MINNEAPOLIS— Individually, they struggled.

Shots fell short. Defensive assignments didn’t get picked up. The trademark killer instinct disappeared against an opponent with just as much fight as they had.

But Duke basketball is about so much more than its individual players. Whenever the team needed a boost, every time Arizona threatened the lead, they took turns responding.

Mike Dunleavy scored nine points in a row to open up a second-half lead. Shane Battier hit for six straight points to hold off a late charge. And Jason Williams, after committing a costly turnover, drained a 3-pointer for the shot of the game.

The sum of those parts added up to an 82-72 victory over Arizona on Monday night for the NCAAchampionship.

Mike Krzyzewski’s Duke team (35-4) earned its third national title in front of 45,994 fans, the largest crowd to see a college basketball game this season. In winning at the Metrodome, the Blue Devils repeated their championship trek of 1992, when they advanced from Greensboro to Philadelphia to the Twin Cities for the school’s second title.

“They’re a ‘bad’ team,”Wildcat Eugene Edgerson said, meaning, of course, that Duke is a good team. “If you look at them on TV, it’s kind of deceiving. Battier is a little quicker in person, Williams is stronger than what he looks. Nate James did a reverse layup which I would have never thought he could have made.

“That’s just a sign of a good basketball team and good players.”

“It was truly a team effort, and I love the fact that these kids won,”said Krzyzewski, who joined the elite company of John Wooden, Adolph Rupp and Bobby Knight as the only coaches to win more than two NCAA championships. “I’m so happy for our team. They certainly are deserving of a national championship.”

Arizona (28-8) led early and stayed within striking distance the entire game despite three Duke surges.

Dunleavy, a sophomore shooting 32 percent from the 3-point line in the NCAATournament, gave the Blue Devils a comfortable lead early in the second half when he bombed three straight shots from long range.

The Wildcats, wary of Duke’s outside shooting, had forced the Blue Devils into a 4-for-17 performance from the arc before Dunleavy got hot.

“He was the only person that shot the ball well from the 3-point line,” Arizona’s Richard Jefferson said. “I through we did a good job defending the 3 overall. We just couldn’t get to him a couple of times.”

Dunleavy’s barrage staked Duke to a 49-39 lead, but Jefferson brought the Wildcats racing back. He hit two of his four 3-pointers in the next five minutes to trim the margin to 54-51 with 11:23 remaining.

“When we went up 10 and we had a great cushion, it kind of felt like we put the dagger in,”Duke freshman guard Chris Duhon said. “But those guys didn’t quit and next thing you know, we’re only up three.”

The Blue Devils’ second run, sparked by Carlos Boozer in the low post and James’ nifty reverse layup for a three-point play, pushed the margin back to 68-59 at the seven-minute mark. But Jefferson knocked down another 3-pointer and again, the lead was three points.

Battier, the senior who had won everything but a national title, then took it upon himself to sink the Wildcats. He scored six straight Duke points on a putback slam, a tip-in with his back to the basket and a one-handed tomahawk jam that put Duke up 75-70 with 3:33 standing between him and the elusive title.

“He did what an All-American is supposed to do,”Arizona center Loren Woods said. “We were slowing him down in the beginning of the game, but you can only hold a player of that caliber down as long as you can before they just explode.”

Battier’s run didn’t seal the Wildcats’ fate, though, because after an Arizona miss, Williams turned the ball over and Jefferson drained a jumper.

That’s when Krzyzewski offered his point guard a shot at redemption.

“I looked over and he called the play for me. He insisted on it,”said Williams, who rolled off a Battier pick at the top of the key and nailed a 3-pointer with 1:44 to go, making it 80-72. “It’s a point guard’s dream to play with a guy who believes in you every second. For him to call my play after I just turned the ball over, it was the best feeling.”

Williams and Duhon split a pair of free throws in the final minute and the Wildcats missed their final four shots to set off Duke’s wild celebration.

It was a moment that seemed awfully far away in the early going, as Arizona started the game on fire. The Wildcats drained six of their first eight shots and had the Duke offense out of sorts.

“When we started the game I turned to Johnny Dawkins, my assistant, and said, ‘I knew they were good, but they’re better. We have to play a very courageous game tonight to beat them,’ ”Krzyzewski said.

Woods, the 7-foot-1 center, dominated in the low post and finished the first half with 13 points. He ended the night with 22 as Duke’s defense tried to limit his touches in the second half.

“We were trying to get the ball inside more,”Arizona head coach Lute Olson said. “They just seemed like they were physically stronger and able to move us off the block. We had a hard time getting it where we wanted it.”

Arizona also couldn’t capitalize on Williams’ foul trouble. The Duke point guard picked up his second foul as he bumped Jason Gardner bringing the ball up the court well above the 3-point line. He headed for the bench with 15:21 remaining in the first half.

Williams returned with 10 minutes to go, and while he nearly picked up a foul in a half-court loose ball collision, nothing was called and he went into the locker room still with two and his team leading 33-31.

“We were fortunate to be up by a couple with Jason’s foul trouble,”Krzyzewski said. “I thought Chris Duhon, for an 18-year-old leading our team, handling the ball was sensational.”

The freshman had no choice in the matter. He had to do his part in the team effort.

“It feels so great, how hard we’ve worked since the preseason, getting on each other’s nerves,”Duhon said. “To finally come together — we did this together.”

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NOTES: Boozer finished with 12 points, but did most of his damage pushing Woods off the low blocks. … Woods’ four blocked shots set a title game record. He had 24 for the NCAATournament, which broke David Robinson’s old record of 23. … Duke’s 60 3-pointers in a tourney tied the 1994 Arkansas team for most long-range bombs in a tournament. … Williams, who finished with 16 points, set the Duke single-season scoring mark with 841 points, surpassing Dick Groat’s point total in the 1950-51 season.