SAN FRANCISCO -- Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski's career continued and the University of Arkansas basketball team's season ended on Saturday night in Chase Center.
Duke beat Arkansas 78-69 in the NCAA Tournament West Region final before an announced crowd of 17,739 to prolong Krzyzewski's 47-year career at least one more game.
The Blue Devils (32-6), the No. 2 seed in the West, advanced to play in the Final Four in New Orleans next Saturday against the winner of today's North Carolina-Saint Peter's game.
Arkansas (28-9), the region's No. 4 seed, lost in the Elite Eight for the second consecutive season.
Last year, eventual national champion Baylor beat the Razorbacks 81-72 in Indianapolis in the South Region final.
"We got beat by a better team today," Arkansas Coach Eric Musselman said. "I thought Duke was phenomenal.
"Last year we lost to Baylor, and they were national champions. I'll be shocked if Duke is not national champion in a week or week and a half, whatever."
The Blue Devils shot 54.7% (29 of 53), the third-highest percentage against the Razorbacks this season.
Arkansas held its previous 21 opponents to a combined 38.7% shooting. In that span, only Texas A&M shot better than 50% -- at 50.8% -- in beating Arkansas 82-64 in the SEC Tournament semifinals.
Freshman forward AJ Griffin led Duke with 18 points. He hit 7 of 9 shots, including 2 of 3 three-pointers.
Blue Devils freshman forward Paolo Banchero had 16 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists.
Junior forward Wendell Moore scored 14 points for the Blue Devils and sophomore center Mark Williams had 12 points and 12 rebounds. Sophomore guard Jeremy Roach added nine points.
"They were just a better team than us tonight," said sophomore forward Jaylin Williams, who led the Razorbacks with 19 points and 10 rebounds for his 15th double-double this season.
The Razorbacks were 11 of 11 on free throws, but they came into the game leading the nation in makes (622) and attempts (822).
"When you play a team like Duke, you can't expect to get those calls," Arkansas senior All-America guard JD Notae said of the Razorbacks not attempting more free throws on drives to the basket. "It was tough. You just got to go in there and finish."
The 11 free throws were the second-fewest by the Razorbacks, who hit 4 of 7 in a 99-73 victory at Georgia.
Arkansas and Duke both were called for 15 fouls.
"When we got to the line, we didn't miss," Musselman said. "That's our game. We're one of the best in the country at [shooting free throws]. I didn't think we settled [for jump shots] tonight at all."
The Razorbacks jumped out to a 7-4 lead, but Duke was ahead 45-33 at halftime thanks to an 8-0 run to finish the half.
"Arkansas plays outstanding defense," Krzyzewski said. "At the start of the game they knocked us back. We responded pretty well."
Jaylin Williams and Arkansas starting senior guard Au'Diese Toney were limited to 14 and 13 minutes in the first half when each drew two fouls.
For the game, the Razorbacks outscored the Blue Devils by three points when Jaylin Williams was on the court and by one point when Toney played.
"We didn't end the first half very good at all," Musselman said. "Obviously, with foul trouble, Au'Diese and J-Will on the bench, two of our best defenders, if not our two best defenders.
"Tonight foul trouble hurt us in the first half."
A three-point play by Williams -- when he hit a driving basket, was fouled by Banchero and added the free throw -- pulled Arkansas within 53-48 with 13:20 left.
Krzyzewski called timeout and Banchero scored on a driving layup 16 seconds after the Blue Devils inbounded the ball to start a 10-0 run to go ahead 63-48 with 10:20 left.
Williams had another three-point play for the Razorbacks to make it 63-50.
Duke then had a final decisive run, capped by back-to-back three-pointers by Griffin, to take a 72-54 lead with 6:31 left.
"At that timeout our guys really got organized offensively," Krzyzewski said. "We played beautiful basketball."
Arkansas, which beat No. 1 overall seed Gonzaga 74-68 on Thursday night, advanced to consecutive Elite Eight appearances for the first time since 1994 and 1995.
"I think that this team just kept fighting the whole year," Williams said. "Of course, we didn't get where we wanted. But I'm proud of what we did."
Gallery: Duke defeats Arkansas, 78-69
