Furious Matchup of the Night: Jahlil Okafor vs. Przemek Karnowski

In Gonzaga's 74-62 victory over UCLA in the South Regional semifinal, the Bulldogs' best player was center Przemek Karnowski.

Karnowski scored a game-high 18 points on an efficient 8-of-11 shooting, adding nine rebounds, two very pretty assists, and two blocks.

On Sunday, Karnowski will face a test of a different kind.

Karnowski will be asked to slow Duke's offensive juggernaught Jahlil Okafor with a trip to the Final Four on the line.

While Gonzaga has earned a reputation as a scrappy team in the month of March, the Final Four is something that's eluded the program.

Karnowski's ability to defend Okafor could decide whether or not Gonzaga is able to get over the hump.

Okafor has put a lot of work into his game to become one of the most feared offensive weapons in college today. Back in the eighth grade, his game was far more one-dimensional.

"Face up, jab-step right, dribble left, and spin back right," Okafor told Sports Illustrated's Luke Winn. "I just kept doing that no matter what the situation was."

His game has, of course, come a long way since then, and the Blue Devils knew they were getting something special when he agreed to play his college ball in Durham.

"Jah was accomplished right away in the post," Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "We knew we had the best player in the country coming in ... and it was going to be fun coming up with a system where (feeding him) is the first option."

However, Karnowski will have something to work with, as he draws Okafor less than 48 hours after Utah put out a blueprint on how to slow Duke's star freshman.

Utah's two 7-footers Jakob Poeltl and Dallin Bachynski limited Okafor to six points - just the first time this season he's played more than 20 minutes and been held short of double figures in scoring.

Through his first four college tournament games (including ACC tournament games), Okafor averaged 21.3 points on 73.6 percent shooting. He's been dominant at the offensive end, calmly passing out of double-teams and taking advantage of space when it was given to him.

But facing the 7-foot behemoths Utah put on him, things were different. Okafor wasn't creating offense the way he normally does. The 63 points Duke scored were the fewest the team has scored since Jan. 19, and Okafor's four turnovers were the most he's accumulated since Feb. 18, when he played the second half of a game against rival North Carolina on a sprained ankle.

In a game that figures to feature plenty of points, the battle in the paint between the two centers will go a long way in deciding the outcome.