special things can happen."

At the other end, Duke's superior size and physicality on the perimeter were causing consistent problems for Alabama. Knueppel and Proctor were getting into the lane with ease, and after Flagg grabbed a defensive rebound, he drove coast to coast for an easy layup against an unsettled Alabama defense to put Duke up 35-22 with 6:47 left in the first half.

The Blue Devils were able to finish consistently at the rim or throw lobs to Maluach for easy dunks. He had three such finishes in the first half and another one early in the second half. Duke won the battle around the rim, outscoring Alabama in the paint 40-28.

Against a fast-paced and deep Alabama team, Scheyer used his bench much more than he did against Arizona on Thursday. Caleb Foster and Isaiah Evans played just four minutes apiece against the Wildcats, but Foster saw nine minutes in the first half (14 total) and Evans played six in the opening period. Both provided some positive moments, as did freshman big man Patrick Ngongba II and junior Maliq Brown, who has missed most of the past two months with a shoulder injury.

Foster hit a critical 3-pointer late in the first half to push the lead back to nine after Brown grabbed an offensive rebound and dished out three assists.

"I just try to do what I can do when I can do it," Foster said. "I just try to bring energy and do whatever it takes to win."

Duke took a 46-37 lead into halftime after a Nelson layup in the final seconds took some of the sting out of a Flagg 3-point play with 16 seconds remaining.

Alabama was only briefly able to generate consistent momentum, however. On one sequence early in the second half, Nelson had one of the blocks of the tournament when he met Flagg at the rim to deny him a dunk, and then Sears came back down and buried his first 3 of the game. On the Crimson Tide's next possession, Chris Youngblood finished a layup-and-foul to bring Alabama back within six.

That was as close as it got in the second half.

Duke responded with an 11-4 run to extend the lead to 13, and the Blue Devils kept Alabama at arm's length the rest of the way before growing the lead to 20 points in the final minutes.

After falling one game short last season with the regional final loss to their ACC rival, Scheyer has now cemented his legacy in Duke lore, leading his own team to the Final Four.

"A lot has changed in a year," Proctor said. "When we were in the bathroom last year after we lost, I told Coach I was coming back. We both had a vision, and I think just the way we executed and doubled down, the way I doubled down in the offseason, the way these guys had my back, I had theirs, I think it just shows a lot of resiliency, and I just couldn't be more proud of our group."