LEXINGTON, Ky. -- It wasn't meant as a slight, or as a cocky approach to the tournament, but something Mike Davis heard Wednesday out of the mouth of a Duke official during a pre-game meeting ate him up inside.

What Davis said he heard was a Duke official or coach, he didn't specify who it was, asking a tournament official what time Duke would be playing on Saturday. It was an obvious look-ahead to the Regional Final.

It was also something he made well-known to his players.

"He told us that they didn't think we had a chance," said Indiana forward Jared Jeffries. "He let us know that they really didn't respect us."

They do now.

Jared Jeffries comes up big with 24 points and 15 rebounds.(AP)

Duke, the top-seeded team in the South Regional and the defending national champions, blew a 17-point first-half lead as the Hoosiers rallied for a dramatic 74-73 victory at Rupp Arena on Thursday night. A partisan Indiana crowd saw the Hoosiers come back from a 13-point halftime deficit to take a four-point lead with 11 seconds left on two free throws by A.J. Moye.

At that point, the only thing Indiana didn't want to do was foul. But Dane Fife, one of only two seniors on the team, slammed into Duke All-American Jason Williams as he hit a 3-point shot, sending Williams to the line with four seconds left.

It also almost sent Davis running down the tunnel to the locker room.

Williams, who shot only 6-of-19 on the night from the field, had struggled at the free-throw line all season long. This time, the shot looked good, but it bounced out.

"It was halfway down," Williams said. "It hit one side of the rim, then the other."

Carlos Boozer rebounded the ball for Duke, but as he went to lay in a basket for the game-winner, Jeffries was able to get a hand on the ball, forcing the shot to go long, and Indiana grabbed it out of the air as the clock expired.

The Blue Devils thought Boozer was fouled, leading senior forward Matt Christensen to leap off the bench and make a run for official Bruce Benedict, who did not make the call under the basket. Christensen actually cocked his arm in an attempt to punch Benedict, the former Atlanta Braves catcher turned official, but teammates stopped him.

Williams, meanwhile, was sobbing through heavy tears as he realized his season and likely his career was over. Williams had debated going to the NBA last season, but instead came back for a run at a second consecutive national championship. But the Blue Devils are heading home and the Hoosiers are heading to the Elite Eight.

"We messed up a lot of brackets," said Davis, who, in his second year as the coach of the Hoosiers, has Indiana in the Elite Eight for the first time since 1993. They can earn a trip to the Final Four for the first time since 1992 with a victory Saturday over the winner of the Pitt-Kent State game.

Ironically, the last time Indiana went to the Final Four they lost to Duke as coach Mike Krzyzewski won the second of his three NCAA Championships.

Early Thursday night it looked like Krzyzewski would be on his way to another berth in the Elite Eight. Using a tenacious defense and a powerful inside game by Boozer, the Blue Devils led 29-12 with 8:57 left in the first half.

So suffocating was the Duke defense before halftime that Indiana had more turnovers (16) than they did field goals (12).

But the rebound number offered a peak at what was to come. Indiana outrebounded Duke 19-16. In the second half, Duke's one trouble spot -- an inside presence to go with Boozer -- became even more obvious.

The Hoosiers chipped away at the lead with some fierce defense of their own, but also with a brutal attack on the offensive glass. Using Jeffries down low, the Hoosiers continued to cut into the lead.

Jeffries had eight points and six rebounds at the half, but he had 16 points and nine rebounds in the second half.

"My goal is to get it to Jared," said guard Tom Coverdale. "He was how we were going to win the game."

Davis had placed a call to Maryland assistant Dave Dickerson earlier this week to inquire about the best plan of attack against Duke. Maryland split with the Blue Devils this season. Dickerson's advice was to pound it inside.

Duke was able to take away the entry pass early on, but Indiana got the inside game going in the second half. In addition to Jeffries, center Jarrad Odle had 11 of his 15 points after intermission.

Indiana finished with a 47-32 rebounding edge, with 20 of those on the offensive end. During one timeout in the second half, Krzyzewski, who had been calm throughout much of the Indiana run, screamed at his team.

"Every (expletive) possession they have scored," he yelled. "Grab the rebounds."

By then, the Hoosiers had erased the big lead and the crowd was clearly on their side. When Coverdale made two free throws with 1:55 left, Indiana had finally caught Duke.

After a Duke turnover, Coverdale made a tough shot in the lane to give Indiana its first lead at 72-70. Duke's Daniel Ewing then missed a 3-point shot, and Duke fouled Moye, a reserve who calmly stepped up to make the two shots.

That set off the final frantic moments, which ended with the Hoosiers dancing on the court and Williams holding his face as tears flowed from his eyes. After the game, someone asked Williams if he regretted his decision to stay since the dream of back-to-back titles was gone.

"I'm not going to talk about that," Williams said. He later went on to say how much he'd grown as a player and a person staying in school.

Across the way, a bunch of kids few nobody gave a chance Thursday night were growing into a team. Their coach had played his motivational card just right.

As Davis sat high on the podium after the game, the man who had replaced the legendary Bobby Knight had proved that he belonged on the Indiana sideline. In the process, his players proved they didn't deserve the slight made the day before.

On the board in the locker room, though, was a reminder in chalk written by Fife. It said: Beat Kent State/Pitt.

The Hoosiers will face Kent State on Saturday after the 10th-seeded Golden Flashes upset Pitt 78-73 late Thursday.

"We have a big one left to go to get to the Final Four," said Coverdale.

Don't count on them making any plane reservations to Atlanta just yet. They know what happens when a team starts looking ahead.