DALLAS — Jared McCain gave the question some serious thought, just as a serious inquiry from your student broadcast team should receive.

What's one song that would define the Duke basketball team's run to the Elite Eight? McCain, all of 20 years old, reached into his music knowledge to come up with Michael Jackson's "You Rock My World" as his answer.

Of all Jackson's hits, McCain stuck with one of the King of Pop's more recent hits, which is still three years older than McCain himself.

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"I just think it's a great song about rocking the world," McCain said, "and we're on top of the world right now."

It's easy for McCain and the Blue Devils to feel this way after the events of Friday night in American Airlines Center. Like Duke had to go against a physical Tennessee team without athletic big man Mark Mitchell, Houston was dealt a major blow when all-American point guard Jamal Shead left the game with a severe ankle sprain. Shead left with about 6:38 left in the first half, his Cougars up 16-10, and did not return.

Despite their leaders' absence, the Cougars continued to be an imposing group. McCain said he's never played in a more physical game in his life.

"That's what they do," McCain said. "They play physical and that's what they did."

The Blue Devils, whose toughness has been questioned ever since that loss to the Volunteers a year ago, showed they can be the aggressors themselves. Withstanding each drive and body blow Houston tried to deliver, Duke held on, emerged with the 54-51 triumph and celebrated with Tony Romo in the locker room.

Duke has been in a very unusual situation this season. The Blue Devils have mostly flown under the radar, not bad enough to warrant outrage like Kentucky and not quite good enough to generate "best in the country" chatter like Houston has.

That's registered with the Blue Devils this year. It's not so much disrespect as perceived doubt. Being an elite program like Duke usually means getting talked about one way or the other. For much of the year, especially after their early ACC Tournament exit, the Blue Devils were sort of just there.

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"We've been playing like underdogs this whole time," McCain said, "and that's what we had to have played like to get where we're at. Some people can keep counting us out, and nobody talks about us that much, especially for the national championship, so we'll keep taking it game by game, one championship at a time."

McCain's first NCAA Tournament has been nothing but positive for the freshman. Moving one game closer to a Final Four, Duke's second in the past three years, and getting to face the very team that sent the Blue Devils home in the conference tournament for that spot, is something the sophomore guard is grateful for.

"They're on a crazy run right now," McCain said of NC State, Duke's Elite Eight opponent on Sunday, "so we've got to throw the first punch and continue to play our defense."

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Duke basketball 'playing like underdogs' in latest March Madness run