Welcome to the eleventh edition of the Duke basketball Playbook.
After watching only two exhibition games, it is difficult to make any definitive assessments about this year’s team, except that there is n0 Zion Williamson. But that has been true every year, because he is a once-in-a-lifetime player. However, there is more depth of talented players than recently, just not an obvious top lottery pick—the kind of game changing talent to which we have become accustomed. That doesn’t mean one or two won’t develop into that kind of player. The question is: whom will that be and, more to the point, other than Tre Jones and, possibly, Vernon Carey and Mathew Hurt, whose practice and play will deserve floor time?
Let’s hear what’s on Coach K’s mind: “Well, Zion and RJ are not here. It’s a different approach every year. This group is going to be a unit, not a starting five. Everyone’s gotta be ready to play. I’d call it old school. Like older Duke teams, from years past. Not the (Christian) Laettner, (Bobby) Hurley, or (Shane) Battier, or those guys, but a team that plays really good defense. Our kids want to do that.” [Translation: This will be a coach centric, not player centric, team.]
If history is any guide, unless you can shoot like JJ Redick, defense will be the key to minutes played. We know that Coach K loves point guards and Jordan Goldwire, a demon on defense but who has, shall we say, limited shooting range, has been starting with Tre Jones. That may be an early message to the more highly touted freshmen, because it is hard for me (but not Alan) to imagine he and Tre (who appears not to have improved his three point shot over the summer) playing a lot of minutes together– except if a Louisville-like comeback is needed. We know what Javin DeLaurier (if he stays out of foul trouble) and Jack White (if he found his jump shot in Australia this summer) can do. They are experienced co-captains and will get PT. Wendell Moore, Cassius Stanley (who broke Zion’s vertical leap record but is 100 lbs. lighter) are intriguing players as are the enigmatic but talented Alex O’ Connell and Joey (almost redshirted) Baker, who had a JJ like three point explosion (6-9), 22 points in 21 minutes against Ft. Valley State. It will be interesting to see if he can do that against Kansas in the Garden this Tuesday. As Johnny Tar Heel told me Friday at lunch: “O’Connell, Jack White, and seldom used graduate student Justin Robinson are the only other players who have demonstrated they can throw it in the water from a boat in the middle of the ocean.”
After these exhibitions games, I agree with Buzz Mewhort’s comment that free throw shooting and three point shooting may again be the Achilles Heel of this team– but with no Zion or RJ to bail them out. [Note: This year, the three-point line in college basketball moved from 20’ 9” inches from the center of the basket to the international basketball distance of 22’ 1 ¾”. Fortunately, the free throw line remains unchanged.]
Bottom Line: It’s a long season with more unknowns than knowns. These are teenagers blessed with exceptional physical and athletic skills and but burdened by often unrealistic expectations not only by themselves, but also by their parents, friends, neighbors, and classmates. Their success and failures are broadcast on television twice a week, sometimes more, for all to see and celebrate or critique on social media. Millions of dollars of NBA and shoe money are on the line. And, oh yes, there are classes, homework, term papers, and tests. Then, there is teammate and parental jealousies, girlfriend issues, and being away from the comfort of home. This is a lot of pressure for anyone much less a teenager, no matter how talented, to shoulder.
Stuff happens: Last year’s preseason #1Duke team played it’s best game of the year in the first game of the season destroying #2Kentucky 118-84. They looked hands down like the best team in college basketball. Then, Zion got hurt, RJ wore down, and, for mysterious reasons, Cam Reddish never again was consistently as good as advertised. They won the ACC Tournament beating UNC in the semi’s. At full strength, the last two NCAA Tournament games of the year against Central Florida and Michigan State, were among their worst. In 1991, UNC beat Duke 96-74 for the ACC Championship but three weeks later defeated unbeaten UNLV then Kansas to win the NCAA National Championship. Try to explain these oxymoronic outcomes. They are just some of the fascinating mysteries that makes sports so compelling to follow.
Alan Adds:
Why am I smiling as I excitedly start to write about the upcoming season? I admit I am totally psyched for the coming Duke basketball year. My heresy: “this year’s team will be better than last year’s.” Really? No team has ever had three of the previous year’s starters as lottery picks. How could this team be better?
Last Year
In spite of having Zion and RJ, Duke played a desultory end game in February and March last year. Remember, after the heroic comeback against Louisville on February 13, Duke lost by 16 to UNC on February 21; to Virginia Tech by 5 on February 27; to UNC again by 9 in the season finale in March. In the penultimate regular season game, Duke held off a terrible Wake team by a point on senior night in Cameron, after giving Wake a chance to actually win with 7 seconds left. Winning the ACC tournament was a feat, but may have obscured obvious weaknesses. Duke beat UNC in the semi-finals by a point before defeating Florida State for the title. Florida State had beaten UVA in the semi-finals, which might have dulled their fires for the final. In any event, the Blue Devils were far from impressive in the Big Dance: unimpressive in beating North Dakota State, almost lost to Central Florida (when Dawkins missed the open put back), winning by 1; beat Virginia Tech by 2 after Tre missed the front end of a 1 and 1, which gave the Hokies a wide open bunny at the basket to tie the game; and, finally the loss to Michigan State. Duke’s problem last year is easy to identify. In the modern game, Duke shot thirty percent from deep; last in the ACC by a wide margin and 317 out of 371 Division I teams. Duke also shot under 70% from the free throw line 13th in the 15 team ACC. Those two statistics were Duke’s Achilles heel last year.
My Optimism for This Year
We have seen one half of basketball in an intra-squad scrimmage; and two exhibition games against teams that had no real inside presence (or at least nothing comparable to ACC and National class competition). We have seen 11 players with enough talent to make the rotation and enough inconsistent play to make predicting the starting lineup and rotation next to impossible. Readers know that I love defense and believe it is the key to championships. Duke has many high level defenders who could be part of an extraordinary defense. The best news is that the headlines from coaches and players coming out of practice are all about defense. Here’s my analysis of the pieces of the puzzle that are Coach K’s to use:
The Bigs
There are five: Justin Robinson (6’9” 5th year senior), Javin DeLaurier (6’10” senior), Jack White (6’7” senior) as well as two highly regarded freshmen, Vernon Carey (6’10) and Mathew Hurt (6’9”).
Vernon Carey – rated 6th overall last year and 3rd rated center. He’s down to 250 lbs. from 270 for speed and mobility. In the Blue-White scrimmage, he was the best player on the floor, posting up DeLaurier, scoring inside and out. Coach K said he played mostly on the perimeter in high school, and is just learning to score on the interior. He’s coordinated and a shot blocker. Then, in the first exhibition game, he simply laid a shocking egg, committing 3 offensive fouls in the very early going and only seeing 9 minutes of playing time. In the final exhibition game against a dramatically inferior and smaller team, he started and played very well. I believe he will be a stud by the time Duke is deep in the ACC season.
Mathew Hurt –is rail thin at 215 pounds, but can do everything on a basketball court. He is a scorer and smart player. He can shoot from the outside, has nifty post moves, can pass, dribble, drive, rebound and defend. More than any other player, I want to see how he handles playing against a Nationally ranked team like Kansas, with its powerful front line. The jury is out, but I very much like what I have seen so far.
Jack White – is so valuable. However, his shot deserted him in the second half of last year, which really hurt Duke. He had, by all reports, an excellent summer with the Australian National Junior team. He is best as a rebounder; he is a versatile defender, with no real weaknesses (if his shot goes in this year)
Javin DeLaurier – seems to have acquired the maturity he needs to stop fouling and stay on the floor as the team’s best defender among the Bigs. He will play many crucial minutes. He is not a scorer, but a valued contributor.
Justin Robinson – All laud his value in the locker room as a team builder. I (maybe alone) have seen enough to think there may be a time this year when he is in the rotation. I was impressed that when he guarded Tre Jones on the perimeter in the Blue-White scrimmage when he blocked two of Tre’s shots. He can shoot from the perimeter and is a good rebounder.
Wings and Off Guards
It is very possible that Matt Hurt will play as the small forward with two of the more traditional Bigs up front. The others who will compete for playing time in those positions are Alex O’Connell (6’6”), Joey Baker (6’7”) as well as freshmen Wendell Moore (6’6”) and Cassius Stanley (6’6”).
Joey Baker – had played himself well out of the rotation in the intra-squad scrimmage and the first exhibition game. He looked lost at both ends of the floor. I had him least likely to play until the last exhibition game, when he demonstrated that his reputation as a long range shooter wasn’t an alternative fact. His shot lit up the Duke offense as he led Duke’s scoring. He will get a chance is my prediction. There will be a lot of pressure on his first shot. He clearly has the potential to shoot himself into the rotation.
Alex O’Connell – has shown flashes of skill and talent, but suffers from being inconsistent and sometimes not intense on the defensive end. He has matured and will see time on the floor. As with most, how he takes advantages of his opportunities will dictate his playing time. He has demonstrated hops and driving ability. He can be a bit sloppy with the ball, but has played very well in spots. If he overcomes his inconsistency, he will be a valuable contributor.
Wendell Moore – might be the most athletic player on this squad. He’s been a ball hawk and intense one on one defender on the defensive end. He has played some backup point guard. He is not shy; will shoot from anywhere. He is a ferocious driver, but can be over exuberant. He has perfected the behind the back pass to the press in the front row. A warrior on defense and a work in progress on offense.
Cassius Stanley – the lowest rated of Duke’s freshmen coming out of high school (a 4 star recruit), he has been (to me) the surprise of Duke’s pre-season. I love this freshman and believe that in spite of being the lowest rated, he may turn out to be the most valuable. He’s smooth. He has never seemed rattled to me and has not displayed a freshman like inconsistency. He’s quick (and since he broke Zion vertical leap Duke record), it is clear he has remarkable hops. I have liked his passing, ball handling and defense. He has a terrific handle, makes his free throws and has a high shooting percentage. I will go out on the limb and predict that if he doesn’t start (I think he will), he will be first off the bench. I like my limb.
The ballhandling guards
Tre Jones and his backup (maybe) Jordan Goldwire. When they play together, they make a formidable defensive duo. They have acquired the nicknames: Thing One and Thing Two, for their ferocious pressing defense.
Jordan Goldwire — we saw last season – especially against Louisville and UNC in the ACC tournament – he is a superior defender who can steal the ball, execute the trap, and has amazing intensity. His three point shooting has been woeful, but he has shown an ability to get to the rim with the ball – even against Tre in the scrimmage. I believe he will log major minutes this year.
Tre Jones — as Tre goes, so will Duke go. He has had a slow start. He was outplayed in the scrimmage and has not shot well from the perimeter. Of course, his defense is the best, he handles the ball with aplomb and skill, and has increased his scoring on drives and a pull up mid-range game. Whether he can turn into the player his brother was will depend on his long range shot and his ability to hit free throws at the end of games. He is the player that Duke will rely upon more than any other.
Musing About the Season
Coach K’s starting lineup in the last exhibition game is my bet on who will start against Kansas. Thing One and Two will start in the backcourt with three freshmen up front – Stanley on the wing; Hurt and Carey up front. I think (and fervently hope) that this will be a pressing team that substitutes freely to keep the defensive pressure on. Coach K will do much experimenting before we know who is starting and what the various roles are by February and March (and hopefully April).
In the last years (since the 2015 championship), Duke has been better in November and December than at seasons’ end. I predict that will change this year. I think Duke will have trouble in the early going and jell at the best possible time.
That’s why I’m smiling.
Tuesday November 5 at Madison Square Garden: Duke v Kansas. Game on.
Duke 68 – Kansas 66
A year ago in this nationally televised season opening Champions Classic, Duke’s precocious freshmen played like they belonged in the NBA. Tonight, this new class of freshmen sometimes played like they were suffering from stage fright but the upper classmen led the way with retro Krzyzewski basketball– tough, aggressive defense that trumped (a bridge, not a political, term) sloppy, inconsistent offense. I don’t know if the Blue Devil defense is this good or Kansas big players have hands of stone but the Jayhawks committed 18 first half turnovers and 28 overall. For sure, the defense appears much better than that of the last few years when defense was a seven letter word that seemed like an afterthought and led to (gasp) Duke Playing Zone. While the savvy point guard from appropriately enough Apple Valley (15 pts, 6 assists, 3 steals) led the Blue Devils to this win in the Big Apple, it was the tough Australian senior and co-captain Jack White, who was the enforcer at closing time. Although he hit an important three, it was his shrewd defensive manuevers with 2 steals, a block, and an offensive rebound in the final minute and a half that clinched the win.
All the freshmen settled down and had their moments: Vernon Carey held his own against older, bigger players; Matthew Hurt, hit some big threes but was not a strong presence inside; and Wendell Moore demonstrated unusual versatility and athleticism but was often out of control. However, it was Cassius Stanley, the only Duke freshman who did not to make the McDonald’s All-America team, who stepped into the spotlight in the second half going 5-6, including 2 dunks and a three for 13 points to spark the second half resurgence. In addition, Alex O’Connell contributed both offensively AND defensively. Of the top ten players, only Joey Baker, coming off a sensational shooting performance, did not receive any playing time.
Other Comments:
Both teams struggled from the foul line with Kansas going 16 for 26 and Duke 14 for 23. Only Ty Jones’ 5-5 at the end made Duke’s semi-respectable.
The win ended a three-game Duke losing streak to Kansas and extends Duke’s all-time record in the rivalry to 8-5. It also ran Duke’s record to 6-3 in the Champions Classic.
At games in Madison Square Garden, Duke is now 36-18 all-time and now 70—27 when playing in the greater New York City area. Under Coach Krzyzewski, they are now 31-11 at MSG and 33-18 in games between top-five teams.
Alan Adds:
As the announcers make unnecessarily clear, this year’s Duke basketball team will be a work in progress for most of this year. As Bill emphasized, Duke’s defense, which has been distressingly un-Coach K like in the past several years, looked exceedingly formidable. The Devils doubled the post frequently and effectively (except for one stretch in the second half). It was coordinated team defense, led, of course, by Tre’s on the ball defense. But Tre had plenty of help from his energetic teammates, who pressed and switched, giving Kansas fits and creating the raft of Jayhawk turnovers.
The game began to answer the intriguing questions about this team. Who will earn minutes, start the games, be on the court at crunch time are all open questions. I thought last night’s game against Kansas, especially the second half, began to illuminate some answers. The second half was winning time (obviously), but also where Duke faced its first real adversity of the season (down 9 as Kansas ran off 13 in a row). How Duke responded to that, fought tooth and nail for the entire half, and prevailed at the end with Tre Jones doing his best Tyus Jones imitation. With Duke leading 62-61 and 1:34 left in the game, Tre scored Duke’s last 6 points with a tough mid-range jumper followed by 4 clutch free throws to clinch it. Duke also established a Big 3. Tre played all 20 minutes (39 for the game), while Vernon Carey was on the floor for 17 minutes and Cassius Stanley for 16. Both Stanley and Carey played exceedingly well and got timely help from Jack White (11 minutes of scintillating play after a sub-par first half) and Alex O’Connell (whose 12 minute second half contributions were on the floor and defense – a very good sign) and Matt Hurt. Hurt made 2 huge 3 point shots in his 10 minutes on the floor, but had trouble competing on the interior (a single rebound). Alex scored 9 in the game; 7 in the first half. Wendell Moore (6 minutes, a rebound, a foul and 2 turnovers), Jordan Goldwire (5 minutes; 0-1), and Javin (who managed to commit 2 fouls and miss his only field goal attempt and both free throws in just 3 minutes) contributed little in the final stanza. Javin continued his foul prone defense committing 4 in only 12 minutes.
Cassius Stanley’s second half deserves special attention. As I predicted in the pre-season edition of the DBP, in addition to his excellent defense Stanley was the Devil’s offensive stud in the second half. One play stood out for me. Stanley was after a loose ball heading out of bounds off Duke. He grabbed it on the sideline and staggered for balance. He maintained that balance enough to throw an accurate pass, giving Duke an extra possession. Incredible athletic skill. His second half was awesome (11 points on 4-4 shooting; 1-1 from deep; and 2-3 from the foul line). He was Duke’s anchor facing that 9 point deficit. With 14:35 left in the half, the Jayhawks had forged a 46-37 lead. Carey and Hurt made back to back 3s (both on assists from Tre) to trim the lead to 3. Cassius then scored 8 straight points – the first two on dunks (great passes from Tre on each) followed by 1-2 from the line and a 3 pointer. Duke was back in the fray fighting toward the end. With Duke trailing by a deuce with under 3 minutes to play, Stanley scored from the field on a tough shot and completed the 3 point play to give Duke the 62-61 lead that set the stage for Tre’s heroics. Carey was the glue to Duke’s interior game. He helped Duke answer another big question: does this team have the inside presence to compete with national class front lines.
The answer was a qualified yes, with the emphasis coming from Carey. It was almost as if it took him a half to understand how big and powerful the Kansas front was. Then Carey’s athleticism (2-2 on 3 point attempts) took over and he led Duke on the interior both on defense and offense. His development will be a huge factor in how this season turns out. Jack White was superb in the second half and Matt Hurt played well and will get better. Let’s hope this was just an aberration for Javin.
It was a wonderful start to a season of questions.
Next game: Colorado State on Friday (11-8).
Duke 89 – Colorado State 55
After one very difficult game in a very difficult venue and one not so difficult game in a very friendly venue, Coach K stayed true to his word prior to the season that due to the team’s “balance” the Blue Devils would not have a go-to starting five. [Translation: There is no Zion Williamson, RJ Barrett, Marvin Bagley III, Wendell Carter or Jayson Tatum like there were during the last three seasons However, we have depth and talent, so I am going have to be a real coach again.] Consequently, Krzyzewski will shift different players and/or groups of players in and out until he finds what works against a particular team on particular night. Krzyzewski’ somewhat puzzling analogy: “It’s like a musical. When you have a few guys that are NBA ready, they sing most of the songs and have all the dances. With this group, is more like an ensemble. It’s, okay, knock our socks off with how you’re doing it. That’s why I said it’s more of an old-school, retro[team]. It’s built on defense.”
A case in point: In both games, defense kept the Blue Devils in the game until some one or two players developed an offensive rhythm and demanded the spotlight. Against Kansas it was Cassius Stanley, supported by Tre Jones, and Jack White. Tonight, it was a late first half surge by starters Jones, O’Connell, & Stanley teamed with non-starters DeLaurier & White in place of Carey & Hurt. Suddenly, the lead doubled to 12 points. By the time the half was over, Duke had scored the game’s last 10 points to lead by 16. The Blue Devils forced 8 Colorado State turnovers over the first nine minutes of the second half. Think about that. A lead that was six points with 2:18 left until halftime was now 24 just 3:21 into the second half. In less than six minutes of actual play, Duke quadrupled its lead. That is a classic Duke Run to which Blue Devils fans have become accustomed from their best teams. “That group at the end of the half really played the best eight minutes of the game– the last four minutes of the first half and first four minutes of the second half,” Krzyzewski said. “Jack, Javin, Alex, Cassius, and Tre just found a rhythm defensively and offensively and boom we had it.”
This wasn’t a particularly good night for Carey and Hurt. The 6-10, 260-pound inscrutable Carey scored 11 points on 5-for-5 shooting but fouled out in just 15 minutes of play. Afterwards, he was very analytical: “I have to adjust to the calls, really, and the playing style, because, for instance, this game was completely different from the last game where we played Kansas just physical wise and call wise. I have to learn to adjust to that.” Hurt had 9 and 5 rebounds in 22 minutes. White and DeLaurier only combined for 7 points, but their play meshed well with Jones, O’Connell and Stanley.
The bottom line is that chemistry and defense usually win close games. Take another look at the picture above. Did you notice Jack White lying unconscious in the paint? He and roommate Javin DeLaurier crashed into each other lunging for a loose ball. Jack got the worst of it, but Javin recovered to contest the shot along with Alex O’Connell (aka. AOC). That, folks, is tough defense.
Other Comments:
- Despite a team of McDonald All-Americans, three point shooting and free throws (60%) again appear to continue to be a frustrating weakness with the Duke Blue Devils. Duke was 4-for-22 from long range against Colorado State. O’Connell made three of them. The rest of the team was 1-for-16.
- Coach Mike Krzyzewski announced Thursday that fifth-year senior Justin Robinson has been named a captain for the 2019-20 season. Robinson, a graduate student at Duke University, is in his fifth year on the Duke men’s basketball team. He will join sophomore captain Tre Jones and senior captains Jack White and Javin DeLaurier on the Blue Devils’ newly-created Leadership Council. Robinson, whose NBA All Pro father David rarely misses a game, is from San Antonio, Texas, holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology and is pursuing his master’s degree in management students in Duke’s Fuqua School of Business.
- Highly touted Carolina freshman Cole Anthony (UNLV’s Greg Anthony’s son) has had an impressive two games, scoring in the 30’s. However, he took 40 percent of UNC’s shots against Notre Dame and 33 percent against ECU. When I pointed this out to Johnny Tar Heel, he said that is because nobody else on the team can shoot. However, Roy’s Boys have had a number of injuries and are short- handed.
Alan Adds:
The Defense
Before the Kansas game fades from memory, just how remarkable the Duke defense was in that game should be examined. This was the first game of the season and Duke was a very different group from last year. I went back to look at portions of the Kansas game. The sophistication and cohesion of the Duke defense would have been remarkable at season’s end for a veteran team, like Virginia. Duke negated Kansas’s inside advantage by doubling the post on almost every post possession. Yet the post player could not find an open man … because there wasn’t one. Duke’s switching and anticipation was almost magical. I found myself a bit disappointed by the defense in this game. There were missed assignments and Colorado State did get a bunch of open looks. Duke played really hard, but there was a Kansas like intensity that was missing by a small notch or two.
But wait a minute. Duke held the Rams to 26 first half points, and 32% shooting for the game, while forcing 18 turnovers (12 steals). Moreover, the defense allowed only 2 offensive rebounds. The reality of the rout is the defense simply gutted Colorado State, both physically and spiritually. The Rams had to work so hard just to avoid steals on every possession. After the early run in the second half, Colorado State was emotionally done. The defense did all that; so, maybe I overreacted.
The Rotation
There is growing clarity to Coach K’s rotation. Alex O’Connell has emerged and has played his way into starting. He has been the most improved veteran. It seems the coach has settled on a starting perimeter of Tre, Cassius, and Alex. They all excelled last night. Cassius has been a highlight; and Tre has been all we hoped for (except from deep). Wendell Moore will be first off the bench on the perimeter. He is so athletic and exuberant on the court that he will get minutes. He can turn the ball over from anywhere, but he can also dazzle. I believe Coach K will be patient with him and he will blossom before February. Jordan Goldwire will spell Tre when there is that luxury, and come in for defense in pressing situations. The interior is more muddled.
Coach K mentioned many players in his press conference, but not Matt Hurt or Vernon Carey. The co-captains earned praise for their amazing performance in the 8 minutes that Bill described so well. But Duke needs Vernon Carey. He may have fouled out in his 15 minutes, but take a look at his stat line for those 15 minutes. He scored 11 on an efficient 5-5 from the floor and 1-1 from the line. He grabbed 3 boards, blocked 2 shots and had a steal. He wasn’t mentioned because he turned it over 3 times while committing 5 fouls. Coach K has many ways of motivating his freshmen. White (especially if his shot ever returns) and Javin have great value, but for Duke to be a force at tournament time, the freshmen – especially Carey – have to mature and develop.
The Offense
While the offense overwhelmed an inferior team – gutted by early second half – the offense is developing. But it seems like de ja vu all over again with the abysmal 3 point shooting and the sub-par foul shooting. Last year we kept saying that the players were too talented to keep shooting so badly. It should be fixable, but if it is not fixed it will be fatal to championship dreams.
An interesting insight
Coach K explained why he elevated David Robinson to captain. He said that with Team USA, there was a “leadership council” of a few players. “It doesn’t matter whether you call it leadership council or co-captains. It gives a chance for analysis, planning and chemistry.” They meet every Monday. Another example of Coach K’s genius.
Central Arkansas on Tuesday (7:00 ACC Network) and Georgia State on Friday.
DUKE 105 – CENTRAL ARKANSAS 54
Since this was such a lopsided game, we will summarize this and Friday’s Georgia State game on the weekend.
Of note: After a first half head to head collision, Tre Jones is apparently OK and, shockingly, #1 Kentucky lost at home to Evansville 67-64. (It’s still very early in the season.)
DUKE 74 – GEORGIA STATE 63
Attention to detail is one of the reasons Coach K is who he is. For instance, he schedules teams like Central Arkansas and Georgia State, etc. for a reason. It is because there are a lot of talented basketball players who are not quite big enough or who, for some other reason, never were on the recruiting radar of the big programs (Stephen & Seth Curry) but who play at smaller schools like Evansville, Wofford, Belmont, Lehigh, Davidson, and UMBC– small, quick talented teams who, with the benefit of the three point line, play a different style of basketball (sort of a college version of the Golden State Warriors) and on any given night can and have beaten the best teams in the country. Just ask Kentucky, Duke, North Carolina, and Virginia. These are the kind of teams a high seed often play the first rounds of the NCAA Tournament and they benefit from the experience of defending a team much different than the typical ACC opponent.
The two games this week demonstrated the logic of this approach. The game against Central Arkansas was a no-problem blowout; the first half against Georgia State was anything but. The Blue Devils were fortunate to be up by two at the half as G State hit 50% of their threes, forced as many turnovers as Duke, had as many steals, and only Tre Jones and Vernon Carey seemed to be able to put points on the board. Fortunately, in the second half Joey Baker’s two consecutive threes sparked a patented Duke run that more or less put the game away.
Ever since Coach K has been successfully recruiting one-and-done players, I have been surprised by what relatively mediocre defenders, free throw and three point shooters many of these uber rated players generally have been. Perhaps, it is because until this level, they had been so much better than their competition, they could just out score opponents with sheer athleticism—or, perhaps, they had an eye on their NBA draft status. Whatever the reason, this year’s Duke class appears different, because defense is their calling card—and it is a good thing, because, as Friday’s game demonstrated, right now collectively they appear offensively underwhelming—especially for a top rated team with a target on their back. When Tre Jones is scoring half your points and has the only threes of the half, and, for the entire game, the team only shoots 34% from the floor, 59% from the charity strip, and 25% from three–Holy JJ Redick, Batman, this team better be able to play defense! My take is that only Jones and Carey are irreplaceable starters and until any of the other eight candidates develop more confidence and consistency, the other three spots will be musical chairs. For a Duke fan, the frustrating aspect of all this is that what used to be a four year development process has, in many cases, been compressed into one year.
An early season assessment:
Tre Jones– A sheer joy to watch. The consummate point guard. A wonderful teammate. Sets the tone at both ends of the floor. Not to worry: Anyone who hits nearly 80% of their free throws has the skill set to hit threes.
Vernon Carey – As large and strong as an NFL lineman but athletic and an unusually soft touch for a big man. Mature and analytical. Needs to get more comfortable in the post (missed two point blank dunks last night) and not always go left. Has to be on the floor for thirty minutes or more in big games.
Cassius Stanley – Least highly rated of this year’s class but, perhaps, has the most upside. His 45” vertical leap broke Zion’s Duke record but is about 100 pounds lighter and a much different player. By far best frosh defender. Has multiple game changing skills. Doesn’t seem to quite understand how good he can be but stay tuned.
Matthew Hurt – Terrific touch and range for someone 6’ 9” but lacks strength. When that comes, he will have Laettner-like abilities to stretch the floor and impact the game.
Jack White – Aussie Tough but last year lost his shooting touch somewhere in the Outback. Nevertheless, look for this senior to be in at the end of close games. If his shot ever comes off vacation, he will start, because Coach K loves his physicality and toughness and ability to defend 1-5.
Javin DeLaurier – Tough defender in the paint and in the open floor but has difficulty staying on the floor and not fouling out. Really blossomed at the end of last year but has not attained that same consistency this year. I’m betting the senior co-captain will be a valuable contributor.
Alex O’Connell– The junior has improved his defense and could well start if he can hit open shots and maintain his focus. He and Stanley are the most explosive players on the team.
Joey Baker – Joey may be the wild card of the group. He appeared to fall out of favor early but may have shot himself back into favor Friday with his two timely threes and intense defense. For sure, this team will see a lot of zone defenses and Joey may be the best available antidote to that.
Wendell Moore – Those who evaluate Blue Chip talent love his size and athleticism and aggressiveness. Except for flashes, he has been a bull in the china shop and until he relaxes and lets the game come to him, it is tough to see Coach K risk using him in close games.
Jordan Goldwire– Solid sub for Jones. Coach K loves him. A lot to admire, except his shot. Cannot see he and Jack White on the floor at the same time as Jack is a more physical and versatile defender and rebounder.
Having proffered all the above, the reality is that right now Duke is undefeated, Kentucky & Kansas have one loss each and, for whatever it means, next week the Blue Devils will probably be ranked the number one team in the country. However, we will have a much better take on this team late December 3rd, after Duke plays pre-season #1 Michigan State in East Lansing. Whatever that outcome, Duke fans can anticipate another exciting season with high expectations but with the knowledge that it is a long, tough journey to another national championship. However, buckle your seat belt, the Blue Devils have a very deep, talented team, and a coach much like the legendary Alabama football Coach Bear Bryant of whom it was said: ” He can take his’n and beat your’n, and then he can turn around and take your’n and beat his’n.”
Alan Adds:
Duke maybe atop the polls at the moment, but do not be fooled. Right now this is a team of potential, that may or may not jell into a National contender, but certainly not a team that has “arrived” and deserves to be considered as momentarily the best in the nation. The ascendancy was fueled by: 1) Duke’s feisty performance and sophisticated defense displayed in the win over highly ranked Kansas; 2) the defensive full court pressure that produced turnovers at a jaw dropping rate against non-competitive Colorado State and the first on campus game of the tournament versus Central Arkansas. Georgia State was a reality check and evidence that this team has a long way to travel toward the goal of National contender. The first half of the Central Arkansas game illuminated the defensive potential (amazing) of this team. Georgia State illuminated the strength of what Coach K calls “human nature”, as well as the nature of competition itself, and the danger of a team beginning to believe the press clippings about its prowess.
Central Arkansas first half: Duke 57 v CA 20
Duke unleashed a press of almost unmatched fury and played scintillating and suffocating defense. Central Arkansas made only 5 field goals while committing 15 turnovers. With 1:07 left in the half, Duke led by 41 (57-16). CA scored the last 4 points in a minute to get to 20 at the half. It was a tour de force (except for the 12 first half fouls committed by Duke). The offense thrived off of the defensive pressure shooting 60% from the field; 50% from 3land; and 5-6 from the stripe.
I know my attitude was bad. I invited my daughter to watch the game with me and told her “it won’t be a competitive game.” I suspect that deep down, the Duke players believed that as well. It made for (hopefully) a needed lesson for growth and allowed Coach K to explain to the press that no team “is supposed to win”.
Coach K’s Wisdom
“Nobody is supposed to win or supposed to lose, you’re not ordained to win or lose, that’s why it’s called competition. People who compete and work hard turn out to be winners, and those who don’t turn out to be the team that the winners beat. That’s just the way it is and that’s what makes competition so good. In our sport, our sport is more prone to upset than any because there are just five people out there, so there’s age, athleticism, maturity, all those things, depth and a lot of things where people can make up differences. That’s why there are a lot of so-called upsets in our sport. A lot of people can win and you have to be ready to play all those people.”
Coach K’s point was Duke was not ready to compete against Georgia State. “They didn’t approach [today] with the intensity they needed to. I’m not saying they weren’t ready; they weren’t ready at the level they needed to play Georgia State. …In the past couple of games coaches have come in here and said how hard Duke plays, and those are great compliments. That’s our calling card. If you show up and don’t play hard that gives a lot of confidence to the other team – “Oh, they’re not who we thought they were”. So, if we don’t come out and match or exceed that effort, we’re giving our opponent momentum right from the start. I thought that was evident right away tonight because we weren’t strong with the ball. Not that Georgia State wasn’t confident, but their confidence grew.”
“I thought they were tougher than we were by far in the first half. We were not ready for that level of intensity from our opponent. Obviously in the second half we matched or exceeded it, and that’s why we won.”
Georgia State
The Bad
Javin DeLaurier committed 4 fouls in his 6 minutes of playing time while missing both field goal attempts and committing 2 turnovers; (he did grab 4 boards and had a block; 1-2 from the foul line). The five Duke players who logged 20 + minutes (Jones all 40; Carey, 34; Stanley, 28, Hurt, 22 and Jack White, 21) could be considered the starters. While Tre and Carey carried Duke (scoring 51 of Duke’s 74 points), the other 3 scored only 14 points on a collective 4-20 from the floor including 1-10 from behind the arc and 3-6 from the line. Duke had 17 turnovers against only 13 assists. The Blue Devils shot 34% from the field; 25% from behind the arc and a demoralizing 59 % from the line. Tre was 7-10 from the line but missed all 3 front ends of his 1 and 1 attempts. The defense gave up 5-10 from deep in the first half. Coach K pointed out that Duke allowed Georgia State open looks from the corner even though it was a point of pre-game strategy to stop that particular shot. In the second half, Duke clamped down and allowed only 2 attempts from deep (they both missed). Wendell Moore and Alex O’Connell had disappointing games. In 12 minutes, Alex failed to score (0-3; 0-2 from deep) or get to the foul line. He had an assist against 2 turnovers (4 rebounds), while Moore was 1-5 (0-1 from deep without a free throw attempt) in his 11 minutes. His two steals were matched by his 2 turnovers. He too had 4 boards. Goldwire was 0-2 in his 11 minutes (0 points; no free throw attempts). Duke’s defense revived in the second half.
The Good
Tre Jones had the best game of his career at Duke and virtually willed Duke to win. With the score tied at 40 early in the second half, Jones took over, scoring 10 of Duke’s next 11 points. Jack White’s only point (1-2 from the line) and Moore’s only field goal moved Duke out to a 13 point lead (53-40). Joey Baker hit 2 key 3s from the corner to push the lead to 16. In his 15 minutes, Baker had 8 points (3-6; 2-5 from deep). He didn’t add any other stats.
Vernon Carey was a beast and Duke dominated the back boards. In 34 minutes, Carey shot 50% from the floor (7-14) but not much better from the foul line (6-11). He will be at the line frequently and must improve that part of his game. He led Duke in rebounding with 14 (7 offensive). He blocked 2 shots, and had a steal while he committed only 2 fouls (perhaps the freshman should be tutoring senior DeLaurier). White had 10 rebounds and played just superb defense. I believe he will start ahead of Hurt because of his defense and rebounding. If only his shot would start to find the range.
Duke grabbed a monster 30 offensive rebounds (Coach K ruefully pointed out the downside of that positive stat, “we missed a lot of shots”). Duke took 73 shots to score 74 points. Inefficient at best. But they won! Kentucky lost to Evansville; winning is not ordained. Duke overcame “human nature”; Kentucky did not. Now it is back to New York and Madison Square Garden for the tournament finals. Duke plays California while Texas faces Georgetown on Thursday November 21. The winners and losers will meet the following night.
Coach K on playing at Madison Square Garden:
“It’s every kid’s dream to play there and every coach’s dream to coach there. I still get a thrill. Everything is different; the ball sounds different when it bounces; the public address announcer sounds different. “The basketball gods play pick up there at 2-3 o’clock in the morning.”
Note: DBP has a new blog site: dukebasketballplaybook.com, which is a collection of all the Duke games starting with the 2010-11 championship season.
Duke 87 – University of California 52
Duke 81 – Georgetown 73
We learned a lot about this team and its players in this two game tournament in the spotlight of Madison Square Garden:
Whether against a mismatched Cal-Berkley or a very talented, very dangerous Georgetown team, Vernon Carey proved he a top NBA lottery pick and the one indispensable player for Duke to be a legitimate championship contender.
This team has a disconcerting habit of starting sluggish offensively but not defensively; however, it has a good habit of finishing off games at closing time—probably, in part, because they wear opponents down.
Wendell Moore had a breakout game which demonstrated why he was rated so highly by the scouts and why Coach K kept giving him an opportunity calm down and get comfortable with his teammates. He is tough, fearless, multi-talented, and seizes the moment.
Cassius Stanley can do a lot more than just elevate 46” from the floor. His stroke is silky smooth, he plays defense, and rebounds tougher than his choir boy appearance–he is a playmaker.
Although he had a SportsCenter dunk in the Cal game, Alex O’Connell has not consistently taken advantage of the playing time given to him at the beginning of the season. However, Joey Baker is playing himself into role as designated three point shooter.
Tre Jones may be offensively inconsistent but he more than makes up for it with his defense and leadership.
Coach Krzyzewski may be 71 years old but is still one hell of a bench coach. He continues to shake up his starters, auditioning his fifth different lineup in the fifth game of the season but replacing the highly touted Matthew Hurt when it was apparent tonight he was physically overmatched. And how many times did Duke score after a timeout on an out of bound’s play? Over the years, Duke players take advantage of the rules and are rarely out of control. On the other hand, the Hoya players never did adjust to how the game was being called and were in the foul penalty almost a quarter of the game, limiting the minutes of center Omer Yurtseven, Georgetown’s best player and talented guard Mac McClung. Granted offensive charges are tough, judgement call but best not put a ref in that position. Coach Ewing grew incensed over what he considered bad or inconsistent calls. In truth, they did effect the game as part of Duke’s plan was to get Georgetown’s 7-0 center Omer Yurtseven, the former N.C. State player, in foul trouble, which they did. In fact, he didn’t so much as take a shot in the first half but scored 21 points after the break—most of which were when Vernon “The Tank” Carey was on the bench with three and four fouls.
Think the freshmen are settling ? Stanley (21), Carey (20), Moore (17) and Jones (13) combined for 71 of Duke’s 81 points. Jack White played his usual tough all-around game and Joey Baker gave Duke five big first-half points. But Duke’s four upperclassmen combined for 5 points, 6 rebounds, 1 for 10 shooting and 8 fouls, with only White playing more than 13 minutes.
Alan Adds:
DUKE 87 – CAL 52
DEFENSE! Defense! It was back in intensity, quickness and fluidity to the wonderful defensive effort of the Kansas game. Dan Dakich (color announcer) was continually pointing out the sophisticated switches (“There were three beautiful switches on that one defensive set.”) and superb help that was the calling card of this defense. (“Look how many players moved in to block that drive.”) The defensive intensity just sucked the guts out of California. Dakich: “Look how far out Cal has to initiate its offense. That’s the Duke defensive pressure.” Dakich played for Knight at Indiana and had this insight that resonated with me. He said Duke was playing “old fashioned” defense, and cited the West Point teams coached by Knight when now Coach K (but then just Mike) was his captain and point guard. I saw those Army teams, which were astounding defensively. It made me smile in agreement.
Cal was a perimeter oriented, three point shooting team. Duke’s pressure took it away; Cal was able to launch only four attempts from behind the arc in the first half (10 for the game). Open looks for the Golden Bears were very hard to come by. Duke created turnovers and had many deflections.
For some reason the offense could not get untracked for almost half of the first half (causing Bill to call me wondering why the Blue Devils couldn’t shoot). Duke had only 6 points after 9 minutes of play, and tied the game at 8 at the half way point of the first half. You did read that correctly. Then the offense started cooking. The Devils scored 31 points in the second part of the opening half and 47 in the second half. That’s 78 points in ¾ of a game.
I’ll write this before the Georgetown game, but readers will have the benefit of knowing how the Georgetown game went. Georgetown presents a completely different type of team. They are big inside and will test Carey (not to mention DeLaurier and White) as Cal did not have the horses to do. Duke crushed Cal on the boards. Carey was astounding – 31 points in only 23 minutes of action (11-18; 1-1 from deep; 8-9 from the stripe, to go with 12 rebounds (6 offense and 6 defense) and 4 blocked shots, defending the rim. He was not only an offensive stud, he anchored the defense. How he does in the second of back to back games against a powerful front line will be illuminating.
A rebound worth mentioning: Stanley soared so high for one rebound in traffic that it was replayed. After a breathless “Wow!”, Dakich said wistfully to his announcing partner, “Wouldn’t you like to have done that, just once!”
DUKE 81 – GEORGETOWN 73
The First Half
Georgetown presented a very different and much more formidable challenge than did Cal. It was simply a sloppy first half, in which Duke depended completely on Carey to remain competitive (tied at 33 at the half). In 15 first half minutes, Carey scored 16 of Duke’s 33, grabbing 5 first half boards, and drew 2 quick fouls on Georgetown 7 foot center Omer Yurtseven. Yurtseven, who transferred from NC State, was limited to 7 minutes and 0 points in the opening stanza. Duke was winning inside even though both Carey and De Laurier committed 2 fouls – Javin in only 5 minutes of first half playing time. He committed 3 more, fouling out in 8 second half minutes. Duke committed 12 first half fouls – both Tre Jones and Cassius Stanley also had 2. The Georgetown perimeter completely outplayed Duke; Georgetown guards torched Tre and held him completely in check (0-4; 0-1; 2-2) with 2 assists and 2 turnovers. Georgetown starting guards scored 18 first half points. The second half was the game, and illuminated both Duke’s strengths and weaknesses.
The Second Half
The Rotation
Except for a scoreless two minute cameo by Joey Baker (5 points in 8 first half minutes) and 8 foul plagued minutes from Javin, Duke played Carey (13 minutes), Tre (the full 20 minutes) Wendell Moore, Cassius and Jack White each logged 19 minutes. Georgetown turned the interior around and dominated. Yurtseven torched the Blue Devil interior defense for 21 second half points on 13 shots from the field in 17 minutes. He reduced both DeLaurier and Carey to “ineffective”. I think Carey was gassed. He took only 4 shots (1-4) missed key free throws (2-6), which to me signified “tired”. After Javin fouled out, he hung in with 4 fouls but his aggression was diminished on both ends of the floor. Neither Hurt, O’Connell, nor Goldwire played at all in the second half, after each was scoreless in the opening stanza. So much for the “new deep bench”.
The Offense
Duke scored 48 second half points and led by 14 (77-63 after a corner 3 by Cassius Stanley), with only four and a half minutes left. Duke and its offense were humming. (44 points in a little over 16 minutes). The two freshmen, who just blossomed to lead this scoring burst were Stanley and Moore. Cassius was beyond wonderful, scoring 20 second half points on 6-9 shooting that included 3-3 from deep (wide open good shots) and 5-5 from the foul line. He added 7 second half rebounds to achieve a stat line he will remember. Moore supplied much ball handling to help Tre and made some superb drives to the basket to keep Duke’s control of the game even as the defense was unable to stop the Hoyas’ inside game. Wendell scored 11 in the closing period on 4-6 from the field (1-1 from deep and 2-2 from the line) and played superb defense. Tre also had 11 second half points, scoring the first two field goals of the second half as Duke broke the tie and took a lead that was never relinquished. He was only 1-7 after the two opening baskets, but was 5-6 in crucial foul shots. Stanley, Moore and Tre combined for 42 of Duke’s 48 second half points (Carey’s 4 and Jack White was 2-2 from the foul line).
Duke’s lead shrunk from 14 with 4 and ½ minutes to go to 4 with 42 seconds left, before Tre and Stanley each went 2-2 from the line for the final margin. It is an old axiom in basketball that pressing teams do not like to be pressed. Georgetown’s desperate press in the last 5 minutes was frighteningly effective. Duke started turning the ball over (Moore committing 4 and White 3 — The Devils had 11 second half turnovers). I suspect that there will be some intense practices in the coming days to fix that obvious weakness.
Besides the lack of poise and ball handling against the Hoya press, a troubling aspect was the failure of the upper class players to score. White had 5 (in 33 minutes). O’Connell, Goldwire and DeLaurier failed to score in the game. Add the 0 in 5 first half minutes for Matt Hurt (his only minutes of the game) and instead of a deep bench, the reserved gave little support.
The Defense
Duke gave up 40 second half points because Yurtseven was simply unstoppable on the blocks. Double teams did not slow him. But Duke continued to force turnovers and tightened up its perimeter defense to make for what would have been a comfortable win, if the offense had not succumbed to the Hoya press.
One More Concern Moving Forward
Duke committed 21 fouls, most either were on offense or trying to compete on the interior. The offense turned it over 21 times – 10 in the sloppy first half and 11, primarily against the press in the second half.
Upcoming
Stephen F. Austin on Tuesday November 26 (at 9 pm EST) and Friday November 29 against Winthrop (7 pm EST) to get ready for a formidable December schedule.
Stephen F. Austin 85 – Duke 83 (Overtime)
Duke 83 – Winthrop 70
Washington, D.C., November 27th, 12:05 am. My cell phone rings. Immediately, I recall back in the day telling our teenage kids that nothing good happens after midnight, so best be home by that time. However, it wasn’t a teenager with bad news, it’s Johnny Tar Heel asking what is Stephen F. Austin and where is it? I tell him I don’t know and why is he asking. He replies that someone with this name just beat Duke in overtime. I tell him it’s too late for jokes, I didn’t have video access to the game, but last I checked Duke was up 15, hung up, then check my ESPN app to find out it’s no joke nor bad dream. Duke had experienced one of, if not the, worst upsets in NCAA history– Right up there with Chaminade and Ralph Sampson’s Virginia.
Some weeks ago I wrote, in part, Coach K schedules teams like Central Arkansas and Georgia State, etc. for a reason. It is because there are a lot of talented basketball players who are not quite big enough or who, for some other reason, never were on the recruiting radar of the big programs (Stephen & Seth Curry) but who play at smaller schools like Evansville, Wofford, Belmont, Lehigh, Davidson, and UMBC– small, quick talented teams who, with the benefit of the three point line, play a different style of basketball (sort of a college version of the Golden State Warriors) and on any given night can and have beaten the best teams in the country. Just ask Kentucky, Duke, North Carolina, and Virginia. These are the kind of teams a high seed often play the first rounds of the NCAA Tournament and they benefit from the experience of defending a team much different than the typical ACC opponent. Now add Stephen F. Austin to those smaller, unknown schools who have upset a Basketball Powerhouse, ranked Number One no less.
That doesn’t totally explain what has happened in these two game in Cameron. Until this week, exceptionally good defense and timely plays have masked mediocre shooting and inconsistent play. Still several stats stand out:
- Vernon Carey’s free throw shooting has regressed to the level other recent Duke centers—an ominous development. [I am unconvinced that someone with his touch is going to continue to be this inconsistent.]
- Tre Jones assist-to-turnover ratio has flipped upside down.[I
- nexplicable for someone who nearly led the nation in this stat last year.]Wendell Moore’s rapid improvement against Georgetown seems like a mirage. [He has been too productive in International Play not to excel at the collegiate level.]
- Matthew Hurt responded to poor performances against Georgetown and S.F Austin by playing well against Winthrop….. but Winthrop is not big and strong like Georgetown or Michigan State. [Stay tuned.]
- Do you see a pattern of young and inconsistent here. [Maturity often develops unevenly in stages.]
- The only good news about Cassius Stanley’s hamstring injury is that it does not appear too serious and that it gave Joey Baker an extended opportunity to demonstrate the skills he can bring to the floor, especially the ability to hit threes and thereby extending the defense to open up the paint for Carey, Hurt , and Company.
- It is easy to forget that these are exceptionally gifted athletes—but still are teenagers. However, DeLaurier and White are not. They are seniors. Jack’s reluctance to shoot limits his usefulness, (except for special occasions) and Javin’s maddening tendency to foul, limits his usefulness. And finally, with the popularity of basketball attracting the best athletes worldwide, the longer a better team let’s a less talented team hang around, the better chance there is for an upset. At the end of the S.F.A. upset, the point guard penetrated and got the ball to a big man. 49 of 50 times in the past, Duke converts, or there is a foul. But for the ball to emerge from a scrum under the basket to a guard fast enough to run 70 feet in 2.5 second and make a layup is 100-1. But that’s what makes basketball such an exciting game.
Alan Adds:
Overview
The two games dramatically demonstrated what I have written – at this juncture of the season, this edition of the Blue Devils is far from a #1 team; far from a top 5 team; and maybe only a top 20 team. Coach K, as always, put it accurately: “We’re going to have to work through a bunch of things … with this group. It’ll take time and we’re going to try and muck it out and we know we’re not a top five team – maybe not even a top 25 team in the country right now. We’ve beaten good teams and we’ve played well. But now it’s where do we go after a loss and a win this week. … Next week would be tough even if you were a top five team.” [Next week is road games at East Lansing (Michigan State in the ACC-Big 10 challenge) and Blacksburg (opening the ACC season on the road).]
For me, the question is “what happened to the superb defense that Duke played in New York (especially against California). In both games – far more in the SFA game – Duke gave up a startling number of points in the paint. Even after allowing 64 points in the paint to SFA, Duke did not stop the penetration of Winthrop, which led to interior passing that produced easy layups at the rim. When Duke doubled the post, Winthrop scored either on passes or offensive rebounds when the weak side was abandoned for the double team. The sophisticated switching that was the Duke hallmark against Kansas and in New York was simply non-existent. No, I don’t know what happened. It will be necessary for the defense to reappear if losses next week are to be avoided.
Offensively, it was a mixed bag. Duke’s offense revived against Winthrop, thanks to the re-emergence of Matt Hurt in the first half (18 in the half; only 20 for the game) and Joey Baker (Bill’s favorite; because he’s partial to seeing Duke shots go in the basket) for the game – 16 points in 23 minutes. Jordan Goldwire also was instrumental in Duke getting untracked in the second half. With Stanley’s injury and the terrific play of Baker and Goldwire, the rotation is completely in flux.
Duke v Stephen F Austin (written prior to the Winthrop game)
Duke was a 27.5 point favorite last night (and is an even heavier favorite against Winthrop for Friday’s game). Bill was away for the holidays, so we decided we would do one edition of the Duke Basketball Playbook to cover both games, “since they would not be competitive games”. Apparently the Duke team also had the view that the games would not be competitive. The first few minutes corroborated that feeling, but completely undid this young team. With 9:03 left in the first half, Matt Hurt added a layup to give Duke a 15 point lead (33-18). What happened for the next 36 minutes is exactly what happened to Kentucky against Evansville and in countless other spectacular upsets. Stephen F. Austin (SFA) morphed into a team of destiny and played so well that I almost wanted to root for the 27 and ½ point underdog, playing in an arena of legend and just sticking it to Duke with intensity and energy. “Up Yours, # 1!”
Not only did The Lumberjacks deserve to win, but Duke deserved to lose. The second half and overtime are illuminating for any analysis of this game from Duke’s perspective. Duke shot 11-24 from the free throw line in the second half and overtime. SFA had 8 more field goal attempts than Duke and 7 more rebounds in the second half. Duke turned it over an astounding number of times, including giving up the winning basket on the final of its 22 turnovers. Worse, the vaunted defense was beyond porous – SAF scored 25 more points in the paint and grabbed 7 offensive rebounds (making Duke pay almost every time). Coach K: “We gave up 60 [64, actually] points in the paint; we don’t give up 60 points for a game!”
Coach K: “They were better than we were. They were tougher. They had more poise. They made so many layups (those 64 points in the paint).” The Coach pointed out the terrible foul shooting and sloppy ball handling. Tre had 8 turnovers alone. However, K gave full credit to the incredible performance of The Lumberjacks: “we played badly, but they made us play badly by their superb play.”
Coach K: “We were not deserving of winning. The overtime, especially the last play, was symbolic of the game we played.” Duke scored just 2 points in the crucial overtime, and that was on a put back by Carey (2nd offensive rebound of that scrum). In the crucial 5 minutes of overtime, Duke turned the ball over 6 times! Both Lumberjack overtime field goals came off of live ball turnovers in the open court leading to open layups. Duke took 4 shots – a 3 and a put back by White, the put back by Carey to tie the game at 83 with 2:14 left and a missed short jumper by Tre with 16 seconds left. When Tre missed a pretty open mid-range jumper with 16 seconds left on the clock, Moore grabbed the offensive board and got the ball to Hurt, who was stripped of the ball for the winning Lumberjack basketball. Duke had not only failed to score in the last 2:14 of the overtime, but had only taken one shot (Tre’s mid-range miss)!
The second half was an illuminating nightmare for the Blue Devils, who gave up 41 points, committed 12 fouls and were outrebounded by 8 after dominating inside in the first half. Vernon Carey was 2-9 from the free throw line. Duke’s offense got the ball into him in good position. He drew the foul. But when you brick the free throws, it is just like a turnover. Tre was 1-5 from the field and only 3-6 from the line. There was no bench. Javin played 2 minutes (only 1 foul); Alex was in for 4 minutes (1-1 from the field). Neither Baker nor Goldwire made it on the floor in the second half. Carey played 15 minutes (3-3 from the field with 3 rebounds and 4 blocks for 8 points. Tre (6 points) and Cassius (8 points) played all 20 minutes, while Wendell Moore scored 7 in 16 minutes (5-6 from the free throw line; 1-2 from the field). Hurt and White split the small forward time at 10 minutes each. White played 3 minutes as the center with Carey getting a rest and Javin completely ineffective. Hurt was 2-6 from the field (1-2 from deep and 1-2 from the line) for 6 points, but only 1 rebound. White did not attempt a shot or foul shot in his 13 minutes. He grabbed 2 boards. Both Hurt and White committed 2 second half fouls. It was very hard to watch if you were a Duke fan.
Coach K: “We did not respond well to winning in New York. We assumed we would win. Not that it would be easy, but that we would win. We tried to tell them at half and at time outs. We didn’t respond to a different emotion. They outplayed us.”
It was about toughness. SFA forces turnovers and dominated the interior to score and rebound. K attributed the many turnovers to a lack of toughness. “Duke was not strong with the ball.” Understatement!
What’s next? [written before the Winthrop game]. Coach K: “I’m disappointed. I’m going to wallow in that disappointment before figuring out what to do. I’ve told my team, ‘it’s not ok to play like that. We have to get tough quickly.”
Winthrop
The score was tied at 32 with 3:10 left in the first half, when Duke went on its first run (8-0) with Stanley and Tre hitting from the field (Tre’s only 3) and Hurt making 3 of 4 from the line. Duke led 42-35 at the half (Duke also won the second half 41-36). With 13:40 left in the game, Duke led by 11, when the wheels started to come off. It felt just like the SFA game, where Duke’s 15 point lead started to shrink with alarmingly bad play. Duke went 4:20 without scoring while Winthrop chopped the Devil lead to 4 with 9:45 left. Sloppy play by both teams followed. Duke expanded the lead on good plays by Hurt, Baker, Carey and Goldwire to lead by 10 with 5:31 left. By then Winthrop was gassed and Duke rolled the lead to 16 before calling off the dogs.
The rotation
Cassius only played two minutes in the second half because of his injury. Coach K said it was hamstring rather than knee, and hoped Stanley would return by Christmas. Alex (6 minutes) and Jack White (8 minutes) played only cameos. Matt Hurt played 17 second half minutes even though his scoring stopped (1-4 for 2 points). He had scored 18 in a spectacular outburst in the first half. In the second half, Matt earned his time with 4 boards and excellent defense. The result was White played only 3 second half minutes to spell Hurt.
With Cassius hurt, one hoped Wendell Moore would step up, but exactly the opposite happened. It was a bad game for Wendell who failed to score in 19 minutes, missing his only 2 shots. Eventually, Baker took his minutes. Coach K gave Carey more rest, which produced excellent results. Vernon played only 22 minutes to record his double double – 10 rebounds and 17 points (5-10 from the field and 7-10 from the stripe) to go with a block. Tre found him with some great passes for easy lay ups. Javin played 16 minutes (2-2 for 4 points) with 3 boards. While he committed 2 fouls in his 7 first half minutes, he was in the game for 9 valuable second half minutes without fouling. Major improvement.
Goldwire was simply a star. Tre had big trouble guarding the quick Winthrop back court (the 5’8” other Jones gave Tre fits). Jordan made 5 steals – 4 in the second half, where he played 13 scintillating minutes, scoring 6 (2-3 from the field and 2-2 from the line). Baker played 14 second half minutes scoring 8 and playing superbly – diving on the floor, taking charges, and really making a case for getting significant playing time. Let’s see if this was a true emergence or a flash in the pan. Carey had 12 of his 17 points in his 10 second half minutes.
Tre had an odd week. He committed 13 turnovers in these 2 games, and was significantly torched on defense by both SFA and Winthrop guards. He is scoring and passing, but his floor game was off by a wide margin. The test against Pre-Season Player of the year, Michigan State point guard Cassius Winston will be telling next Tuesday. Tre could not contain Winston in last year’s elite 8 loss to the Spartans.
Next Week
This was the week where reality set in. Coach K said Duke was playing with “inherited wealth” by being ranked so high this early in the season. By “inherited wealth” he meant that Duke’s ranking was based in significant part on the past recent (and long term) success of K’s program rather on this team’s accomplishments (really just the opening night win over Kansas; think last year’s opening night win over Kentucky). This team did not earn that high ranking, which was fully disclosed by this week’s games.
The Michigan State game will receive mega scrutiny, but I believe the most important game next week is in Blacksburg against The Hokies. Virginia Tech beat Michigan State in the first round of the tournament before the clock struck midnight for the next two losing games. The ACC will be such a gauntlet this year (4 teams in last week’s top 8 – Duke, Louisville, who will be #1 next week, UNC and Virginia, which held Maine to 26 points for an entire game). Losing in Blacksburg would set a bad tone for Duke’s ACC championship hopes.
Michigan State is on ESPN; Virginia Tech on ACCN.
DUKE 87 – MICHIGAN STATE 75
What a difference a week makes!
Raise your hand if you thought these young Blue Devils, who just seven days ago lost to Stephen F. Austin in the most embarrassing home loss in school history, struggled against Winthrop, then traveled to East Lansing without the services of an injured Cassius Stanley, would not only beat but totally dominate Michigan State, the preseason #1 team in the country. ESPN studio hosts Seth Greenberg and LaPhonso Ellis certainly didn’t think so, but then, apparently, they don’t know K (“We’re not a Top-5 Team. We may not even be top-25 right now.” Translation: But next week? Lookout!) However, we do know Coach K. How many times have we seen this re-run? Why is anyone still surprised by the ending? Why weren’t more hands in the air?The bottom line is that given the circumstances—an unprecedented fall from grace, the tough opponent and venue, and essentially down two starters—injured Stanley and Mia Moore—this was one of the most impressive team turnaround performances in memory.
The score was deceiving. Duke was never behind, ahead mostly by double digits and the high teens to low twenties for most of the second half. The Spartans had no answer for Vernon Carey (26 points,11 rebounds, 3 blocks) and Tre Jones (20 points and 12 assists, 3 steals while locking down Elite Eight nemesis Cassius Winston, the preseason National Player of the Year). Despite the impressive numbers of the two stars, it was an remarkable total team win with a lot of gritty, blue collar play by the senior co-captains. Lauren DeLaurier had his best game since these same two teams met in the Elite Eight last spring. DeLaurier (10 points, 6 rebounds, 2 steals, only 1 foul) appeared to be jumping off a trampoline as he consistently played above the rim at both ends of the floor. His roommate Jack White (7 points, 6 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 blocks) started for the injured Cassius Stanley and brought the kind of toughness Duke needed in a very hostile venue. Matthew Hurt (10 points, 2 rebounds, 2 blocks) played stronger. Jordan Goldwire (3 assists, a steal and 1 block gave) Duke 24 solid defensive minutes off the bench. Only Wendell Moore, who got into early foul trouble, and Alex O’Connell failed to contribute and consequently lost playing time to Joey Baker in the second half, who again shot (5-6) impressively.
Make no mistake, a tough, active defense was the lynchpin for this win but the equalizer was every time Duke needed points (when State made a 9-1 run to start the second half), the ball went to Vernon Carey (final three schools: Duke, Michigan State, and North Carolina) in the low post. The Spartans had no answer for the big center with a soft touch. Coincidently, as Johnny Tar Heel often comments, Coach K was a terrific bench coach who is worth ten points a game. So, I was puzzled why Matthew Hurt and not Vernon Carey was on the floor on the last possession of the overtime against Stephen F. Austin The score was tied, four SAF players had 4 fouls, and Duke was in the double bonus. The obvious play was to get the ball down low, make a basket or get fouled. But Carey was on the bench, Matthew Hurt was in the low post. The pass from Jones was loose on a scrum on the floor, Hurt got pushed out of the way, and the rest is history. Nobody on SAF could push Carey away from that loose ball. Coulda, shoulda, woulda!
Other Comments:
- Duke is now 19-2 in the ACC-Big 10 Challenge, 5-0 against Michigan State.
- Tom Izzo’s Michigan State teams take pride in playing “tough”. Duke has a reputation of being soft. Mike Krzyzewski’s Blue Devils are 13-2 against Tom Izzo’s Spartans.
- Duke hit 7-of-15 on 3s and 16-of-22 from the line, while out-rebounding Michigan State 34-32. Duke had 11 blocks and 10 steals.
- The Spartans were 4-for-16 on 3s.
Alan Adds:
Euphoria was the unanimous emotion as Duke dominated the Spartans with an epic performance. That euphoria can disguise some of the analytics that put this wonderful performance in perspective. Duke dominated in the first half, torching the Spartans for 45 points. An explosive outburst. Michigan State scored 46 second half points. Duke dominated on offense for the entire game, but on defense only in the first half. The defense did not die in the second half, but the Spartans revived. Duke simply could not stop them; but didn’t have to because of the Devils’ spectacular offense.
Let’s examine the rotation, the offense, the defense and Coach K’s wisdom.
Coach K’s wisdom
Coach K was asked who his toughest opponent has been in his coaching career. His answer: “human nature”. Duke thought the game against SFA would not be competitive. The challenge of the Spartans was obvious – SFA humiliation; Winthrop first half; last year’s tragic loss in the Elite 8 when Duke was the favorite to win the national championship; and (perhaps most important) the thrashing of Tre Jones by Cassius Winston in that game. Winston had simply taken Tre to school. Duke met that challenge in the first half in not less than spectacular style. Duke’s double digit lead throughout the second half may (partially) explain giving up 46 second half points. Duke plays Virginia Tech on Friday. Human nature?
The Rotation
This game was won, in large measure, by Duke’s returning players. Only Vernon Carey was dominant out of the freshman class. In only 25 minutes of action, Carey scored 26 to go with 11 boards, 3 blocks and an assist. He was 9-12 from the foul line. He missed a couple of bunnies; he could easily have scored 30. Cassius Stanley didn’t play. Wendell Moore played only 10 minutes (7 in the first half while committing 3 fouls) without scoring. Matt Hurt contributed 10 points in 27 minutes. Valuable in many ways.
But it was Tre Jones (best game of his Duke career), who totally dominated Cassius Winston, playing every minute of the game, and scoring 20 points ((6-13 from the field including 2-5 from deep and 6-8 from the stripe) to go with 12 assists, a block and 3 steals. The only negative was 6 turnovers. It was an All-American performance. Tre had plenty of help from the upper class. Javin was superb. Coach K acknowledged that Javin had been a disappointment until this game. He spelled Carey, playing 19 minutes, scoring 10 – mostly on dunks by really running the floor. Tre’s passes to him were worth watching more than once. Javin had 10 (5-5) with 6 boards, 2 steals, a block and an assist. In 19 minutes, he committed only 1 foul! Jack White played 31 superb minutes (only player besides Tre to log more than 27 minutes). He had 7 points (3-4, including 1-2 from deep) to go with 6 boards, 3 steals, 2 blocks and an assist. He supplied a toughness that has been somewhat missing. Coach K singled out all 3 co-captains with praise for their leadership and energy. Let us not forget junior Jordan Goldwire and sophomore Joey Baker, who both made their mark dramatically. In 24 minutes, Goldwire was terrific. He was a perfect complement to Tre with ball handling on offense and guarding Winston on defense. Baker has played himself into the rotation. Duke’s meritocracy. He had 11 points in only 17 minutes (5-6 from the field, including 1-1 from deep). He has used his new found fame as a 3 point shooter to employ the shot fake to get rid of his defender and score in the mid-range game.
The Defense
Duke’s defense was as good as it has been all year (which is amazingly good) in the first half. The energy was papabile. Duke got deflections, blocks, steals and completely disrupted the Spartan offense, which scored only 29 first half points. Double the first half score and Duke wins 90-58. The game was effectively over at the half. Even though the Spartans found their offense – especially in the paint, reminding us of the defensive shortcomings against SFA and Winthrop – Duke did some amazing things. Coach K pointed out that even when Duke players were beaten by a Spartan driver or excellent inside pass, each made the extra effort, making basket saving blocks from behind. Coach K said that was what won the game.
The Offense
What a great inside – outside combination Duke displayed. Carey was absolutely unstoppable in the post (+ 1-2 from long range). He is simply a stud. Enjoy him this year because it is hard to see him returning next year. Tre was, as described above, at his absolute best. They scored 46 of Duke’s 87. Duke shot better than any game this season – 47 % from behind the arc, including 4-6 in the second half to keep the Spartans at bay. The Blue Devils shot 56% from the field and 73% from the foul line. We would take that for every game for the rest of the season. It was a performance to build on.
Virginia Tech
Duke faces its first conference game in Blacksburg on Friday under extremely difficult circumstances. First, Blacksburg has been a scene of frequent Devil disappointments in the past. Second, the schedule requires two long flights in 3 days on the week before finals. Coach K said that two of his players had to take tests during the trip to East Lansing. I wrote last week that the game against the Hokies was actually more important than against Michigan State. As we can tell from Louisville’s dismantling of Michigan, winning the ACC regular season title will be difficult. It would be more difficult if the first conference game is a road loss. What a week!
DUKE 77 – VIRGINIA TECH 63
I thought there were many reasons to be apprehensive about tonight’s game:
Bad Karma: For years, Virginia Tech has been an unusually difficult opponent for Duke. For example, a highly ranked Blue Devil team has lost their last three trips to Blacksburg.
Payback: Tech almost upset Duke in the Sweet Sixteen last year.
Preparation: Tech is rested (they did not participate in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge) and their talented, new Coach Mike Young has had weeks to prepare for the game. Duke had less than a day.
Balance: As opponent’s devise ways to defend and frustrate Vernon Carrey, will he find the open man, and if so, can that player score?
Defense: Is the defense as good as it looked against Michigan State or as bad as it looked against Stephan F. Austin and Winthrop?
Injury: Who or what combination of players will replace Cassius Stanley’s scoring, defense, and playmaking abilities?
Fatigue: Will the players be able to recover mentally and physically from the travel and quick turnaround from the emotional Michigan State game in East Lancing during Finals Week?
What I didn’t anticipate was that we would see yet another example of why Johnny Tar Heel keeps telling me Coach K is a great bench coach with an intuitive feel for the flow of a game and complementary talents of his players that is worth 5-12 points in any given game.
The first half was not encouraging. The Hokies were shredding the Blue Devil defense like SFA and scoring points in the paint with ease. Duke was fortunate to be down only three points, not double digits, at the half. The second half was only a minute and two easy Hokie baskets old when a disgusted Coach K uncharacteristically called quick time out and made the most surprising and impactful substitution since little used freshman Grayson Allen went into the second half of the 2015 NCAA Championship game against Wisconsin.
Out of the timeout, we saw the indefatigable Tre Jones on the court with the unlikely (What’s going on? Have the starters just declared for the NBA draft?) combination of Jordan Goldwire, Joey Baker, Jack White, and only one freshman, the recently benched Wendell Moore. To provide more athleticism, the inconsistent Alex O’Connell quickly replaced Joey Baker. This unlikely group surprisingly played Tech even, then totally turned the game around and quieted the raucous arena by out-defending, out-hustling, and out- scoring the Hokies 35-16. These Duke subs held the Hokies scoreless for more than three minutes, turning a slim 56-55 Duke margin into a 62-55 lead.
With 4:23 to play, a frustrated Landers Nolley, the Hokie’s most talented player, lost his composure. As the Hokies were setting up their half-court offense, Nolley, attempting off ball to shake a relentless Wendell Moore, shoved him in the chest. The solid 6’5” Moore should receive an Oscar nomination for making certain officials didn’t miss it and whistled a foul. After a replay review, the refs changed it to a flagrant-1 foul, giving Moore two free throws. He hit them both giving Duke a 68-57 lead. Then, the mercurial Alex O’Connell finally rediscovered his touch and nailed a deuce, then a three. After that, the deflated Hokies were so discouraged and gassed, they didn’t even attempt a full court press.
The bottom line is that after 39 years, 5 NCAA Championships, 12 Final Fours, 12 ACC regular season titles, and 15 ACC Tournament championships, you think you have seen it all and thought you knew Coach K like a well-read book. The Maestro showed you that you haven’t and didn’t.
Why and how did this game turn around?
As usual the relentless, indefatigable Tre Jones (he wasn’t even breathing hard for the post-game interview) was the catalyst at both ends of the floor. Vernon Carey (12 points, 5 rebounds) and Matthew Hurt (8 points, 0 rebounds) barely played in the second half. Cassius Stanley, after missing only one game with a hamstring injury, started but was rusty and barely played. So impressive against Michigan State, Javin DeLaurier had 12 unimpressive minutes. On the other hand, Jordan Goldwire (10 points and 6 rebounds) played 30 minutes of his best basketball. The always athletic but inconsistent Alex O’Connell (7 points and 5 rebounds) played 15 impressive minutes. For 22 minutes, blue collar Jack White (7 points, 2 blocks, 1 steal) defended the interior better than anyone. Wendell Moore (12 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists) was in his element and played more like the impactful international player he has been the last two summers.
Other observations:
Key stat: The Blue Devils, ranked 238th nationally in free throw percentage, went 10-for-10 tonight.
For those who thought Coach K was always reverts to a 6 or 7 man rotation in tough games: 9 different Devils played at least a dozen minutes, with a 10th, Stanley getting 7.
Seven Duke players scored between 7 and 15 points but Jones, Moore and Alex O’Connell proved all of Duke’s points in this decisive 17-2 run.
Alan (who assured me at the half that Duke would win) Adds (from paradise):
I texted Bill at the half, “Where is our defense? 41 points allowed. Duke is schizophrenic on defense.” Winthrop was a perfect example; excellent defense in the second half after a porous first half. When Bill called around half time (complaining that Duke was losing while the Hokies paraded to the rim with 26 points in the paint), I assured him that Duke would win. My assurance was based on the fact that Duke was down by only 3, when it should have been 15 based on the porous defense. But, it should have been based on the fact that Duke is coached by K. I do not believe there is another coach who would have made the change in strategy and lineup that Coach K created early in the second half.
Duke gave up the first two baskets of the second half in a minute to trail by 7. Time out. The Coach took out Matt Hurt (8 points in 15 first half minutes) and the star offensive player, Vernon Carey (10 points and 5 boards in 11 minutes) in favor of Wendell Moore (10 first half minutes without a point or rebound) and Joey Baker (8 first half minutes without a score). Hurt never returned to the game; Carey played another 2 minutes (2-2 from the line). The substitution and switch in strategy produced an amazing defensive effort that clearly won the game.
Coach K: “We could not defend the ball screen in the first half. They scored twice to open the second half on ball screens that produced drives.” Duke went to a lineup that could switch everything on defense and could provide spacing and movement on offense. The offense was pure motion without running any sets. On defense, the switching allowed Duke to close off the driving lanes. Nowlins II was torching the Duke bigs from the elbow in the first half. In the second half Duke guarded him primarily with Wendell Moore, who got help from both Jack White and Jordan Goldwire. “We guarded him with athletes.” Nowlins was scoreless in the second half and committed 6 turnovers.
“Being able to switch was the key to the game. We kept them out of the paint. We kept better pressure on with switching.”
How amazingly wonderful was this second half defense? Take away the first four points before the timeout and the last 4 points that the Hokies scored in the last minute to cut the lead from 18 to 14. Duke held the Hokies to 14 points in about 18 minutes! I do not have the eloquence for the proper adjective.
The Duke offense thrived. Wendell Moore played his best half at Duke on both ends of the floor. He scored 12 second half points (4-6 from the field and 4-4 from the line to go with 2 boards and a steal) in 17 minutes. Tre was superb in 20 second half minutes. After and even battle with Hokie point guard Wabissa Bede, Tre dominated him in the second half, scoring 10 while keeping Bede out of the paint (where his passing shredded the defense in the first half) and holding him to 6 points. Tre was 5-9 with 5 rebounds. Goldwire also played all 20 minutes of the second half. He shared the ball handling with Tre, also grabbed 5 rebounds and was a demon on defense. Alex hit two big shots in his 9 second half minutes. Baker played 12; White 13. The bigs saw little floor time (Hurt, just that first minute – suggesting he has much to learn about switching and defense; Carey 4 minutes; Javin 4 minutes). It was some second half!
Still, the game was tight. With 8:59 left, Duke led by 1 before breaking the game wide open. Moore grabbed an offensive board and hit a short jumper. Tre forced Bede into a turnover, and then (after a timeout) hit a jumper. Tre garnered a defensive rebound, passed to Goldwire who fed Moore for an open court layup. Duke by 7. After a string of misses by both teams, Bede and Tre each made jumpers. Moore blew by Nowlins for a layup and a 9 point lead when Nowlins committed the flagrant one against Moore, who made both free throws. Alex hit a three as Duke maintained possession on the flagrant foul. Duke by 14 and the rout was on. What a stretch! The Hokies were done. They were too tired to press. As Tre said post game, “We ran them into the ground.”
Coach K said “We played like winners.” He applauded the toughness he saw – especially from Moore. When Wendell missed a wide open layup, he didn’t pout he just played harder. “This is just an old fashioned team.” Coach K said. It was clearly a well-deserved compliment.
DUKE 86 – WOFFORD 57
[Unforced error: Alan had a medical procedure scheduled for Saturday morning so we agreed to combine coverage of the Wofford and the Brown games on December 29th. Early Saturday morning, I decided to send a picture and score with a short explanation. Inadvertently, I send some of you a draft of my notes from last night, which I use as an outline for my coverage the next morning. Alan belatedly decided that if he survived the procedure/operation, he would write/play hurt so we could send something this week-end.]
No Tre Jones. No problem. Seriously, how many times has a non-conference team come to Tobacco Road and swept North Carolina and Duke in back- to- back games? If you said never, you win!!!!
But Tre’s minor foot strain was not the big news. Coach K actually playing nine players serious minutes this far into the pre-ACC play was– and each was productive. The defense was impressive as only one opponent scored in double digits. However, Joey Baker, Justin Goldwire, and Javin DeLaurier were the most impressive.
DeLaurier replaced Carey two minutes into the game and gave Duke a much-needed infusion of strength and energy. Even Krzyzewski singled him out. He ended the game without a foul or a turnover. And Goldwire played the most complete game of his career as he did not miss a shot and shared point guard responsibilities with Wendell Moore.
However, it was Baker (22 points) who continues to impress with JJ Reddick like three point shooting, knocking down 5 three pointers in a span of just under 10 minutes. The first two extended Duke’s lead from 46-30 to 52-30 and ended any chance of a Wofford comeback. Even Coach K was impressed and said that Baker has worked his way into the rotation. “In September, I wasn’t sure how much Joey could play. And he’s come every day and practiced. He shoots game shots even when he’s just shooting. He’s become our quickest shooter and our most accurate shooter. The guys see it.” It seems as though Joey Bucket’s long distance shooting and the teams improved free throw shooting may well be the keys to this more experienced team with fewer one-and-done lottery picks being even more successful than the last few more highly rated editions.
Carey had a 20 & 10 night against an undersized front line. He now has eight double-doubles this season. Hurt had 12 points and 8 rebounds.
As I mentioned, this team has four players—Baker, Stanley, Hurt, and Carey– shooting over 40% from beyond the new three point line. And after a slow start by Carey, as a team they are recently averaging over 70% on free throws. These a championship-like numbers.
Alan Adds;
When Wofford beat UNC on Sunday, December 15, I wrote to Bill that I thought Duke would simply pulverize Wofford when they met just 4 days after The Terriers had handed the Tarheels a loss at home that was just as embarrassing as Stephen F. Austin’s humiliation of the Blue Devils in Cameron just two weeks prior. After that embarrassment, I was sure that Duke would never underestimate an opponent this year (See the DBP re the Stephen F Austin game). Moreover after what Coach K called “the toughest week I’ve had in my 40 years at Duke” – away games at Michigan State and Virginia Tech in the space of 4 days in the midst of the week before finals – Duke had 13 days off so I knew Duke would be well rested. I was confident … until I learned just before tipoff that Tre would not play. That was an X factor.
Obviously, we now know that I should not have worried. The Blue Devils put on what Coach K called, “an outstanding performance.” He listed the building blocks for that assessment: 1) the outstanding defense Duke played; 2) the way the team shared the ball; 3) the paucity of Devil turnovers in a fast paced game; and, 4) 9 players played between 28 minutes (Goldwire) and 17 minutes (DeLaurier).
The Defense
After a slight struggle in the opening minutes, adjusting to Tre’s absence, the defense played as well as it has all season, and Duke has had some tremendous defensive games so far this season. Wofford led 9-5 after 3:52 had elapsed. For the next 16:07, Duke held Wofford to just 14 points. Of course, Coach K had the perfect game plan. Wofford is a 3 point shooting team led by its ace guard, Storm Murphy and his long range shooting partner, Nathan Hoover. They had torched the Tar Heels, and Coach K’s main emphasis was to shut them down from 3land. How well did that work? Neither scored a single point in the first half. Murphy could not even attempt a 3; he was 0-3 from the field. Hoover missed 3 well contested 3s to go 0-4 for the first half. Duke held Wofford to 26 first half points, the last 3 coming on a well defended 3 as time expired. It was simply a superb defensive effort. Human nature being what it is (Duke’s lead was as high as 29 a couple of times in the second half)), the defense was not quite as intense, allowing 31 points. Neither DeLaurier nor White put big points on the board, but each played hellacious defense. Goldwire tortured Murphy (though Coach K said that Goldwire and Murphy played each other evenly, I thought Goldwire took him to school) and Wendell Moore (scoreless in 11 second half minutes) also played intense defense to go with his 5 second half rebounds. Cassius Stanley had a great first half at both ends as well.
The Offense
All 9 scored in the first half, led by Carey and Hurt, who each played 12 minutes and scored 8 against the undersized Terriers. DeLaurier (8 minutes) and Baker (6 minutes) each scored 5. DeLaurier was 1-1 from the field and 3-4 from the line, while Joey missed his only 2 first half field goal attempts, but was 5-5 from the line. Moore scored 4 in 13 minutes (2-4 from the field). Stanley logged the most first half minutes (14) while scoring 3. White, Goldwire, O’Connell each had a field goal for 2 points. Duke was only 1-7 from behind the arc, but shot 14-20 from inside the arc (Wow!) and 8-11 from the line for 39 points.
Duke’s offense (particularly Baker and Carey) exploded for 47 second half points. Baker’s 5-6 from behind the arc (6-9 from the field) led the way with 17 second half points in just 12 minutes. Carey was amazingly efficient, scoring 12 second half points in only 11 minutes on 4-5 from the field and 4-4 from the line to go with his 8 boards and a block. He was a beast, to say the least. The second half also belonged to Goldwire, who logged a team high 17 minutes, scoring 6 on 2-2 from the field including 1-1 from behind the arc and 1-1 from the line to go with 3 rebounds, 3 assists, and a steal. Duke did not miss Tre at all. That is astonishing, and bodes well for the growth of this team.
The Rotation
Is it just this game, or has Coach K changed his philosophy to match the talent of this team. It seems he has 10 players with the capacity to contribute. JGold led the team in minutes with 28. Others who logged 20 minutes or more were Alex (24), Moore (24), Carey (23) White (21) and Hurt (20). Stanley (18, but only 4 in the second half), Baker (18; 12 in the second half) and DeLaurier (17; though scoreless in his 9 second half minutes) rounded out the main players. JRob had 3 blocks in his 5 minutes. Duke is morphing into a really deep team.
Next Play
Duke is off until December 28, when Brown visits Cameron at the early hour of 11:30 a.m. In early 2020, the ACC season is on.
DUKE 75 – BROWN 50
What do you think when someone mentions Brown University. I think of it is the safe backup school for children of eastern celebrities (JFK, Jr., Amy Carter, Emma Watson) or a baker’s dozen of the Kennedy clan who, for a variety of reasons, couldn’t get into Harvard– or Curt (Richard Dreyfuss) in George Lucas’ autobiographical, coming-of-age classic movie, American Graffiti (which, incidentally, became one of the most profitable films of all time and gave a young Lucas the juice to finance the Indiana Jones & Star Wars franchises) finally deciding to get on that 50’s prop plane to fly east to Brown University, after which he presumably became, you guessed it, a successful screen writer.
However, what I don’t think is BASKETBALL! And that’s a good thing, because the score was very deceiving. For much too long, the game looked more like an intermural fraternity scrimmage or a rerun of the Stephen F. Austin game. It appeared that during Christmas break, Carey was the only player who picked up a basketball but, fortunately, Alex O’Connell apparently found his jump shot under the Christmas tree. Too long for Duke fans, the game was too close for comfort as it was a tossup whether the Blue Devils were worse offensively or defensively. If Duke had played well, they would have scored about 100 points. An example: with eleven minutes left in the half, Brown hit a three to tie the game at 12. Wendell Moore stood under the basket with the ball, waiting to throw it in to somebody– only all his teammates had run to the other end of the floor and no one was there to receive the inbounds pass. Duke had to quickly call a timeout to avoid a turnover and an infuriated 72 year old Coach K to ripped off his jacket, a tactic usually saved only for big time opponents. Even that didn’t work very well as the Blue Devils only lead 33-29 at the half to a middle-of the-pack Ivy League team.
Starting the second half, Duke went back to Plan A: throw the ball to Vernon Carey in the post and watch him score. However, it wasn’t until the predictably unpredictable Alex O’Connell, who missed all four of his shots from the floor in the first half, started hitting long jump shots, then two threes did the Devils really settle down as Moore and White stepped up to help ice the game. “Alex is a good basketball player,” Krzyzewski said. “He came through. With all these kids, it’s consistency. It’s not him, it’s all of them. We just have to keep working on it. He was a key guy today, no question.” And red hot Joey Baker? He got his first start, made two terrific defensive plays but was 1-6 as his jump shot was apparently still on Christmas break. Coach K called it “starter’s disease” and he could see signs of it in practice. “He just couldn’t get it. It showed at the end of the first half when he took two wild shots. I talked to him right after the game and told him: “Just remember you’re a damn good player. You don’t have to change when you start. But it meant so much to him.’ We’re going through all those growth periods and thank goodness we were able to play well the last 15 minutes.”
It appears the ACC schedule is the easiest in years, so there is a terrific opportunity for this team to sort out the all the moving parts and win the regular season. But for right now it is very much a work in progress as Jones, who is supposed to start against Boston College on New Year’s eve, and Carey are the only dependable performers. The other eight have their moments but like Cassius Stanley today–he played very good defense but dribbled the ball off his foot on the way to a dunk and Joey Baker inexplicably shooting bricks– you just don’t yet know what to expect from these young, talented players, who are a long way from being NBA ready.
Let’s acknowledge what an impressive run the Clemson football program is having. I just finished watching one of the most exciting, improbable football games I have ever seen. Ohio State outcoached and outplayed Clemson for all but a few minutes of the first half, yet were only up 16-14. Quarterback Trevor Lawrence (and the defense) just would not let his team lose as his final 90 yard drive was one of which Joe Montana would be proud. Although Ohio State certainly played well enough to win—coulda, shoulda, woulda- it was just not meant to be. The bottom line is that Clemson hasn’t won two national titles in the last three years for nothing. This is a team that has been in these kinds of games and has the coaching, talent, skill, and tenacity to know how to respond. Well done, ACC Champions!
Alan Adds:
At half time I texted Bill that the game was reminding me of the Stephen F. Austin game. Duke had no passion, shot poorly, and had defensive lapses. It was only 14 offensive first half rebounds that helped Duke to a 35-29 half time lead against Brown. Duke led Stephen F. Austin 40-34 at the half. The first five minutes of the second half against Brown was more of the same. Duke committed 5 team fouls in the first 5 minutes of the final stanza. But, unlike the SFA game, Duke changed its fortunes and stormed to a 25 point win, playing 15 minutes of solid basketball against an inferior team. Duke held Brown to 21 second half points and put the game out of reach. But it surely wasn’t pretty.
The Defense
Coach K said the game plan was to limit Brown’s point guard, Brandon Anderson (leading scorer in the Ivy League with an accurate deep shot) and forward Tamenang Choh, a potential All-Ivy forward. Anderson was 3-5 from deep in the first half, but was held without a 3 pointer in the second half. Coach K said that the game was won by the defense that Cassius Stanley and Wendel Moore played on Choh, holding him scoreless in the first half, and to 4 total points in the game, while forcing him into 5 turnovers. Even though there were some lapses, mostly in the first half when interior Brown passing led to several open layups when Duke’s interior doubles were sloppy, Brown did only score 50 points in the game. The first half lacked the talk that the coach said returned in the latter part of the second half. Duke controlled the boards. Coach K singled out Alex O’Connell for two crucial contested defensive rebounds, and said he thought that was a factor in Alex’s sparkling offensive second half. The superior Blue Devil athletes blocked 9 shots and made 13 steals.
The Offense
Painful is the adjective that jumps to mind. Duke came back to campus two days before the game and had only two practices. K’s assessment: “It looked like we had not played or practiced.” There were players cutting to the basket when the pass was to the spot vacated, and the team was generally sloppy with the ball. Some of that may have had to do with Tre’s absence, but more likely it was the time away from the game. Seth Greenberg (The Great Pontificator) said the two toughest games of a season are the one before Xmas and the one after. The offense was a tale of two different halves (especially if you put the first five minutes of the second half with the first half). Vernon Carey scored 19 points – 10 in the first half while playing 14 minutes. He scored Duke’s first 8 points in the second half but added only 1-2 from the line for the last 16:28 of the game. Duke was 0-10 from behind the arc, shooting 32% from the field in the opening stanza. Painful.
Then Wendell Moore and Alex O’Connell took over the Duke offense. After being held scoreless in 12 first half minutes, Moore exploded for 10 in the second half on 5-8 from the field to go with 4 boards, 2 assists and 3 steals in 15 minutes. Alex was even better after an undistinguished 6 first half minutes (0-5; 0-2 from deep and 2-2 from the line), when he torched Brown for 12 second half points on 4-5 from the field including 2-2 from deep and 2-2 from the line to go with 3 boards that Coach K so admired. Matt Hurt’s 6 points on 3-4 and Jack White’s 3 points accounted for all 40 of Duke’s second half points.
The Rotation
Jordan Goldwire played 32 minutes to lead the team in minutes played. Coach K praised him. He said he and Alex played like juniors. The coach pointed out that JGold had a poor first half and had let Brown “speed him up”, but that he stayed composed in the second half and provided leadership and defense.
I had said to Bill that Joey Baker turned into a pumpkin like Cinderella in this game, but Coach K had a better way to explain Baker’s disappointing outing (2 points in the first half on 1-5 from the field in 14 minutes and only 3 minutes on the court in the second half). He had “starter’s disease”. He wanted so badly to prove he deserved the start that he put extra pressure on himself and did not play his game. Coach K said that after being told he would start, he couldn’t hit a shot in practice either. Nobody is giving up on this sweet shooter.
The second half rotation is pretty interesting. In the second half, Stanley played 8 minutes, DeLaurier 7, White 6 and Joey 3. Carey played 11. Alex had the most second half minutes (17) while Goldwire and Moore logged (15), Hurt 14 and Carey 11.
Closing Thoughts
This is unlike any Duke team I can remember. No player (except Carey) has been consistent. Each has great stretches or great games, and then disappears or disappoints at other times. It is deeper than any team I remember (since the ’99 team). Coach K reaffirmed it is old school. He analogized what he seeks by reference to the playground games we all played and remember. If your team didn’t win, you sat. There was natural communication because you wanted to play in the next game, which only happened if you won. You had to play together and figure out your teams strengths and weaknesses on the fly. He emphasized, YOU TALKED. Coach K is hoping to develop that and with it the elusive consistency.
Next Play
ACC play begins. Dec. 31 vs BC. A great end to 2019.
DUKE 88 – BOSTON COLLEGE 49
Once again, Duke started sluggishly on offense and for a time it looked as though we were in for another grind-it-out, defensive battle while waiting and hoping for a patented Duke run that would put the game on cruise control and determine the outcome. With seven minutes left in the half, the Blue Devils led just 21-12. Then, Matthew Hurt hit a flurry of threes, worked hard on the offensive glass, and fueled a 15-3 run. Soon, it was 45-19 at the break. Looking at the box score, it appeared to be a total team effort as no one played more than 26 minutes–10 players played at least 12 minutes, 11 players scored at least 3 points, 7 players hit (this is not fake news) 3-pointers.
However, as we turn the calendar page and start ACC play, it is apparent that currently the team’s success revolves around the twin axis strengths of Tre Jones and Vernon Carey plus eight interchangeable parts (depending on matchups and who’s hot) of Hurt, Stanley, Moore, Baker, O’Connor, Goldwire, reliable center sub DeLaurier, and junk yard dog Jack White. Tonight, it was Hurt, who stood out. The game before that it was AOC, before that Joey Buckets, before that Stanley, before that Moore. So far, the interchangeable eight have only been consistent in their inconsistency. I think that Hurt, if he is physically and mentally strong enough, has so much versatile talent, will have the best chance to become a third constant starter –as well as Stanley, if he figures out how talented he really is and becomes less deferential. And Baker has already demonstrated he has rapidly become a much more complete, aggressive player, even playmaker, than anyone had imagined and may be the designated sixth man. O’Connell is just too ethereal to be counted upon as a starter but as a spot player can morph into a game changer. Goldwire has improved offensively but is a situational sub. Co-captains DeLaurier and White are reliable, well-known quantities who have earned spot duty playing time–not a bad mix of talent from which to choose.
Back in the days before one-and-done players, we had four years to watch players develop and mature. Now, in some cases, we have four months. Until some one or two or three demonstrate that they are consistently reliable in all phases of the game—or at least can reliably hit threes and free throws– we will probably see Coach K actually coach the old fashion way—really use more than six or seven players, and substitute aggressively by feel and intuition. In the meantime, Duke’s depth can wear teams down by bringing players off the bench with little or no drop-off. As Krzyzewski commented: “It’s a team where everybody knows that what they do can contribute to winning and that it’s important.”
While we are talking about improving and maturing, the stoic but studious Vernon Carey, Duke’s most prolific and impressive freshman, has recently been a much more active, tenacious, and effective defender and rim protector. The flip side of that is the sad case of Derryck Thornton, the former highly touted Duke point guard with a stage father who was unhappy with how his son was developing and is now at his third college (Duke, USC, and B.C.) without having developed any NBA skills.
Coach K’s retrospective on Duke Basketball’s last decade:
“We won four ACC tournament titles. The main thing we won was two national titles and being No. 1 seeds a number of years. It’s a hell of a decade. It is our best decade of the four decades that I have been here because it has been the most consistent. When you average 30 wins and seven losses in 10 seasons, c’mon. We are not going to get caught up on regular season or we didn’t win enough tournament titles. During that time we got eliminated a couple times in the first round of the NCAA but we went for it. We have gone for it. We have gone for the national championship. This team has a long way to go before they can do that. But, if we can keep going, we would like that to be how this team is judged… The other thing for the 10 years, we had a different team each year. It wasn’t bringing the same backcourt or the same quarterback. We have a different team each year. It is a hell of a thing. I am proud of these guys that have played for me for the 40 years that I have been there. But this decade I am really proud because it is a new age. It is a new age and to stay in the hunt every year is a hell of a thing. All of my guys have made it possible for me to have that opportunity and I am proud of them.”
Mike Krzyzewski is in his 40th season as Duke’s head coach, and his record is now 1,071-286 at Duke, and 1,143-345 overall in this, his 45th season overall. Duke is now 899-162 all-time when playing at Cameron Indoor Stadium, including 541-67 under Coach K. Duke closes the decade with a record of 300-70 (.811).
Alan Adds:
It is hard not to be filled with admiration and expectation as we watch this “old school” team grow and develop. I cannot remember a Duke team that genuinely goes 10 deep. To reinforce the importance of Coach K’s insight that Bill quoted above, each of the 10 players knows that he is capable of contributing to a Duke win on any given night. Last night’s rout of BC was illuminating, and sparked by one of the best halves of basketball any Blue Devil team has played. While BC, without its star, does not have the ACC horses to compete, The Eagles were still 2-0 in the conference coming in, with wins over Wake at home and Notre Dame by a point in South Bend. Not an ACC contender, but not The Little Sisters of the Poor either.
Coach K (admiringly): “We played like we practiced. They were talking more and had good energy. We pushed the ball.” Duke’s good energy comes in part from playing 10 players with meaningful minutes. This team is always fresh because of the substitution patterns. Everyone contributed.
The first half
The game was absolutely over by half time; so it is worth looking at the first half in some depth. The score really does tell the tale: Duke 45 – BC 19. First, and most important, was the return of Tre Jones on both ends of the court. Encouragingly, he played 16 first half minutes, shutting down BC’s guards, handing out 6 assists without a turnover and grabbing four rebounds. While his shot was a little off (2-6; 1-3 from deep), he made some passes that were simply breathtaking. His leadership is palpable. Welcome back, Tre.
The defense was as good as it has been all year. BC scored just 19 points in the first 20 minutes. BC had very few open shots on the perimeter. When BC did penetrate, the rim protection provided by Carey and Javin bordered on the spectacular. Coach K admired that the team was talking more on defense, especially Matt Hurt. The Devils forced 10 turnovers and allowed BC only 3 assists on 8 made baskets. Moreover, BC barely got to the free throw line – only 3 free throws (2-3). It was really impressive. The depth allowed the Devils to be intensely energetic; BC simply couldn’t handle the pressure.
On offense, Matt had a breakout game, notching 20 first half points in 15 minutes. He actually outscored BC by himself in the opening stanza (20-19)! Coach K said, Matt has been playing well in the last few games, but this half was other worldly (8-11 from the field including 4-6 from deep) to go with 3 rebounds and a steal. Coach K said Matt has gained weight and is stronger, adding to his confidence. His spectacular play limited Jack White to just 3 first half minutes. The remaining 25 first half points were spread about equally: Wendell Moore (off the bench) scored 6 (2-3 from the field and 2-2 from the line) in 13 minutes to go with 4 rebounds and 3 assists; Carey scored 5 (2-3 from the field but only 1-3 from the line) and grabbed 3 boards in 12 minutes; Joey Baker (off the bench) played 12 excellent minutes even though he was 0-2 from behind the arc. He made 2 delicious drives to account for his 4 points. Alex was 1-2 from deep in his 6 minutes, and Cassius had a dunk in 3 shots for 2 points in his 9 minutes. Tre’s 5 points made up Duke’s 45 points. DeLaurier (8 minutes), JGold (6 minutes) and White (3 minutes) did not score.
Consistency
Much of the commentary this season has been about Duke’s inconsistency – different players having big games and moments and then disappearing in the next games. Coach K made some interesting points about consistency. He said in other sports, it only counted if you won the game to determine consistency. Teams in those sports all went through bad moments during the game – a pitcher giving up 4 runs in an inning or a quarterback throwing the crucial interception — but in those sports consistency was determined by only one thing – winning. Coach K said Duke’s consistency has been in its winning this year. Duke is 12-1 and has moved into 2nd place in the national polls. This team has grown – and fascinatingly is still growing – into a team far more deserving of that high ranking than when it was ranked # 1 earlier. This is really a different Duke team from the recent ones, and has, in my opinion, a huge potential upside. It really is old school watching Coach K integrate the skills of the team into a National contender. Stay tuned.
Next Play: Saturday night at Miami. First ACC road game. We all know ACC road games are just different.
DUKE 95 – MIAMI 62
It’s too early in the season to tell if Duke is this good or the opponents are that bad. I do know that Coach Jim Larranaga is a very, very good basketball coach and Chris Lyke is a very talented, even lethal, and exciting college player. However, when Jay Bilas, who watches as much college basketball as anyone and has the qualifications to evaluate it properly says that because of Vernon Carey and the depth of talent, Duke has the most upside of any team this year, you have to believe this Blue Devil team may really be developing into something special.
Tonight, after another sluggish start (take it from me because ESPN chose to show the overtime of the exciting Buffalo-Houston NFL game even though it was on a free channel) and with Tre Jones on the bench with two fouls, Duke just methodically ground down and dominated the Hurricanes at both ends of the floor to lead 50-36 at the break. The Blue Devils hit a 60 percent from the field, 43 per cent threes, while holding Miami to under 40 percent from the field and 2-for-12 from beyond the arc. Vernon Carey, playing against the school where his father was an All-American offensive lineman, had 24 pts & 9 rebs in 25 minutes, Stanley 20 points in 26 minutes. Duke dominated Miami 41-24 on the boards, while forcing 15 turnovers,. when we went to the bench we didn’t drop, at times we ascended. Matthew Hurt is adjusting to the physicality of college ball. He is becoming more than just a finesse scorer. Tonight, he had 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks to go along with 6-for-8 shooting. You cannot underestimate what impact assistant coaches Nate James, Chris Carawell, Jon Schyer, and Nolan Smith, all of whom were talented and heady players in their prime, have in personally suiting up and schooling these talented young players in the nuances of the game.
- First Semester Report Card:
- Vernon Carey A+. Better than advertised. Only irreplaceable piece of the puzzle. Terrific, soft touch. Improving defensively. Very analytical, very smart.
- Tre Jones A. The leader of the Pack (er Devils). Mature beyond years. Sets the standard for maturity, defense, intensity, and focus.
- Cassius Stanley B – Lots of untapped talent. Too nice and deferential. Getting more aggressive.
- Matthew Hurt B. If he gets stronger and tougher, look out! Takes this team to another level.
- Joey Baker B. Surprise, surprise. The former Joey Buckets becoming a much more versatile, valuable player. Now his jump shot needs to come back from vacation.
- Wendell Moore C+. Lot of versatile talent for his size. Very good defensively. Needs to relax and let game come to him more.
- Jordan Goldwire B+. Huge improvement on offense. Valuable sub.
- Alex O’ Connell C+. getting better defensively but still offensively erratic.
- Javin DeLaurier B+. Tough veteran. Ready, willing, and able to fill in at a moment’s notice.
- Jack White B+. Tough veteran. Ready, willing, and able to fill in at a moment’s notice.
Coach K comments: “Talking (communicating) is the music of the game. This team is getting better at that and it is showing in their defense. We have more depth and when we went to the bench we didn’t drop, at times we ascended. Our guys just played really hard and shared the ball. With 23 assists, it was nice to see. But how hard we’re playing defensively, it’s something we’ve worked on since September, so they keep getting better at it. Jordan Goldwire was a key guy tonight. When Tre (Jones) got his second foul—I’ll play a guy with two fouls in the first half, but when I took him out, I’d thought I’d bring him back with about five minutes to go but J-Gold was doing such a good job that we were able not to do that. Wendell’s (Moore) ball pressure was outstanding. Our guys played well. It’s tough to single out one of them when they all did a good job.” On the team’s improving ability to share the ball: “We’re driving the ball. It’s not just Tre driving. In the last couple of games a couple of our best passes have come from Joey (Baker), who you would not think is a driver. Cassius (Stanley) is driving to score a little bit more which is great and Wendell when he’s getting in there he’s not losing the ball, he’s also kicking. C-Well (assistant coach Chris Carrawell) has been working a lot on our guys making stronger drives and kicks, and it’s paying off.”
A word about North Carolina’s basketball sudden fall from grace: Roy Williams, who is a very loyal, honest, hardworking man and who is Tar Heel born and bred and embodies “The Carolina Way”, has always been in a very difficult, even thankless, situation as head coach at UNC. He reluctantly left Kansas, where he was very much appreciated, to rescue Carolina from the malaise of a decade of miscast coaches Guthridge and Doherty attempting the thankless task of following in the footsteps of Dean Smith, who had achieved saint like status in Tar Heel Land, only to find himself competing with the juggernaut program of rough-around-the-edges, feisty but respected Coach Mike Krzyzewski had built just 12 miles away at hated rival Duke and who was on his way to shattering Dean’s and all other coaching records. Nevertheless, Roy won two National Championships and under any other circumstances, would be appreciated, even, revered.
Alan Adds:
When a team scores 95 points as Duke did last night against Miami, one might expect an in-depth analysis to start with the offense. In recognition that Miami’s defense does not quite reach the competence level of yelling “Woo!” as the opponent drives by or elevates for an open shot, I want to emphasize the value of Duke’s amazing defensive effort last night. It is obvious this team is making huge growth strides on both ends of the court as the season progresses. Last night was a hymn to that progress. Still, let us remember that while a win on the road in the ACC is always welcome, Duke has been competing against the ACC’s least formidable teams. Virginia Tech managed only 39 points last night against UVA. BC has been so bad for so long that a good coach’s job is in jeopardy there. Miami is near the bottom of the entire NCAA in defensive stats. So delirium at this superb performance still needs to be tempered.
Duke played its full complement of 10 and completely wore Miami down and out. J. Robinson played only 2 minutes, but led the team in points and blocks per minute with 3 points and a block. It was that kind of night.
Duke did not take a double-digit lead in this game until there was only 2:25 remaining in the first half and stretched it to 14 on Matt Hurt’s 3 as the first half closed. Duke’s defense was like an anaconda, squeezing the energy, enthusiasm and life out of the Miami offense. And squeeze the Blue Devils did. 8 of Miami’s 26 second half points came at the stripe. The Devils limited the Hurricanes to only 4 well defended 3 point attempts in that stanza (0-4) and only 3 assists on 9 field goals while forcing 9 turnovers (5 steals and 2 blocks). Coach K said his team played very well on defense. Then he corrected himself and said they played very, very, very well (“I have to add two verys.”).
Special kudos to JGold and Tre who limited Miami’s star point guard, Chris Lykes to 0-6 in the second half (2-15 for the game). Duke outrebounded Miami 20-10 (limiting the Hurricanes to 4 offensive boards in the closing stanza). Coach K said it was hard to single out individual players because the team played so well, but Wendell Moore, Joey Baker and Matt Hurt earned individual praise.
Interestingly, Tre, who was limited to 8 first half minutes by picking up two fouls, and JGold each played 14 second half minutes. Goldwire did not score in the second half but dished out 3 assists without a turnover and played scintillating defense. They were on the floor together for 8 second half minutes. Goldwire’s efficiency limited Alex to only 3 second half minutes. Coach K said he would have brought Tre back with 5 minutes to go in the first half, but Goldwire was playing so well that Tre remained on the bench, playing only 8 first half minutes. He was a star, of course, in the closing stanza.
The Offense
Carey (24 points in 25 minutes) and Cassius Stanley (16 first half point in 17 minutes) carried the offense in the first half. However, I believe much of Duke’s dramatic improvement in recent games is based on the emergence of Matt Hurt as a force on both ends of the court. He is shooting lights out (taking good shots), rebounding, defending and passing. He is playing superb all-around basketball as his stat line last night demonstrates. In 27 minutes, he scored 13 points (6-8 from the field including 1-2 from deep) to go with 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks without committing a foul. His emergence has limited Jack White’s playing time, though White continues to play valuable minutes. He and Javin each played 13 minutes.
Coach K pointed out that Duke is driving and kicking out for good shots. Stanley has been impressive. Joey Baker has not hit from deep lately but has been driving and making great passes. He logged 15 minutes. Wendell is holding on to the ball better (under the tutelage of Chris Carrawell). Carey has been a revelation in the post. Javin didn’t score from the field but was 4-4 from the line while committing only 1 foul.
Next Play
Georgia Tech (fresh from a shocking win over UNC in the Deandome yesterday) in Atlanta on Wednesday night in a late (9pm EST) game.
DUKE 73- GEORGIA TECH 64
Duke was challenged tonight by being denied their favorite default scoring option of throwing the ball to Vernon Carey in the low post whenever they need a basket, because he was neutralized, even outplayed, by James Banks and by Moses Wright, who combined for 25 rebounds, 7 blocks, and 26 points. So, Tre Jones (16 pts; 8 rebs, 7 assts, 4 stls) celebrated his 20th birthday by rallying his team, then closing out the Yellow Jackets by either scoring himself or passing to Cassius Stanley for a series of what only could be described as Michael Jordan/Grant Hill sensational, gravity defying dunks to win a tough ACC game on the road. Otherwise, it was a manic-depressive game for Duke fans, of whom there were many cheering “Go Duke!’ as the Blue Devils started both halves playing young and sloppy followed by settling down and playing lock down defense to fuel binge scoring.
In the first half run, AOC and Hurt hit threes to help build a 40-29 half time lead. However, the second half opened with missed shots, sloppy offense, and a few questionable calls as Duke went almost six minutes without a point. Suddenly, the Blue Devils were down 53-50 on the road. As Coach K explained: “In the second half, they came out and we gave them nine quick points and it looked like the whole thing was going to turn. Our kids showed some amazing toughness. They really hung in there. Cassius, who was not playing as well as he has been, played great. He responded [by] coming off the bench after a timeout and made some sensational plays. I just think our kids were real tough.”
Good teams—and this is a very good, talented, deep team just growing into themselves– wear an opponent down and finds a way to win games like this. However, missing 10 free throws makes that task all the more difficult. Every player except for starter Joey Baker, who got an early hook and never returned, contributed. His replacement Alex O’Connell was at his best supplying energy and production both offensively and defensively but did not play much in the second half as down the stretch Coach K went with Goldwire, co-captains White and DeLaurier. Javin, in particular, delivered by protecting the rim, rebounding, and draining free throws that put Duke up by six with less than a minute remaining. Oddly enough, Duke shot just about fifty per cent from the floor, three point line, and free throw line. The last one has been the Achilles Heel of the last few teams and needs to be a consistent 70% and above.
Alan Adds:
What I most admire about the 2019-2020 Blue Devils is that the whole is so much more than the sum of its parts. That fact was fully on display last night as Duke beat a highly motivated and talented Georgia Tech team. In the final analysis, Duke overcame being beaten up inside by stronger interior Yellow Jackets with tenacious defense and superb performances by its role players – Alex O’Connell in the first half; and Jack White and Javin DeLaurier in the closing moments. Jordan Goldwire entered the game with 3 minutes gone and played every moment thereafter. The stalwart starters did not disappoint – Carey was heroic fighting the bigger stronger Banks and Wright on the interior while also scoring; Hurt and Stanley had crucial valuable moments with big plays; and Tre Jones led the scoring, making crucial baskets throughout but especially at crunch time. This team is much more than the sum of its parts.
Both halves had a similar pattern. Tech’s bigs were dominant inside for the first part of each stanza. Duke took back control in the closing minutes of each. Duke did not lead in the first half until 7:35 remained in the first half (if you don’t count a 25 second 6-5 lead), when Javin put home a slam. The litmus was, in my opinion, the foul trouble for the Tech bigs. Moses Wright, who was a force, picked up his third with 5:06 to go. Banks, who had 7 blocks in the game, picked up his second with more than 9 minutes left. Tech’s inside dominance receded, Duke’s defense was outstanding, and the Devils rolled to the 11-point lead at the break.
The second half told the tale. Tech was again ferocious, controlling the paint, forcing Duke turnovers, and had the crowd in a frenzy. Duke trailed 53-50 with 11:37 left in the game. Duke’s defense began to assert itself while the offense continued in disarray until there was 8:59 left. Still 53-50, when Coach K put Jack White in the game. He blocked at Wright dunk attempt, which led to Cassius’s highlight dunk and foul shot to tie the game. White hit a 3 to put Duke up by 1. The game was tied at 61 with 5:20 to go. Tech never made another field goal. Duke defended, and Tech simply ran out of gas. Duke’s depth prevailed.
With 3:11 left, Duke led by 2 (66-64) after Banks made 2 free throws. Those were Tech’s last points. Tre was a true leader down the stretch, hitting a mid-range miracle for 68-64 with only 2:23 left. Coach K then made the substitution of the game, Javin for Carey. Javin then proceeded to win the game for Duke. He blocked a dunk attempt by Wright, contested Wright’s put back and blocked Banks, who had grabbed the rebound and was attempting the put back. Then he grabbed the rebound (finally) and was fouled. He went to the line with 55 seconds left and made them both to give Duke a 6 point lead with 55 seconds left. What a sequence! Javin grabbed another key rebound with 30 seconds to go and the Devils were finally home free. White and Javin gave Duke the needed toughness to neutralize Wright and Banks. The whole is bigger than the sum of the parts.
The second half rotation also tells the tale. Georgia Tech played its 4 stalwarts all 20 minutes of the second half and used only 6 players. As the Yellow Jacket coach said in his post-game, Tech got tired at the end. Duke’s defense and depth wore Tech out. For Duke, Goldwire and Tre played all 20 minutes. Carey logged 14 minutes (2-7; 1-2 from the line for 5 points and 3 boards. 2 turnovers); Cassius (8 points on 3-5 and 2-2 from the line to go with 2 key rebounds) and Hurt (1-4; 1-2 from deep for 3 points, a rebound, an assist, a block and a steal) each played 15 minutes. Javin’s heroics came in only 6 second half minutes while White played only 5. Yet they won the game for Duke.
It was a solid team win in an ACC road game. Ask UVA about ACC road games as BC ran them out of the gym in Boston.
Next Play: Wake Forest in Cameron at 8 pm on Saturday, January 11.
Duke 90 – Wake Forest 59
Apparently, it’s really a simple game: “To get your game right, get your threads right”.
The Duke broke out the fifth (and hands down best) of their six new Nike-provided uniforms for their first ACC home game of 2020 and the result was the 900th win in Cameron Indoor Stadium. Wearing their new Gothic Theme, Brotherhood Scheme (Nolan Smith’s idea) navy blue uniforms and shoes, these Blue Devils never looked or played better as they totally dominated Wake Forest in all phases of the game. They had more steals (11) than Wake Forest had assists (8). Add 8 Duke blocks, shoot about 50% from all areas of the floor, force 17 Deacon turnovers, limit the Deac’s to 42% shooting, and you have a stone cold a blow-out.
“I love my team. They listen. They all want to get better. They’re really a great group of kids. All of them are getting better. “We’re a different team than we’ve been. Why would we be a team that we’re not? In other words, why would we do something that was successful in the past that wouldn’t be for this group?
What impresses me the most is that the team is becoming more offensively balanced and less Vernon Carey centered. If Tre Jones can consistently shoot anything approaching the range that he did tonight; if Hurt continues to get tougher inside to go with his shooting rage; Stanley plays with more confidence and aggression, Goldwire can hit a few shots to keep the defense honest; Baker and O’Connor continue to improve; DeLaurier and White play tough; Moore’s hand heals quickly; and everyone stays healthy, the path for a memorable season is there for the taking.
However, next week will be a better test– a trap game @ Clemson and a tough test against Louisville.
Other Comments:
While it may be a simple game, I cannot understand these players can hit half their shots from beyond the new, wider three point line, and only hit 50% of uncontested shots from the free throw line.
The win kept alive a lot of streaks. Duke is 5-0 in the ACC and has won 9 straight overall. Duke has won 11 straight against Wake Forest, 19 of 20, 22 straight in Cameron.
Alan Adds:
Duke came pretty close to playing a perfect first half, especially on the defensive end, demonstrating in its play, what Coach K’s vision is for the growth of his team. Coach K explained how he wants his players thinking about themselves and the team:
“We don’t have a rotation. All our guys should consider themselves starters. Because you are not playing behind anybody. When someone comes in you do not have to be the guy you came in for. All you have to do is be you. Then we have a little bit of a different look. And that’s the thing we’ve tried to build our team on. And, defensively, we have more athleticism so we can pressure the ball better and move it down the court a little bit more. So, you have different looks by having different people in the game. It just happens.
Everyone on our team knows he is important. None of them are complementary players. All are good basketball players. And when they are in there, they need to think of themselves as starting players.
“It’s just how are team is — a collection of guys hopefully doing enough to come up with a big-time win.”
The first half statistics demonstrates how well each of the Devils played and why the whole of this team exceeds the sum of its parts. Let’s look first at those who replaced the starters. While Carey started and played 13 minutes (5 points on 2-4 from the field and 1-4 from the line to go with his 4 rebounds and a block), DeLaurier also scored 5 (2-2 from the floor; 1-2 from the line to go with 2 boards and 2 blocks) in only 7 minutes. Joey Baker scored 8 points in 7 minutes (3-3 from the field, including 2-2 from deep) Baker and Alex (only 3 minutes and a steal) were in for the 2 minutes that Cassius sat (7 points on 3-6 from the field; 1-2 from deep; 3 rebounds; an assist and a steal), the 2 minutes that Tre sat (he led the team in scoring with 11 points) and the 5 minutes Goldwire was not on the floor. Jack White played 11 minutes (4 points with a made 3 and 1-2 from the line) while Matt Hurt scored 5 (2-3, including 1-2 from deep and 2 rebounds) in only 8 minutes.
The Duke backcourt was sensational. Tre had his best game of the year, becoming a scoring machine. In the second half he scored 12 points in 9 minutes (5-6 including 2-2 from deep) but let us continue analyzing the amazing first half. Tre scored the first 5 points of the game and the last 4 of the half (in the final 15 seconds). He was 5-9 in the first half, including 1-2 from deep to go with 4 assists without a turnover, 3 rebounds, 2 steals and a block. He and JGold played amazing defense. Goldwire had 1 more assist than Tre (5) while scoring 4 points and getting a steal.
The Defense
Duke had more steals (6) than Wake had assists (4). The Devils forced 12 Wake turnovers, which led to 13 Duke points. Wake did not score a fast break point or a second chance point! Duke’s big men protected the rim and were amazingly athletic in switching the ball screens and still keeping position to defend the Wake bigs who rolled to the basket. Wake had only 6 points in the paint. Duke has played defense like this before, but it is still a privilege to watch a team play cohesive and cooperative defense that way.
The deep rotation allows each player to go all out on every play. How about Joey Baker diving for a loose ball going out of bounds when Duke had a 30-point lead with just a few minutes left. That dive was emblematic of the Duke defensive desire and intensity.
The Offense
The ball moved. The players moved. Duke shot well because the shot selection was so good. The Devils were creating good, very good and excellent shot opportunities. A contested shot was rare. Duke was 6-10 from deep in the first half (but only 3-9 from the stripe), and 14-22 from inside the arc. It was sweet to watch.
Next Play: Clemson in Death Valley on Tuesday (Jan. 14) at 7 pm. The Tigers will be coming off their first ever win at UNC (0-59 before yesterday) and will be facing Duke the day after the football team meets LSU for the National Championship. Clemson is traditionally tough in Littlejohn. This is a classic trap game, an ACC road game just before a ballyhooed meeting in Cameron on Saturday [ESPN Game Day is I Durham]. Next Saturday Jan. 18), Duke meets Louisville in Cameron in the first really crucial game of the ACC season. The winner will have a definite leg up in the regular season race.
Duke The Best School For Student-Athletes In The USA
Duke Ranked Top College for Student-Athletes
January 8, 2020
DURHAM, N.C. – According to the 2020 best college rankings by Niche, Duke University is ranked the No. 1 school for student-athletes in America.
Duke finished among the top-5 in numerous other categories, including No. 1 for public policy, No. 3 for best value, No. 4 for best professors and No. 6 in both top private university and best college by the organization.
Niche’s rankings are based on rigorous analysis of key statistics from the U.S. Department of Education and millions of reviews.
Duke Athletics finished last season ranked ninth in the Learfield IMG Directors’ Cup Standings by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics and sent 48 student-athletes and 16 teams to NCAA action, highlighted by the women’s golf team winning its seventh NCAA title.
Academically, a total of 17 Duke teams achieved a 100 percent graduation success rate: men’s basketball, women’s cross country/track & field, men’s fencing, women’s fencing, field hockey, men’s golf, women’s golf, men’s lacrosse, women’s lacrosse, rowing, men’s soccer, women’s soccer, men’s swimming and diving, men’s tennis, women’s tennis, volleyball and wrestling.
Duke also made history last year, setting an ACC record with 519 ACC Academic Honor Roll selections. The Blue Devils have led the conference in honorees for 31 of the previous 32 years. The Honor Roll is comprised of varsity student-athletes who registered a grade point average of 3.0 or better for the full academic year.
DUKE 72 – CLEMSON 79
My final comments on the Wake Forest game: “The path for a memorable season is there for the taking. However, next week will be a better test– a trap game @ Clemson and a tough test against Louisville.” Clemson gets an A. Duke a D. When you miss ten free throws, blow two uncontested layups and several other that were contested, allow an opponent to shoot 57%, and two players to have career games, it’s difficult to win on the road (or anywhere else). Teams are double teaming Vernon Carey and forcing him to pass, which is a strength. However, his teammates must make themselves available and make shots. Unfortunately, Matthew Hurt’s lack of strength and mediocre to poor defense often results in his watching the action from the bench and the supporting cast is suddenly depleted. Tonight, Jack White, whose savvy and toughness are never a liability and who recently found his three point shot, replaced Hurt for most of the second half. Look for him to play more minutes while Moore and Baker are unavailable.
Coach K summed it up: “Clemson played a great game and have been playing so well. To beat NC State and win at North Carolina we knew that Brad [Brownell] team’s always play outstanding defense. Good tough, kids, good players and it’s tough to score against them — and they were that tonight. We knew coming into the game that the four and the five were the positions we had to defend. In our last game, we didn’t do a good job at the four and the five and we didn’t do a good job tonight. [Aamir] Simms and [Tevin] Mack were terrific and it’s a different offense to defend, but Simms was spectacular tonight and how he controlled the game. We got knocked back right away. Our kids have to understand how hard it is to win and we’ve been winning, but when you’re in conference, people are hungry, and if you win a lot sometimes you’re not as much as the other team. We missed layups and then in the second half we started pressing and that got us a short lead and then we missed free throws that could’ve given us a two possession lead, but I’m not blaming our guys because Vernon had to work so hard for that. Clemson was more deserving of winning tonight. We almost got it in the second half, but overall they played better than we did. One of the reasons we’ve been good is that we had depth,” Krzyzewski said “but we have two kids (Moore, a broken hand and Baker, a sprained ankle) out right now on the perimeter. I saw it a little bit in the last game and tonight you definitely saw that we are not as good without that depth.”
Other Observations:
Exchange with a former Duke player: This “old fashion team” is not ready for prime time. Desultory defense and casual passing is recipe for disaster. Time for K to tear off his jacket and throw down his clip border! You guys called it. A trap game for sure! As we‘ve talked, Carey is a liability in close games. We will probably see more “hack a shack “ in future close games. Very disappointing in a very good player.
Alan Adds:
I closed the most recent Alan Adds with the following prescient comment: “Next Play: Clemson in Death Valley on Tuesday (Jan. 14) at 7 pm. The Tigers will be coming off their first ever win at UNC (0-59 before yesterday) and will be facing Duke the day after the football team meets LSU for the National Championship. Clemson is traditionally tough in Littlejohn. This is a classic trap game, an ACC road game just before a ballyhooed meeting in Cameron on Saturday [ESPN Game Day is I Durham].” (In red in that post)
If you watch a rewind of the beginning of the game, you will see the Duke attitude, contrasted with Clemson’s, had “trap” all over it. Clemson came out simply dripping with fighting emotion. You could see the Tiger players were sky high, pumped up, in a virtual frenzy. The Duke players were calm and (over) confident. Nobody was jumping around or pumped up. The Duke stats – rated first in Ken Pomeroy’s rankings; the only team in the top 10 statistically in both offense and defense; nationally formidable in steals; blocks and assists—were so impressive. Moreover, Clemson was 8-7 and probably due for deflation after winning in Chapel Hill. In the opening minutes it was crystal clear that all the emotion and energy came from the Tigers, while the Blue Devils confidently waited for (and expected) Clemson to fold.
Instead it was Duke that folded. It was Duke, whose interior defensive weakness was exposed. Duke’s depth was non-existent and it was the Devils that were worn out down the stretch. Bill’s analysis and Coach K’s quotes were right on: Duke is not defending the on the interior “we didn’t do a good job at 4 and 5”. In games where Duke has struggled, that has been true throughout the season. Duke can overcome that weakness when its defense shuts down the perimeter, forces turnovers and gets a fair share of blocks to protect the rim. All of that was dramatically missing from the Blue Devil arsenal last night. Let’s look at the second half, where Duke’s press had turned the game around and allowed the Blue Devils to take the lead. Duke led by 62-59 with 6:36 left in the game, and only trailed by 65-64 with4:19 left when the wheels came off. In my opinion, the Devils were simply worn out. They could no longer press, which is what got them a 3 point lead after trailing by 9. Carey turned it over, Tre missed 2 in a row, White missed a foul shot (but at least he had made the first), and the Duke could not get a stop while committing foul after foul. Those are the indications of a tired team.
In the closing stanza, Duke was 4-11 from the foul line (Carey was 2-7), outrebounded 21-12, corralled only a single offensive rebound while committing 11 fouls. This was a tired team down the stretch. With Baker and Moore out, Duke had only 8 available of its core. However, there were not 8 contributors: Alex played only a single second half minute; Hurt played only 5; and DeLaurier only 7. Collectively those three not only failed to score, but did not even attempt a field goal. Stanley picked up 2 quick fouls (total of 4), which not only required him to sit, but removed his aggressiveness when he did return to the game. His defense suffered because he understood that his team could not afford him to foul out. Tired teams miss free throws. Carey played hard – he has simply great hands – but had no help on the interior. Coach K tried everything – he played DeLaurier and Carey together; he had 3 bigs on the court at times, but his team was gassed down the stretch.
While the loss is disappointing, I believe it will have the requisite silver lining. When Duke was shocked by Stephen F Austin, after displaying the same over confidence, the team grew by leaps and bounds. I believe this game, and the return of depth, will have a similar impact. Perhaps the best takeaway from this game was the emergence of Jack White in the second half. In 17 minutes, he scored 9; (3-4; 2-3 from deep; 1-2 from the stripe) with 2 boards and 2 steals. He adds toughness for sure. Let’s see if he can sustain that play for the remainder of his senior year.
Next Play: Duke is home against a very good Louisville team [Saturday night at 6 pm], and is likely to still be without its formidable depth. This will be a tough game, which will tell much about the heart and soul of this team.
DUKE 73 – LOUISVILLE 79
Payback!
A year ago, Louisville lost a 23 point lead with ten minutes to play to lose to the Blue Devils at The KFC Center in a devastating defeat from which they never fully recovered for the rest of the season. Tonight, they lost an early 15 point lead in raucous Cameron and with just under four minutes to play were clinging to a one-point lead when dynamic freshman point guard David Johnson, who had scored 19 points, was sidelined by a shoulder injury. But this time there was a different result. For a third straight road game, Louisville was the tougher, more poised team in the closing minutes, holding Duke scoreless for 3:24 and scoring 8 straight points to pull away. “That game last year,” Louisville coach Chris Mack said, “ was the hardest defeat I’ve ever had. You can do one of two things — either think about those ghosts and get revisited, or go and do the job. I’m really proud of our guys to be able to face what we did a year ago. That was a hard loss, man. A really, really hard loss.”
However, this was also an impressive win in a difficult venue by a very tough, mature, deep, talented team that could jump start a championship run.
There is no way to sugar coat these last two games. With the easiest ACC schedule in years, Duke came out flat against Clemson, tight and tentative against Louisville in Cameron, digging themselves a very deep hole from which to recover. Nevertheless, the Blue Devils fought back and tied the game late on multiple occasions, but could never pull ahead. Cassius Stanley had an open, potential game-tying 3-pointer with :17 seconds left but shot an air ball. However, you can hardly blame Cassius. If it wasn’t for his 24 points and 11 rebounds, the game would have been a blowout by halftime.
It was men against boys. There are five transfers and only one contributing teenager on the Cardinal roster. Any Blue Devil who thinks they are physically ready for the NBA, should review the tapes of these last two games. For this team to be a true title contender, they have to play lock-down, turnover producing defense and Vernon Carey has anchor the half-court offense down low, giving them 20 & 10. Without his inside presence, the Blue Devils are offensively challenged, because they are usually a mediocre three point and free throw shooting team. In both games, Duke was in position to close an opponent out, but were unable to score in the half court. In this game and the Stephen F. Austin game, Carey was on the bench at the end. Defense can win games but someone has to be able to put the ball in the basket. Ever since the 2015 NCAA Championship, Duke has had talented, freshman centric teams that have started the season strong but finished disappointingly. The conventional wisdom is that as the season progressed, Coach K shortened his rotation to 6 or 7 players and they wore out. Well, this year he is going 8-10 deep and they look tired before mid-season. What’s the answer? For starters, they have to play mentally and physically tougher; Vernon Carey has to play better defense, stay out of foul trouble, and on the floor at critical times; Matthew Hurt has to man up and play big not small; Joey Baker has to start scoring consistently; Cassius Stanley has to keep improving; and, hopefully, Wendell Moore returns.
Considering these stats, it was amazing the score game was this close: FG: 48% -37%; 3’s: 56%-24%; ft: 83%-72%.
Coach K compared the game to the early ‘90s Bulls and Pistons battles: “That was a brutal game. The most physical game we’ve been involved in… in years. They’re good. They’re really good. [David] Johnson was terrific in the first half. With the depth that they have and the experience – they outplayed us, especially in those first ten minutes. Our kids fought like crazy and put us in a position to win. The term “freedom of movement” was not alive and well tonight. I hope we don’t have the rest of the conference like that. That’s not good basketball. They played great – I don’t want to take away from them. For both of us, you can’t have that. The last two teams we played… we just have to get older. I’m really up on my team. It’s a long journey. I’ve never told you that we’re great. It’s a process for us, playing these two teams. Getting beat, we have to learn from it and move on. It’s a long journey.”
Alan Adds:
Overview
In the closing moments Louisville took control and looked the way Duke – at winning time –usually does. On the other hand, the Blue Devils looked the way the unranked visiting teams usually looked when they routinely collapse down the stretch – especially at Cameron. However, the demoralizing last 3:27 seconds should not completely obscure some terrific moments that Duke produced. There was “good” even though the “bad and ugly” were more prevalent and relevant for analysis.
The Good (It is shorter)
This team has real heart and showed a fighting spirit and determination last night that should not be forgotten in the disappointing loss. Duke was basically run out of its own gym in the early going. After taking an early 5-2 lead (a 3 by Hurt and a jumper by JGold), the Cardinals just took it to Duke physically. Duke turned the ball over so frequently that Louisville did not have to run a set half-court offense. In the first half, Duke turned it over with amazing frequency, gave up 26 points in the paint (while scoring only 8) and allowed 12 fast break points. The Devil bench failed to score in that half (only 5 for the entire game – a layup by White and a meaningless 3 by Baker with 3 seconds left in the game). Duke was down by as much as 15 points; and had given up 42 first half points to trail by 10 at the break.
This team fought all the way back in a game that was physically brutal. Coach K said it was played like an old Bulls v Pistons in the 1990s when Detroit was “The Bad Boys”. Nevertheless, Duke tied the score at 58 with over 8 minutes left. When Louisville retaliated and pushed the lead back to 6, the fighting Devils responded and tied the score again at 63 with 6:29 left. Although Duke never had the ball with a chance to take the lead, Duke was down only 1 (66-65) with 5:18 to go. When the Cardinals pushed it to a 6 point lead again – 71-65 with 4:27 to go, the Blue Devils still answered with 5 straight points – a 3 point play the old fashioned way by Tre plus a nifty steal and layup by Goldwire – to be down only a point with 3:27 to play. Then the wheels came off.
Both Cassius Stanley and Matt Hurt had breakout games. Stanley logged 37 minutes while scoring 24 points (6-10 from inside the arc and 90% from the foul line – 9-10) to go with 11 rebounds. He was only 1-7 from deep, however. Hurt scored 16 points (11 in the first half) in 32 minutes. He made 2 crucial second half plays – a one handed dunk on an offensive rebound; and even more crucially sunk 3-3 from the line when he cleverly drew a foul on his 3-point attempt. That tied the score at 58. While he tired (4 fouls in the second half, fouling out in the last 3 seconds), he was a force on the floor on defense. He was part of Coach K’s 2 interesting innovations to spark the Devils.
First, he went big, which worked for a while until Louisville adjusted. He used Carey in the middle with White and Hurt at the forwards and Cassius as Tre’s running mate in the backcourt. When the Cardinals ultimately stretched the lead, Coach K went to his Pony Express team (as I call them), playing Hurt and White and Stanley along with Tre and Goldwire. That is the lineup that brought Duke back into contention all the way to 3:27 to go.
The “Bad and Ugly”
The End Game and Rotation
Duke was (again) simply gassed at the end of the game. Looking at the second half rotation discloses Duke’s lack of depth and bench strength, which I believe led to the exhaustion and losing. Tre and Cassius played the whole second half (Cassius was out for less than a minute). Tre logged 39 for the game; Cassius 37. Hurt played 16 minutes; White 15 and JGold 14 (he was only out while the Big team came back and then faded) in the closing stanza. The bench was non-existent and a non-factor. Baker launched 4 shots in 4 second half minutes, making only the meaningless 3 virtually at the game ending buzzer. He did miss all of his 6 other shots in his 10 game minutes, while committing 3 fouls. Alex did not play in the second half and only logged 2 minutes in the first half (0-1). Javin has again become a non-factor even though he has stopped fouling. He played 9 minutes in the game (4 in the closing stanza) without a point, shot or rebound. He turned it over twice in his five first half minutes.
Carey played only eight second half minutes, partly because of foul trouble (he had 4 midway through the period) and partly because of his foul shooting (3-6 in the second half). Coach K appears not to trust him at the foul line at closing time. The early season depth that fueled the early season success seems to have vanished. This makes the return of Wendell Moore seem essential.
The Offense
Turnovers in the first half and terrible shooting in the second half doomed the Devils. Duke had officially 10 first half turnovers, but I think there were significantly more (only 5 assists). Worse, the turnovers led to open runouts for easy Louisville layups. Duke was 1-12 from deep in the second half (I’m not counting Baker’s 3 at the buzzer; Duke was officially 2-13) with Stanley leading the (0-4) way. Hurt, White, and Baker couldn’t hit in 5 collective attempts. Tre was 1-3. Many of those attempts were wide open. Tre scored 12 in the half, but on an inefficient 12 shots.
The Defense
There was a serious breakdown in fundamentals, especially in transition defense. Louisville got open runouts on Duke’s misses; as Duke failed to balance the court. Grievous fundamental errors. As in past games, Duke is not defending the post well. Previously, the double teams gave up easy layups. In this game, Carey (and who was defending during Carey’s 17 bench minutes) was left to defend by himself, and could not do it. The Louisville bigs got the ball in deep to score and Carey ran into foul trouble. Duke committed 9 fouls in each half, almost all by its bigs. Tre’s vaunted defense was ineffectual in the first half and really sub-par throughout.
Was this a Coach K shot at ‘Ole Roy?
“When we lose, I always credit an opponent. I don’t throw my own team under the bus ever…ever. …I’m really up on my team. It’s a long journey. I’ve never told you that we are great.” (Emphasis is mine).
Next Play: Tuesday at 7:00 pm against Miami in Cameron
DUKE 89 – MIAMI 59
It is apparent that the back-to-back loses to Clemson and Louisville may well be the inflection point for the season in that it should now be obvious to all the freshmen that teams no longer will play Duke straight up. Rather, they will smother Vernon Carey, making it difficult for him to be the 20 & 10 pillar that carries the team and forcing other players to beat them. On nights like last night, when Duke makes 11 of 25 3-pointers (44 percent), the wins come easy. When they go 6 of 25, like against Louisville, not so much. Obviously, the answer is that the burden for a successful season is for some combination of Hurt, Stanley, Baker, O’Conner , and (soon) Moore to grow up and play Big Boy Ball. Everyone plays hard and aggressive against Duke. Jones already does and Goldwire, by the way, has improved dramatically to become a very reliable, contributing starter, who plays to his strengths (more shots for others). Plus, a given for a Coach K team—consistently, good tough defense that makes for easier offense. And being strong with the ball has to be a constant, not a sometimes thing.
It appears Carey is adjusting to the new normal and Hurt is gradually utilizing all his talents and size; Stanley is a lot more than Zion-light; Baker needs to be more relaxed, under control, and consistent; but AOC is still a quixotic talent—you never know what you are going to get. Last night he got two quick hooks for inattentive plays then scored 8 points on a variety of shots in the last minutes of garbage time.
Coach K: ”We played really well. Our guys responded. We had a heck of a day yesterday with our team from 7 in the morning to 10 at night with a couple of practices, meetings, just good stuff! They grew from it – all positive. They responded. (Reflect a moment on the subtext of that quote and translate it for us). They’re fighting human nature because we beat them by a lot, but since then they’re down by only four against Louisville, probably should’ve beaten Florida State. They’ve been playing well, so we showed them stuff from those games. They were a mature team tonight. We got back to playing defense.” On Duke’s defense: “We just concentrated more on it. In our six wins, we’ve given up 60 points. In the two losses, we gave up 79. We talked to our team about that. For us to win we have to play good defense. If we’re playing that hard on defense it translates to good offense – then we’re pushing the ball. At the start of the game we had a lot of energy.
“We just played really good defense. [Chris] Lykes is a heck of a player and in the second half he showed more. We just had a couple of good games against them. He’s one of the quick scorers in the league – big time.” When asked about Duke’s energy: “They really responded to the two losses in a positive way. Our practices yesterday were excellent. Our team meetings – I think we grew a lot as a team and I think it showed today. We got a little bit of a break from competition. Wendell [Moore Jr.] still won’t be ready by next week, but that’s a week we don’t lose a game with him. That’s a good thing. It does give some of these other guys a chance – Joey [Baker] has been playing with a sprained ankle – for us to get rejuvenated after eight conference games.”
On Vernon Carey: “He has counter moves -counter moves are great if you’re doing them against one guy. I don’t think anyone has come up with a counter for double and triple teams. That’s what’s happening to him. If the three-point shooting keeps going well then, he’ll have more room. Part of the reason we have more open threes is because of Vernon. When he runs the court, people are going to go to him. That gives a window of opportunity. In Matt’s case, he was a little slower with that window earlier, so they could recover to him. His prep is quicker and if he keeps going like that – then that’s a great counter with Vern. Vern has – it’s tough to move down there. As long as he’s running – he just has to stay patient. He did a great job tonight with just running and making sure the defense had to react.”
Alan Adds:
“At the start of the game, we had a lot of energy. Second half, it was 10:30 at night and we had a big lead.” Coach K had about summed it up The first half was just one of those halves!
With 1:37 left in the opening stanza, Duke enjoyed a 29-point lead, and had held Miami to only 18 points! Duke’s offense is and was fueled by energetic defense, while Miami’s defensive game plan completely backfired. The Hurricane plan was to pack it in down low to neutralize Carey (which was successfully done) and leave the perimeter relatively open. In reality, there was nothing relative of how wide open the Hurricane left Duke shooters. Where the word relatively appeared, replace it with “completely”. The result was the best Duke 3-point shooting of the season, led by Matt Hurt’s 15 first half points (3-5 from deep), Tre was 2-4; Baker 2-3 and White 1-1 from deep. Besides Hurt’s 15, the first half scoring was balanced with 3 players scoring 6 (Tre, Carey and Baker) while 2 – Stanley and White — scored 5. Tre and JGold combined for 8 assists without a turnover, 7 rebounds and 2 steals. The defense held Miami’s best player scoreless. It was an almost perfect half, and a wonderful response to the 2 game losing streak.
Perhaps the last 2 minutes of the second half were also important for Duke’s depth. Alex O’Connell, who has been mired in sloppy ineffective play, has seen his playing time diminish to almost nothing as a result. Alex entered the game in the first half and was immediately stripped of the ball leading to a Miami runout and score. Coach K yanked him immediately; he was on the court for about 30 seconds. Coach K put him in during the second half, and Alex was again awful. He missed a 3 and committed an immediate turnover that led to another Miami runout and open layup. K yanked him again after less than a minute.
But with 3:38 left in the game, Alex received another chance and took so much advantage of it, that he may have earned his way back into the rotation. He stole the ball with 3:03 left that led to a Stanley score. In the last 2 minutes, he hit 2 jumpers and made 2 layups (the last one by running the court and receiving a “touchdown pass” from Justin Robinson to push the lead to 30. It was a helluva of last two minutes for Alex, giving him 8 points in a total of 5 minutes of action.
Next Play: Duke has a week off before meeting Jeff Capel’s revitalized Pittsburg team in Cameron at 9 pm (1-28). The week should give Baker’s ankle more healing time, revitalize the team, and keep us looking forward to Wendell Moore’s expected return in February.
DUKE 79 – PITTSBURG 67
The good news is that Vernon Carey apparently put the week off to good use—to freshen up and reflect upon how to capitalize on what opponents have recently been doing to neutralize him. While he has had nine double-doubles in sixteen games this season, tonight’s was his first since Dec. 19, 2019. Vernon was much more active and physical in establishing himself down low. When double-teamed, he demonstrated he was not only an efficient scorer with range but also a creative passer. It was his most complete game of the season, dominating in every conceivable way finishing with 26 points, 13 rebounds, 4 assists, a block, multiple altered shots (see above) in a season high 36 (ten more than normal) minutes. For Duke to be as successful as they want to be, the offense must run through Tre Jones and Vernon Carey, because the other players, while talented, are not yet consistent.
The not so good news is that as the Blue Devils were coasting to their 17th win of the season, leading 60-42 with 13:43 left, when the offense went cold and the defense played tired, allowing a 24-6 run by the Panthers that brought them within five points with six minutes left in the game. It was a text book example of inefficient offense and missed shots leading to easy buckets as every team has athletic players who love to run and score. Forward Au’Diese Toney had a career-high 27 points—20 over his average– as neither Stanley nor anyone else could neutralize him.
Just when an improbable nightmare—think Stephen F. Austin– seemed to be unfolding, Coach K called a timeout to settle and focus his team. From that point on, the Blue Devils played winning basketball: tight defense, four free throws by Hurt and Goldwire (two missed free throws by Pitt), an NBA three with time expiring by Stanley, a jumper and a dunk by Carey on a nice pass from Jones, and a late block from Jack White put an exclamation point on the win.
Only six players played double digit minutes as O’Connell and Baker are playing themselves back to a nice view from the bench. On the other hand, Jordan Goldwire has solidified his position as the fifth starter as he has added efficient offense to his defense. Tonight, he had three straight threes, scoring 13 points to go with 5 rebounds and 3 assists, and 1 steal. And Jack White, who is the toughest player on the team had 23 minutes off the bench. His 6 points, 3 rebounds, 1 block, 1 steal does not do justice to the stabilizing force he provides to his team at critical times.
OTHER COMMENTS:
Former Duke player and assistant coach Jeff Capel has his Pitt Panthers on a nice trajectory.
Eight former Krzyzewski assistants are now head coaches: at Notre Dame (Mike Brey), Harvard (Tommy Amaker), Central Florida (Johnny Dawkins), the NBA’s Utah Jazz (Quin Snyder), Northwestern (Chris Collins), Marquette (Wojo), Pitt (Jeff Capel) and Howard (Kenny Blakeney). Only Brey did not play for K.
Alan Adds:
The second half was the story of this game. Duke’s 18 point lead (60-42) with 13:43 to go in the second half was down to 3 (68-65) with 4:28 to go. In 9 minutes and 15 seconds Duke had scored only 8 points. Coach K on being unconcerned with the lack of defensive intensity against Miami last Saturday in the second half: “it was 10:30 at night and we had a big lead”. That same lack of defensive intensity in the second half last night almost cost Duke what would have been a worse-than-embarrassing loss. However, in the next 3:32 of play, Duke played like Duke has traditionally done at “winning time”.
Coach K played “offense-defense” substituting Hurt (even with 4 fouls) for offense; and replacing him with Goldwire for defense. Hurt made his 2 free throws; Carey got the next defensive rebound and then scored in the paint on a superb feed from Tre. He retrieved another defensive rebound (missed Pitt free throws) and Duke stretched the lead back to 10 on a shot-clock-winding-down 3 from Stanley (great pass from Tre) with 2:24 left — 75-65. White made a critical block to keep Pitt at bay. Carey scored again on yet another assist from Tre with 1:29 to go. Duke closed out its scoring when JGold sank 2 free throws with 56 seconds left to push the Duke margin to 14 – 79-65. Duke held the Panthers scoreless from 4:28 to 0:37, when Pitt scored a meaningless bucket. Duke’s offense and defense came together in dramatic fashion to crush Pitt.
The rotation in the second half was also telling: Duke had only 15 total minutes of bench playing time and not a single bench point. Jack White, who played 11 minutes, was really the only bench player. DeLaurier and Baker each logged only 2 minutes. Alex played one first half minute (0-1 and a defensive lapse) but 0 in the closing stanza. Hurt, in foul trouble all night (he finished with 4; only 1 in the second half), logged 12 second half minutes. Duke made good use of a big lineup from time to time – Carey, Hurt and White up front; Stanley and Tre in the backcourt. Tre played all 20 second half minutes; Stanley and JGold played 18 and Carey 17. The good news may be that Wendell Moore is expected back in a week or so (the cast is off).
The Duke offense stalled so badly in the second half because the three point shooting, which was devastating in the first half (7-14, including JGold hitting 3 of 4), went almost completely cold in the latter stanza (2-12 – JGold was 0-3; Hurt 1-3; Stanley 1-4; White and Baker were each 0-1). The defense seemed to wilt in intensity as the offense shooting woes mounted.
Next Play: Duke hits the road for 3 straight ACC road games beginning this Saturday (Feb 1) vs. Syracuse at 8 pm (ESPN)
Our website covering the last eleven seasons is: dukebasketballplaybook.com
DUKE 97 – SYRACUSE 88
The young Blue Devils are entering a stretch of tough games that may well determine whether they are truly battle ready contenders or just precocious pretenders. We witnessed some of both tonight. They started like pretenders in front of an intimidating 31,000+ crowd in the Carrier Dome but in important stretches responded like contenders until they didn’t but ultimately did. Confused? Well, for starters Duke was coming off a close home game where Coach K reverted to his predictable later-in-the-season pattern of playing a short rotation and darn near getting a technical foul for losing it against (of all people) the Cameron Crazies! In addition, coaches John Scheyer and Nolan Smith were not on the bench. Be honest. How many briefly thought this might the beginning of the end?
Well, one thing we have learned over these past forty years is that Coach K and his teams are tough and resilient and K is a great bench coach who knows how to push the buttons of his players—as is his old friend Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim. Tonight, they treated us not only to an exciting, high scoring game but also an interesting, probing Masters Coaching Chess Clinic. The Blue Devils started (surprise!) sluggishly with Syracuse leading 21-14 and Duke big men Vernon Carey, Matthew Hurt, and Javin DeLaurier being called for two fouls each in the first eleven minutes. Duke was in danger of digging themselves into a deep hole as they did in loses to Clemson and Louisville– but with 31,000 fans piling on. Like it or not, Coach K was forced to mix and match his lineup for the rest of the game. Fortunately, the unlikely quartet of Alex O’Connell (whom keen observer wrote “had played himself onto a nice view from the bench”), Javin DeLaurier, both of whom had barely played against Pittsburg, Wendell Moore, who has been recovering from a broken fingers, and Jack White somehow not only kept things from getting out of hand but helped rally the team (with the help of Carey) to an improbable 40-36 halftime lead. But that was nothing. The second half score was 57-52 as Duke would lead the rest of the way but, unable to consistently handle The Orange full court press, never could comfortably put the game away. However, (surprise) they, er Tre, who played every minute, never missed a free throw at closing time.
Duke looked to be cruising, until they didn’t, as they led by 15 points with nine minutes left and 14 with less than five minutes left. But those five minutes took an eternity as virtually every possession stopped the clock, either with a foul, a turnover, or a timeout. It was like watching the final innings of a close, major-league baseball game. Duke lost Wendell Moore, DeLaurier, then Cassius Stanley to fouls. With more than three minutes left, Syracuse closed the gap to five points. However, the Blue Devils closed it out with championship shooting from the foul line– 12 straight free throws down the stretch, 10-10 from Tre Jones and 2-2 for Stanley.
While making way-too-many turnovers (19), a season-high 29 personal fouls, even a (questionable) technical foul on Vernon Carey, the good news is that Carey and Stanley (after a disappointing first half) played with an intensity and passion that is needed to wins tough tournament games and, as always, Tre Jones steadied the team a critical times. In addition, a full complement of nine players responded extremely well to contribute to the win. Interestingly, only Joey Baker, whom you would think would be a logical zone buster, did not play—but stay tuned.
The play of the game: Vernon Carey, whose father played offensive tackle in the NFL, gathered a rebound under his basket and threw a full court pass to a streaking Cassius “Skywalker” Stanley, who caught it, hung, changing hands in midair, then laid the ball in the basket while being fouled by an incredulous defender.The bottom line: A promising response and learning experience against an improving, dangerous team in a tough venue.
Miscellaneous Comments:
- A year ago, the game with Duke (and Zion) drew 35,642 that set the record for largest on-campus crowd in college basketball history.
- Duke was without two of their assistant coaches. Jon Scheyer fell ill Saturday morning in Syracuse and underwent a successful appendectomy at a local hospital. Director of basketball operations Nolan Smith did not make the trip to Syracuse with the team due to his daughter’s illness.
- Kyle Shanahan, head coach of the San Francisco 49ers, attended Duke on a football scholarship, but transferred as redshirt freshman to the University of Texas at Austin. Shanahan played wide receiver on a Longhorn team that featured future college coach Major Applewhite as well as future NFL players Roy Williams, Cedric Benson, Bo Scaife, Mike Williams, and Chris Simms. Kyle caught 14 passes for 127 yards in his career at U.T.
Alan Adds:
The second half is worth a close look. Duke scored 57 second half points, shot the lights out, got scoring from the bench as well as bravura performances from Carey (14 points in 14 minutes with 9 rebounds), Stanley (13 points in 16 minutes, including two crucial 3 point plays in the last 3:06 of the game) and Tre (12 points in 20 minutes, including 10 straight free throws in the last 2:35) while hitting 21 of 23 free throws (including 12 in a row in the last 3:06). So, is anything wrong with this picture. Well, yes. Syracuse scored 52 points including 21 fast break points (after only 4 in the first half) and 14 second chance points while grabbing 12 offensive rebounds (Duke had 6 in the closing stanza). Duke committed 19 second half fouls with Stanley, Moore and DeLaurier fouling out. Carey finished with four (one an ill-advised technical). The Devils committed 11 second half turnovers vs only 8 assists. Moore in particular had a dismal second half committing four fouls and 3 turnovers in 9 scoreless minutes, after an efficient first half. Javin played only 4 scoreless minutes. Fortunately, Alex was brilliant scoring 7 points in his 6 minutes; he was almost all of Duke’s bench scoring; Jack White added 3 on 1-2 from deep in 7 minutes.
Duke maintained a double digit lead for almost all of the second half, with it reaching 14 with 6:02 to go. Then the Orange began to chip away slowly. Single digits with 3:50 left. Carey committed his 4th foul with 3:37 remaining and Moore fouled out with 3:32 to go. Syracuse converted from the line and the lead was down to 5 (79-74) with 3:06 remaining.
Duke did not miss another shot from that point on. Stanley made 2 layups where he was fouled and converted each time. He did not foul out until there was only 38 seconds left and the Duke win was secure. Carey hit a tough jumper while Tre made 2 foul shots five straight times. He was also brilliant in defeating Syracuse’s desperate trapping press as well as leading Duke’s defense into hounding the Orange from the 3 point line (6-17 for the game). It was a solid ACC road win highlighted by a fabulous final 3:06.
No Blue Devil played as much as 30 minutes, except Tre who played every minute. 10-10 from the line after playing as hard as he does for the full 40 minutes is worth another tip of the hat. Goldwire started, but played only 15 minutes in the game (8 in the second half). Moore logged the starter minutes in the back court (24; 13 in the first half) in his first game back from the hand injury. DeLaurier (12 minutes; 8 in the first half when he scored all of his 8 points and grabbed 4 boards), O’Connell (15 minutes; 11 points); and White (14 minutes; 7 in each half; 1-2 from deep with 2 critical rebounds) were Duke’s efficient bench. No announcer or internet bit has explained why Joey Baker did not play; he looked healthy sitting on the bench. Carey played 28 minutes while Hurt and Cassius logged 26.
All in all, it was a very satisfying road win for the Devils.
Next Play: BC at BC on Tuesday at 7 pm (ESPN). Yes, another trap game since Saturday’s game is in Chapel Hill against some team that wears uniforms that Bill describes as “washed out blue”.
DUKE 63 – BOSTON COLLEGE 55
Alan sees “trap games”, whatever that means, in his sleep. I just wonder why, more often than not, this team starts out “flat,” just going through the motions as if wearing the Duke jersey intimidates an opponent. Well, here’s a flash: The Duke jersey makes an opponent play harder so they can go back to campus or home and boast about how well they played against the great college powerhouse.
Tonight was worse than usual. The Blue Devils appeared to be just going through the motions on both offense—Carey was missing contested but point blank shots that usually fall and his teammates were 0-12 from three point land. And on defense, the Blue Devils were out hustled, beaten to rebounds, and by back door plays. I thought Coach K was going to have a heart attack. Fortunately, BC, which is not one of the better ACC teams, turned it over 17 times and were 2-18 on threes. At the half, Duke was down three and had only scored 21 points (Three nights ago, they scored 57 in the second half at Syracuse). Go figure! Is college basketball, like the 2016 presidential election, Bizarro World defying all logic and gravity and turning upside down? Can both traditional ACC basketball also-rans Clemson and Boston College beat both North Carolina and Duke back to back? What are the odds on one, much less both of these events, occurring?
Johnny Tar Heel often points out with envy what a great bench coach Duke has. Well, tonight certainly demonstrated that in spades as Duke pulled out a losable game because of Coach K, Joey Baker, Tre Jones, and Javin DeLaurier. With the Blue Devils trailing, Carey in foul trouble, and his team playing uninspired basketball, Coach K substituted Joey Baker, who did not play against Syracuse, and Joey Buckets responded with instant offense (8 points and a steal in 13 minutes); then, he went to Javin DeLaurier (4 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 charge taken); then a zone; and then a variety of full court presses. The Eagles became discombobulated and lost the lead. An energized Duke had the lead but with Carey’s effectiveness hindered by four fouls, Tre “Cool Hand Luke” Jones took over the offense and sealed the win by working his way into the paint, where he is lethal, and scoring. Please note one other important aspect to this win: 16-20 free throws, 7 more than BC, just about the winning margin.
Just a word about the Jones Boys—Tyus & Trey– and how much they have meant to Duke Basketball. By basketball standards, they are not super athletic but have a super basketball IQ and are mature beyond their years. And while pass first guards, they really have an intuitive sense of when and how to take over a game. Every outstanding Duke team has featured great point guards.
It is interesting what players were not on the floor at closing time: starters Matthew Hurt, who had a miserable 11 minutes, Cassius Stanley, who had another Luke Skywalker dunk but was subpar defensively for the second game in a row plus Jack White and Alex O’Connell, who played so well against Syracuse. Seems as though the Darwinian ten man rotation is alive and well. For all his athletic gifts, there seems to be a reticence or shyness about Stanley that inhibits his ability to want to take over a game like Michael or the Jones Boys. On the other hand, although we only see it in spurts, Joey Baker brings an intensity, fire that Cassius and AOC do not.
Time is running out for the freshman to grow up as an obviously frustrated Coach K commented about adversity on the road in his presser: “They didn’t listen to me, so they’re in trouble with me and that’s the main adversity that they have, because it’s stupid not to listen. I’ve warned them for two days about it. I’ve watched BC’s recent games – they’ve been playing great, not good. This guy’s (BC’s Jim Christian) a good coach, and these kids (BC) played their butts off and I thought they did that even better than what I’ve seen in the last three games. They took it up a notch. They were very good tonight. They were certainly deserving of winning – we were fortunate tonight. We missed six shots by the bucket in the first eight minutes. Even at the end, we missed right by the bucket. When we’re young, we try to shoot there, and when you’re by the bucket, you don’t try to shoot – you try to score. It’s a big difference. you’re trying to shoot, there’s the bucket, you might go here. You try to score, you’re going in here, so you’re either going to get the bucket, foul or both. Here, you’re not going to get a call because you haven’t worked for it. It’s not like we were getting fouled. We were shooting the ball, and what happens then is there’s a lot of stuff underneath body-wise and so if you’re just shooting it, you’re shooting at a moving target because you’re going to be hit, whereas if you’re trying to score, you’re right there. Anyway, it makes sense – I’ve been doing it for 45 years. There’s a big difference between shooting and scoring by the bucket. Winning teams score the ball, they don’t shoot the ball by the bucket, and we didn’t do that tonight until late Tre got a couple.”
Alan Adds:
Coach K and I are frustrated. Not only did Coach K warn his team about the dangers of BC and the “human nature” of a “trap game”, but so did I. The last Alan Adds concluded with “BC at BC on Tuesday at 7 pm (ESPN). “Yes, another trap game since Saturday’s game is in Chapel Hill…” But since he coaches the team let’s examine his vision. Here’s what he said that probably applies to all of us in life: “The investment to win is huge. You sometimes think you are making that investment, but you’re not. That’s a lesson for us. We need to have more investment.”
In his press conference, the coach was not happy with his team, even while conceding that “my guys did some great stuff at the end of the game.” “I warned them.” He reiterated how “human nature” is a tough adversary. “I’ve been beaten by human nature before.” He complained his guys didn’t listen to him. “That’s stupid!” The first half was a textbook example of “not listening”. Duke came out as if they had been anointed – they looked relaxed and confident. Way too relaxed. BC was not relaxed; they were totally fired up, fresh from beating Carolina in Chapel Hill. Duke was completely outplayed in the first half and very lucky to be down only 3, while shooting 26% and 0-12 from deep. Thornton (former Duke point guard) outplayed Tre in the opening stanza.
At half time, I told Bill Duke would win (based on the law of shooting averages). With 14:44 left in the game, Carey picked up his 4th foul as Duke trailed by 4. I texted Bill that maybe I had been wrong in my half time prediction. Then Duke went to work, and the quality of basketball picked up as the lead went back and forth.
With 12:22, Joey Baker entered the game for the first time. He had not played at all against Syracuse. He apparently didn’t like that because he energized the Duke offense by scoring 8 points in about 4 minutes (his – and Duke’s – only 3 with 7:33 left brought Duke within one.) Then Coach K made the coaching move of the game. He changed the defense. He had gone small in the second half because BC was “more athletic” than Duke was with its big lineup. Neither Hurt nor Jack White played a minute in the second half, as Duke went with Baker and Moore at the wings with Tre and JGold in the backcourt.
Duke went to “something we put in last week”, called “22”. Duke picked up somewhere between full and half court. K said it made BC start from further out and to “stand up”. It changed their athletic advantage and Duke went on to win from that defensive adjustment. Coach K said the zone was easier to play out of the “22”. Duke was fouling big time early in the second half (11 in the second half after only 4 fouls in the opening stanza). The zone stopped the fouling and BC’s poor shooting did the rest.
Carey never fouled out as he and DeLaurier substituted – offense/defense. Carey scored 4 in a row to give Duke a 1-point lead (50-49) with 6:02 left; Devils never relinquished the lead again as they (finally) squeezed the life out of the gallant Eagles. Tre simply took over the game at winning time. The announcer asked how Duke was able to turn it around. The color guy told it true, “Duke just started playing harder. Sometimes it is the reality that you are losing the game that brings out the effort.” That is exactly what happened.
When Coach K changed the defense, the Devils (and especially Tre) played harder and went into winning mode. Tre hit a mid-range contested jumper (52-49 with 5:30 to go). After Goldwire made a steal, Tre hit Moore with a great pass for a layup (54-49 with 5:12 to go). With 3:26 to go, Tre drove the lane for a spectacular layup from the left side (56-49). After BC went 1-2 from the line, Tre made another incredible drive from the left side and converted a lefty layup as he flew out of bounds. It was a wow! (58-50 with 1:58 to go). BC wasn’t done, chopping the lead to 5 with 54 seconds left, but Duke had the game in hand. Tre put the icing on the cake, when he made a brace of free throws to stretch Duke’s lead to 63-55 with under 30 seconds to play. A very satisfying win.
Next Play: This is a big (BIG) weekend for this team – Carolina at Chapel Hill on Saturday at 6 pm (ESPN) followed by a crucial game against Florida State in Cameron on Monday, Feb 10.
DUKE 98 – NORTH CAROLINA 96 (OT)
Duke versus Carolina is the best rivalry in college basketball. Improbably, not only have the teams split the past 100 games evenly, each has scored 7,746 points– and there have been many incredible finishes. Tonight’s game proved the premise and even topped all of them, because there was not just one but two incredible finishes—one in regulation and one in overtime. Each time the Blue Devils somehow defied the laws of probability and scored as time expired. You had to see it to believe it and even then, you might not believe it until you have watched the replay of the final ten minutes several times. For thirty-five minutes, North Carolina outplayed, out hustled, and out coached Duke. It was as if the Tar Heels were excising all the demons of this embarrassing, losing season. Then, with Vernon Carey, who scored more than half of Blur Devil’s 35 first half points fouling out, Duke inexplicably started playing like one of the best teams in the country and suddenly the outcome game was in doubt. Why it took the Blue Devils thirty-five minutes to play with intensity and urgency is a question for another time.
At half time, a classmate of Johnny Tar Heel called him to say: “OMG, the Heels are up by nine. Duke has us where they want us.” Nevertheless, with a 13 point advantage and 5:40 remaining, some more optimistic North Carolina fans headed to the exits. That reminded me of what a Kansas City linebacker said to a celebrating San Francisco opponent when the 49ers went up 10 points with seven minutes to play in the Super Bowl: “You suckers are celebrating too soon ‘cause your asses are going home losers just like those other guys (Houston Texans and Tennessee Titans) did the last two games.” Candidly, I had a lot less confidence as I was well into my favorite bottle of Pinot Noir, not at all confident that the Blue Devils were going to give us a miracle comeback for the ages. With Vernon Carey unavailable with five fouls and Hurt having a disappointing game, Krzyzewski switched to hybrid lineup of Jones, Goldwire, Moore, O’Connell, Baker, and a variety of semi-pressing defenses. These changes led to Tar Heel turnovers and triples by Alex O’Connell (2) and Joey Baker and a comeback that will forever be remembered along Tobacco Road. The invigorated Duke momentum, along with missed free throws by Carolina, gave Duke the opportunity to cut the lead to 81-79 with :40 seconds remaining. Then, Tre Jones did a pretty good Patrick Mahomes impression. Trailing by three with four seconds left in regulation, Jones went to the free throw line. He made the first, then with two hands powered the second shot off the right front of the rim. The ball ricocheted way out to right of the key where Goldwire caught it and quickly handed it to Tre, who dribbled through several defenders, nearly losing control of the ball, to get a contested mid-range jumper off with less than half a second on the clock. The ball swished, forcing overtime.
A steal and five quick points by Jones gave Duke their largest lead of the game but Carolina powered back as the Blue Devils appeared out manned and out of gas as they trailed by five with :20 seconds remaining in the overtime. However, the Devils had a few fumes left in the tank. Jones converted a lay-up. After losing the ball out of bounds, Moore would score on the ensuing possession to cut the deficit to one. The Tar Heels botched the inbounds pass that offered an opportunity for the Blue Devils to go for the win with 10 seconds left on the clock. Jones drove and was fouled. He made the first to tie the game. However, he missed the second, but Moore tipped it to Jones beyond the foul line. Tre dribbled through traffic for a jump shot. His shot from inside the top of the foul line was off left but, as luck or the basketball gods would have it, turned out to be a perfect pass. Wendell Moore, who grew up in Charlotte watching the Duke-Carolina games, was crashing to the basket and right there for an all-in-one-motion catch and put back as he tumbled to the floor without seeing if the ball went in for the game-winner just as time expired!
Duke trailed for forty-two minutes of the forty-five minute game. But to their credit, after the collapse in regulation and quickly falling behind in overtime, Carolina fought back with an 11-1 run putting them up 96-91 and took apparent control with only :20 seconds left. Of course, the Tar Heel missing 17 free throws during the game was what really kept the game from being virtually unlosable. Nevertheless, be warned: With Cole Anthony back on the floor, this this is a very different North Carolina team. He is dangerous enough by himself but he also is talented and unselfish enough to make everyone more confident, more productive and Carolina will be more like Carolina for the rest of the year.
Quotes of the evening: “With Duke being my dream school since I can remember, I’m always watching these rivalry games,” Jones said. “Seeing Austin Rivers hit a shot here when I was at one of my basketball tournaments, going crazy, watching my brother do what he did against Carolina. I just wanted to put my name in the game like that. And I feel like I might have done that tonight.”
Preparation: How did he miss that free throw to himself? “I’d actually practiced just this situation with Duke associate head coach Jon Scheyer. We’d talked about how to miss the free throw and create a long carom so the shooter could run to his right and secure it.”
Alan Adds:
There is something special when a ballyhooed event lives up to the hype. Past Duke-Carolina games were on all the sports channels as the hucksters intoned that “it doesn’t matter what the records are going into the game, Duke-Carolina always delivers”. Boy, did it ever! As Ole Roy said in his press conference, “if you didn’t care who won, it was a great game to watch. Unfortunately, I did care who won, so it wasn’t such a great game for me.”
It was one of the most miraculous Duke wins ever. Down ten with a little over a minute to play (having never led in the game), Duke tied it when the Carolina lead was three. Ole Roy had taken the blame when Carolina had led by three in an earlier game and he did not direct his team to foul. This time The Heels did to prevent a tying 3 point attempt by fouling Tre with 6 seconds left. Tre made the first free throw, and then fired a line drive at the rim, which bounced out almost to half court as Bill described above. Tre tracked it down, beat two Carolina players, one of whom actually deflected the ball but not enough, to launch a buzzer beater to tie the score. In the post-game interview, he was asked if he was lucky to have retrieved the carom. Tre said, “Actually, I’ve been working with Coach Scheyer on that play. He moved me over to the right a step or two. I got pretty good at hitting the rim and the ball would come off to the same place almost every time.”
Before we examine the overtime, let’s look at the second half. Duke scored 49 second half points without any contributions from any of the 4 big guys. Hurt and White did not score in their two minute second half cameos. Carey was 0-5 in his eleven minutes while committing four second half fouls, fouling out with 4:16 left in the game and Duke trailing by 13. DeLaurier scored 2 points in eight minutes. Coach K’s genius: Duke went to a zone with Cassius as the center and Moore as the other big. At his press conference, Coach K played down his genius, “there wasn’t anything else I could do and I had to do something.”
When Platek turned it over and then fouled Cassius, who hit both free throws with 3:55 to go. When Brooks missed two free throws, Moore rebounded, passed to Tre, who found Joey Baker for a wide open three. Duke down eight with 3:35 left. UNC scored again to take its last double digit lead with 2:18 left (79-69). Moore made 1-2 from the line; Duke down nine with 2:06 remaining. Alex grabbed a defensive board, fed Tre who sent it back to him for an open three. Duke down (79-73) with 1:46 left. Anthony pushed it to 80-73, making 1 of 2 from the line. 1:06 left. Cassius hit a jumper right away (80-75) with 1:03 left. When Platek missed both free throws, Cassius rebounded and fed Tre for a hoop. 80-77 with :48 seconds left. Black went 1-2 after being fouled to make it a two possession game with 48 seconds left. Critically, Tre drew the 4th personal on Anthony and made both free throws – 81-79 with :40 seconds left. Cole made a pair to create a two possession lead for Carolina with :21 seconds remaining. Tre responded with a jumper to bring Duke within 2 with only 15 seconds in the game. Cole backed off on defense to avoid committing his fifth foul. Platek again made 1-2 to give UNC a three point lead with :06 seconds left, setting the stage for Tre’s miraculous game tying basket that sent the game into overtime.
Duke outscored UNC 14-12 in the overtime. Tre (9) and Moore (5) scored all of Duke’s 14 overtime points. After Tre scored the first 6 in overtime (2-2 from the field and 2-2 from the line), he missed his next 3 shots and only went 1-3 from the line. Cassius fouled out with 2:13 to go in the overtime. Duke finished with Moore as the big man, Joey Baker and Alex as the wings and JGold and Superman (aka Tre) in the backcourt. UNC stormed back with 11 points to lead by five, 96-91 with only 20 seconds left. Tre made a magnificent basket at the rim and drew the foul; however, he missed the free throw (96-93) with :16 seconds to go. Duke somehow got the rebound and Moore scored quickly to make it 96-95 with :12 seconds to go. Then came the game’s most crucial play. With 10 seconds left, Duke tipped the ball free and both Moore and Brooks went for it. The refs gave it to Duke while Bilas complained that the refs had missed an obvious foul call on Moore. Still Duke ball when Tre was fouled with :06 seconds remaining. He made the first. When he missed the second, Moore somehow tapped the ball out to Goldwire, who handed it to Jones, whose miss, Moore converted for the scintillating win.
The second half and overtime belonged to Tre (22 points; 9 in the overtime), Cassius (15 points in the second half) and Moore (13 points; 8 in the second half). This was Tre’s best game at Duke (so far). Coach K said Tre was “magnificent”, “he reached another level tonight”, “his will and passion permeated through the team”, and “he was such a leader at the time outs, telling his team that Duke was going to win”. In the post-game interview, Tre was asked how he was able to take over the game the way he did. His answer gave a shout out to his brother, by saying he channeled “Tyus Stones” (referring to the nickname Tyus had earned with his clutch shooting when the game was on the line as Tyus led Duke to the National Championship in 2015). Tre said it was just little brother emulating big brother. It was a great interview.
Coach K said Duke looked as if it had run out of gas at the end of the overtime, but then somehow got a great shot of adrenalin to complete the amazing comeback. I was at the Millrose track meet yesterday afternoon and had the opportunity to chat with Billy Mills (Native American who won the 1964 Olympic 10,000 in Tokyo – Bud Palmer’s famous race call when Mills came from 8 spots down in the last 100 meters to win, “Look at Mills! Look at Mills!”) Worth looking at that finish on You Tube. Mills actually told what those last hundred meters felt like to him as he raced into immortality (“I was being pushed from behind and someone was dragging my jersey forward from the front. I just rolled.”). I think Duke experienced something like that in this game. What a game!
Next Play: Can you believe Duke will play a most crucial game tomorrow night against Florida State in Cameron (ESPN) at 7 pm? I don’t know how I can get up for another game so quickly, let alone the ten Duke players who gave everything on Saturday night.
DUKE 70 – FLORIDA STATE 60
After the game, Johnny Tar Heel told me: “These last two games demonstrated what I have long believed but as a Carolina fan, never admitted publicly. Behind or ahead, better players or not, in the last five minutes Coach K wins an incredibly high percentage games. Somehow, over the years he has been able to convince his players that they will win, so they are not afraid to lose. It’s become a Duke Basketball mystique, because opponents know the history– their teams have been on television more than “Law and Order” reruns.”
If I told you Vernon Carey would only score 10 points, that Goldwire would be Duke’s high scorer with 13 points, and that they would commit 21 turnovers, how much would you have bet that the Blue Devils won? Well, they did with savvy substitutions and contributions by nine players starting with toughness by, of all people, Matthew Hurt, who may be getting what Duke basketball is all about having lost his starting job due to weak performances (“People call me a shooter, a scorer, but I want to be more than that. I want the dirty plays, the dirty work, the rebounds, the deflections, all of that. I’m just trying to make winning plays.”) , Alex O’Connell (“I like to come in, bring energy, and hit big-time shots. If I can be out there in a situation like out there and the coach trusts me, then that just makes us a better team.) with the second straight game of critical shots, and Javin DeLaurier’s athleticism, energy, and free throws.
Strangely enough, Duke started fast going up ten, and led—barely– 81 percent of the game. Florida State led for only 7 percent, and it was tied for the remaining 12 percent. The halftime message was “we can be tired tomorrow. We’ve got to grind it out tonight.” And grind it out they did, holding Florida State to eight points in that decisive final 7:32, rebounding physically aggressively against the deepest and most athletic team in the ACC– and hitting all their free throws.
Coach Mike Krzyzewski explains it best: “This has been an incredible 48 hours for our team. I have really good kids. We beat a heck of a team tonight after beating a heck of a team in an epic game 48 hours before. I don’t know where they got the energy the whole game to do this, but they did– they listened, they fought. We really played good defense. The Seminoles will tire you out because they play such good defense and they have depth, but at the end of the first half, you could tell we were tired, rightfully so.
In the second half, we were kind of holding our own, but when they went ahead 52-50, instead of waiting for the eight minute [timeout], we were ready to get knocked out and so we called a timeout, Alex (O’Connell) came in and he gave us five quick points, and that last 8:29 we were terrific. We were not tired but we talked, we made plays. Javin (DeLaurier) was spectacular, Matt Hurt, obviously the rebound and the free throws and then inbounding the ball, no mistakes. Wendell (Moore), who, I don’t think any of you in the audience have had a winning shot in front of 21,000 people against your archrival, but if you’re 18, how you handle that can be pretty tough, and he had a game like a kid 18 until the second half, and then that play he made in the full court just was spectacular.
Switching (Jordan) Goldwire to (Trent) Forrest was a key because Forrest is a big-time player. They have big-time, but this kid, he’s a pro-guard, he can defend and get by you and he’s a veteran. He and Tre (Jones) were going back and forth and that’s wearing Tre out, We needed him on offense and so the switch to put Goldwire on him helped. We did that with Cole Anthony in the last part of the game in Chapel Hill and that helped us there, so having those two guys being able to have each other’s backs is big, but they forced a lot of turnovers. I thought we weren’t as strong as we needed to be, but overall we were pretty damn strong.” On the play from Tre Jones to Wendell Moore Jr. to Matt Hurt: “Those are like making plays that you don’t diagram. A real player doesn’t run plays, a real player makes plays. You run plays for people who aren’t players. That doesn’t mean you don’t run them for players too, but players make plays, and our guys are making plays, they’re making really good plays.”
On Javin DeLaurier’s contributions off the bench: “ Javin was terrific. His two-handed rebounds, blocked shots, free throws, and he’s been playing well, but you know, we could hardly do anything yesterday at practice with most of the guys, so we did with a couple of the guys who didn’t play as much really intense individual work, and I stay and I watch all of that stuff and Javin had an amazing workout. I brought him over after and said ‘Man, you’re going to a whole other level. In our game, we have a thing called trust your work and in other words, if you’re working hard and whatever, when you get out there, trust it and he worked really hard and he trusted it.
We needed a full day off. This is a nine-day period with three road games and this game, and our kids won all four of them. It’s a lot of travel, a lot of stuff. They’re really developing into a good team. I really love these guys, because it’s different guys. We don’t have a starting lineup, we have a team. Sometimes when you have a starting lineup you put a ceiling on the other guys in ego, in opportunity, in all that, and it hasn’t happened here with this group.”
It is obvious Coach K really likes and admires this team but thinks perhaps the Cameron Crazies may be spoiled and not appreciative enough of what they are seeing: “The fans] weren’t bad. But you’ve got to be even more hungry, even more appreciative. Not for me. . . But these kids. For many, it’s their first year playing at Duke. And they’re young and they just fought like crazy and they should have gotten a standing ovation. We’ve been spoiled to watch Zion and Bagley and Tatum but that’s not what this team is. . . . Don’t get on the ride at the end. Be on the ride the whole way.”
In the series, Duke leads Florida State 41-10, including 22-2 in games at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Alan adds:
The term “gut check” applied to a crucial game is such a sports cliché. Yet it was the perfect description of Duke’s game last night against Florida State at Cameron. In 9 days, the Blue Devils won 3 ACC road games, including the indescribable emotional effort 48 hour earlier against a gallant Carolina team, and then had to face the 8th ranked team in the nation for sole possession of 2nd place in the regular ACC race. We were all exhausted from just watching the Saturday night game against the ‘Heels; you can only imagine how mentally, emotionally and physically exhausted Tre and the team were from that game. That exhaustion (and a terrific Seminole defense) contributed to Duke’s 21 turnovers in the game (16 were Florida State steals) and the 17 fouls the Devils committed as well as the 17 offensive rebounds the Seminoles grabbed (Duke had only 19 defensive rebounds by comparison). That Duke overcame that exhaustion to produce an oh-so satisfying win had Coach K gushing about his team as Bill described.
“I got good guys; good kids”. “We don’t have a starting lineup; we have a team.” I will go through the last minutes in depth (it’s even exciting to write about), but first to emphasize what Coach K meant by that pithy statement, “we have a team”. Duke’s last 8 points, which won the game, were about the team – a tough layup by Goldwire, 2-2 from the line for Javin, and 4 crucial and winning foul shots by Matt Hurt. Alex’s 5 straight points after the key timeout were what launched Duke on the path to the very tough win.
Javin was on the court for 12 second half minutes compared to Carey’s 7 minutes. Each had 4 second half boards. Carey had 4 second half points in his short appearance (1-2 from the field and 2-3 from the line). Duke played 8 in the second half (+ a 3-minute cameo for Baker, who missed 2 shots in a row in that brief appearance, he also grabbing a rebound while turning it over and committing a foul). JGold led the second half scoring with 8 efficient points on only 3 shots (2-2 from behind the arc to go with his crucial layup) in 11 second half minutes. Alex scored 5 points (2 shots in a row; one from deep) in 7 minutes. Add the clutch free throws from Javin (2 points in 12 terrific minutes) and Hurt (4 points in 9 minutes and his amazing rebound with 13 seconds left) and you see the corroboration of Coach K’s love of his old fashion team. He was not relying on his high scoring starters — Tre, 7 second half points on 11 shots, Cassius 3 points and Carey 4 for 14 second half points; he was relying on his “old fashioned” team – 19 second half points from JGold, Alex, Matt and Javin. 23 if you add Wendell’s 4 crucial late game points.
I want to focus on Duke’s defense for the entire game and Duke’s winning drive in the last 8:31 of the second half. Afterall, Duke held the high scoring Seminoles to 65 points. Last Saturday Florida State scored 99 against Miami. Coach K said the scouting report did not identify opposing players; rather Duke identified Florida State’s shooters and defended them closely on the perimeter; the drivers (backed off a bit) and the bigs. The Seminoles shot badly (38% for the game; 3-18 from deep, and an inexplicable 12-20 from the free throw line for the ACC’s leading foul shooting team (season 80%). Duke defended passionately and well. It won the game.
Coach K said the key defensive move he made was to switch Goldwire on to Forrest. Tre was exhausted and Forrest was dominant against him in the first half. As Bill points out, Coach K had made the same switch against Carolina, switching JGold on to Cole Anthony. It worked both times. While Forrest led the Seminoles with 18 points, he was held to 2-8 in the second half (6 second half points). Javin was intense and effective against the Seminole bigs, especially in the closing stanza. Coach K said that in practice on Sunday, Javin was playing at a whole new level. He did that in the game on Monday.
After Coach K’s timeout with 8:31 to go and Alex’s 5 straight points to jump start the Devils again, the teams traded scores. Carey tied the game at 59 with 7:16 left when he was fouled on a successful layup, and then gave Duke a 1-point lead that the Devils would never relinquish when he made the foul shot. Tre made 1-2 from the line for a 59-57 lead with 6:48 to go. For the next 2 and ½ minutes, neither team was able to score. The Seminoles had misses from Vessel (leading scorer on the year), 2 from Williams as well as a miss and a turnover from Gray. Duke gave up 2 steals (one swiped from Alex and one from Wendell) while Tre missed twice and Cassius once from deep. With 4:12 left, the Devils demonstrated what Coach K instills – peak performance at “winning time”. Tre got a key rebound and found Moore for a fabulous bucket (61-57). After the Seminoles scored (61-59), Carey grabbed an offensive rebound (Tre’s miss) and was fouled. He made 1-2. 62-59 with 3:15 left. The Seminoles scored again on Vessel’s jumper – 62-61 with 2:46 left. Goldwire hit a crucial and difficult shot by the rim. 64-61 with 2:15 left.
Then came what I think was a key play in the game. Tre fouled the Florida State 7-footer, freshman Balsa Koprivica, who missed the front end of a 1 and 1 with 1:57 to go. Then both teams went cold for a minute. Forrest had his pocket picked by Carey, who promptly turned it back over. Javin replaced him with 1:18 left. Florida State had two looks (contested hotly by DeLaurier ) and missed both. Javin finally got the second rebound and was fouled with 56 seconds left. A pair of swishes. Javin on the foul line at crunch time! One of the reasons watching a player grow in 4 years is so satisfying for us as fans.
Florida State scored over Javin on a dunk to bring it to 66-63 with 49 seconds left. Coach K then substituted Hurt for Javin. How did he know to do that? In the last minute, both Carey and Javin were on the bench. Tre missed a jumper with 18 seconds left; Moore made a spectacular attempt at a 3 with the shot clock almost off, which missed. And who grabbed the game winning rebound? Matt Hurt, of course. How did Coach K know to make that substitution? Hurt, naturally, went 4-4 from the line in the last 13 seconds to ice the oh-so-satisfying win for the Blue Devils.
Next Play: The Devils get a much needed week off before meeting The Fighting Irish in Cameron next Saturday (2-15) at 4pm on ESPN.
DUKE 94 – NOTRE DAME 60
This is the time of the college basketball season that usually separates the pretenders from the contenders as some teams hit the wall and others get a second wind. Duke has impressively powered through the most difficult part of their schedule with eight straight wins –three on the road—while Louisville and Florida State have suddenly stumbled badly, leaving the Blue Devils in sole possession of first place in the ACC. (Clemson is an anomaly. They can beat anyone or lose to anyone in the same week.) If Duke is good enough and lucky enough, they will run the table in the six remaining regular season games and be guaranteed a high second or number one seed in the NCAA Tournament. If today’s blowout against a mediocre Notre Dame team is any indication, they are in well positioned to do just that.
Despite Cassius Stanley being unavailable due to a mysterious eye injury, Carey and Jones were dominant (what else is new) in the first half as the Blue Devils went up ten points. Duke started the second half playing well, when one of the most memorable moments in Cameron history occurred. Suddenly, a timeout was called and Elvis, er Zion, fresh from bending a rim and shattering a backboard in the NBA Rising Stars game Friday night in Chicago suddenly appeared on the Jumbotron ambling toward the Duke bench. The Crazies responded like a crowd at a Linda Ronstadt concert in the 70’’, cheering and chanting, “Zion, sit with us” like adoring rock fans, causing the larger than life 19-year-old icon to bury his head in his arms in embarrassment.
Once Zion got seated behind the bench, there appeared to be a lid on the Irish basket (they couldn’t even complete dunks) and the Blue Devils suddenly started playing their best basketball of the year as O’Connell and Baker started shooting like JJ Redick–the game became a runaway highlight film. Carey had 21 points in 23 minutes. Jones 19 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists and a steal in 33 minutes. The Blue Devils defense forced 14 turnovers, while committing only 9 and hit 10 threes. The Irish were 5 of 20.
However, more importantly most of the supporting players played like starters: Goldwire, the former defensive specialist, has blossomed into a very efficient offensive player to the point opponents cannot slough off him to double Tre, Carey or Stanley. Hurt is rebounding and generally playing more aggressively. O’Connell is showing more than occasional glimpses of is athletic playmaking abilities. Joey Baker is shooting more and more consistently. DeLaurier has become a defensive enforcer. Moore is adding consistency to his “Oh, My” winning plays. Unfortunately, Jack White, who is a defensive stopper, has totally lost his shooting touch.
Krzyzewski said: “I just saw [Zion] smiling behind the bench with Quinn [Cook],”. “Two of the great smiles in the history of Duke basketball, those two guys. It says a lot that they come back. For Zion—he played last night. I love the fact that they want to maintain their relationship with this great university. And that’s one of the reasons they came here. Not just to play, but to be a part of it.”
Other Comments:
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- Also in the house: Gene Banks, who was Zion before Zion, LA Lakers Quinn Cooke, Danny Ferry, Tyus Jones and the Jones Boys mother.
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- Duke is now 29-6 against Notre Dame.
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- The only downer was that Dick Vitale, who has done so much to promote college basketball, was one of the announcers. He just has become a parody of himself and keeps repeating the same old homilies. It is both sad and annoying.
Alan Adds:
Jim Summer’s article on the game said it best, “Duke followed up a solid first half with a stunning second half, combining a suffocating defense and a barrage of 3-pointers to go from “in control” to “are-you-kidding me”! The “stunning” second half is worth looking at closely. However, Duke’s first half set the stage for the “stunning” closing stanza. Duke’s defensive game plan was to pressure the perimeter and stop Notre Dame’s effective 3 point shooting. Notre Dame was leading the ACC in fewest turnovers per game (9) and mounting much of its offense from the bonusphere. The defense – primarily Tre, who played all 20 minutes and JGold who logged 19 – destroyed the Fighting Irish perimeter game. Duke forced 9 first half Irish turnovers (JGold had 2 steals and Tre 1) and held the Irish to 1-10 from behind the arc. But, on offense only 4 Duke players scored. Carey was formidable with 16 first half points in 14 minutes (6-7; 1-1 from deep; and 3-4 from the line) to go with 2 rebounds, an assist, a block and a steal (no turnovers and only committed 1 foul). Carey was asked how he was able to get free so often; he replied, “they overplayed me to my left; so, I went to my right.” The dynamic backcourt of Tre and JGold scored 20. JGold was perfect from the field (3-3; 1-1 from 3land) for 7 points, while Tre had 13 on 6-9 from the floor including 1-1 from deep. Matt Hurt rounded out the Duke scoring by going 3-7 for 6 points in his 16 minutes. He added 3 assists, 2 boards and a steal. However, neither Alex (10 minutes; 0-2), Moore (9 minutes; 0-3); DeLaurier (6 minutes; 0 shots; 2 fouls), White (4 minutes; 0-2 while committing a foul), nor Baker (2 minutes, 0 stats) scored a point. At the half, Coach K tried to fire up the bench, that scoring was needed from them. He was told by the players, “don’t worry, Coach, we got you. We’ll do it.” And do it they did in the second half.
The Blue Devils outscored the Irish 52-28 in the closing stanza. The defense was dominant, holding the Irish to 26% from the field; 5-23 inside the arc. The bench flourished scoring 27 second half points (31 if you count the baskets that Justin Robinson and Mike Buckmire scored at the end). Duke had built a lead of 14 with a minute to go in the first half (Mooney scored the last 4 of the half to cut the lead to 10). For the early part of the first half, the lead swung between as much as 15 and as few as 9. With 13:13 left in the game, Duke led by 15, 56-41; “in control”. Four minutes later, Duke led by 31; “are you kidding me”! Baker had 8 points (2-2 from deep) on 3 shots in a minute and 50 seconds; Alex had 6 points (2-2 from deep) in 2 minutes to go with 2 boards, a block and a steal during the run. Javin even made a 3 pointer (1-2 from deep; he tried a heat check after he made the first) while scoring 7 in 11 minutes. He and Alex kept pouring it on to increase Duke’s lead to a high of 35. It was some half!
Alex was truly amazing. He led Duke in second half scoring with 12 points in 12 minutes. He was 5-10 from the field (2-5 from deep) to go with 3 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 assists and a block. He clearly wants to earn more playing time. Baker played 12 minutes (scoring those quick 8 and playing a good floor game); DeLaurier 11 with 2 boards; and White 5 (0 points, but 2 boards), allowing the starters to play fewer minutes. Tre scored 6 in 13 minutes; Goldwire, 2 in 11 minutes; Carey, 5 in 9 minutes; and Moore, 2 in 8 minutes. A word about Mathew Hurt’s second half. He scored 6 in 12 minutes (2-2 from deep), but was particularly impressive as rebounder, grabbing 7 in the second half. He guarded Mooney, the Irish 6’ 10” double-double machine. Mooney missed his double double by a rebound, but Hurt held even – they both grabbed 9. Hurt said the rebound he got to save the Florida State game inspired him to know he could be a rebounding force. That has the potential to be a huge leap forward for him.
It was a bravura performance, but should not lead to thoughts of Duke “running the table” and gaining a high seed in the NCAA tournament. There are still 6 conference games left, 3 of them on the road. None will be easy. There is no such thing as an easy ACC road game as Louisville found out this weekend. The Cardinals were leading the ACC when they went on the road to face to teams that were below .500 in the conference. Louisville fell to Georgia Tech on Saturday and to Clemson (as Duke did) in Littlejohn last night. 3 out of Duke’s next 4 are on the road: NC State, Wake, and a Saturday night match up with the defending National Champions, who seemed to have finally found their magic, in Charlottesville. UNC has had a dismal season; the possibility of a win at Cameron on Duke senior night will surely fuel the ‘heels to a maximum effort. Looking ahead is what produces the dreaded “trap game”.
Next Play: NC State in Raleigh on Wednesday night at 9 pm on ESPN2
DUKE 66 – NORTH CAROLINA STATE 88
It is difficult to decide who had the worst night: Mayor Bloomberg or the Duke basketball team. Both were figuratively literally stopped and frisked or mugged (take your pick) and left looking confused, overwhelmed and embarrassed. Duke played like pretenders not contenders against a talented but inconsistent Wolfpack team that just lost to a mediocre Boston College. State not only outplayed, out muscled, and out hustled Duke with more determination and energy, they also had one of those nights where everything seemed to go their way– loose balls bounced to them and even made and a half-court shot at halftime that banged off the backboard and went in, just after Duke had cut the lead 12 points. While Duke has been on a roll, winning seven straight games, they should have been able to get up for a talented team playing at the PNC Arena where the Blue Devils have lost five of its last seven games (including a 2014 first round NCAA tournament loss to Mercer).
Once disconcerting constant is the tendency of this team to start sluggishly and fall behind early. This can be overcome at home in Cameron. However, as we saw tonight and at Clemson and (almost) at Carolina, playing on the road with a raucous crowd can a recipe for disaster for an inexperienced team not playing efficiently for forty minutes.
Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said :“That’s our worst game, but they made us look bad.” “They were just at a different level of competitiveness than we were tonight. Not even taking us out of the game, because in order for them to take us out of the game we would’ve had to be in and we weren’t ever in the game. It wasn’t like we were hunkering down or anything, we were just never there and that’s on all of us. I’ve been doing this a long time and this happens to good teams.” Hopefully we’ll be more competitive Saturday and in the rest of our games, but tonight we weren’t.”
The blunt truth is that other than Carey and Jones, no other Blue Devil was of much help and, consequently, Duke blew an opportunity to win and position themselves in the enviable position of separating themselves from a field of pretty good but not great teams. All explanations and rationalizations aside, these two teams meet again on Monday, March 2 at Cameron and we will see whether or not this game was an anomaly or whether the Blue Devils have been more lucky than good.
Alan Adds:
The most efficient motivator in sports – certainly college basketball at this time of the year – is desperation. NC State was desperate, sitting on the wrong side of the NCAA bubble, and needing (NEEDING) the win over Duke at home. Coach K: “Winning is a malady; it’s the best malady, but it is a human nature malady.” Tonight, our team felt like it didn’t need the win. We’re not that good; we’re good, but we’ve accomplished really good. Tonight, [our] winning [22-3] was “a horrible sickness”.
Duke second half against Notre Dame last Saturday led Bill to write about “running the table” for the last 6 games leading up to the ACC tournament and Duke’s bid for a #1 NCAA seed. I poked back at him at the end of the Notre Dame Alan Adds when I wrote:
“It was a bravura performance but should not lead to thoughts of Duke ‘running the table’ and gaining a high seed in the NCAA tournament. There are still 6 conference games left, 3 of them on the road. None will be easy. There is no such thing as an easy ACC road game as Louisville found out this weekend. The Cardinals were leading the ACC when they went on the road to face to teams that were below .500 in the conference. Louisville fell to Georgia Tech on Saturday and to Clemson (as Duke did) in Littlejohn last night. Three out of Duke’s next four are on the road: NC State, Wake, and a Saturday night match up with the defending National Champions, who seemed to have finally found their magic, in Charlottesville. UNC has had a dismal season; the possibility of a win at Cameron on Duke senior night will surely fuel the ‘heels to a maximum effort. Looking ahead is what produces the dreaded “trap game”.
Bill responded as the Duke players demonstrated they felt:
“While Alan sees “Trap Games” in his sleep and despite the fact that all away games can be difficult, aside from three teams, this year the ACC is a weak conference. If Duke is good enough and lucky enough, the opportunity is there for them to run the table in the six remaining regular season games and be guaranteed a high second or number one seed in the NCAA Tournament.”
In Jim Carroll’s “Basketball Diaries”, this New York high school star in the 1970s (he wrote music with Patty Smith, some other literature, and was an addict) played on a wonderful team. They would go to Central Park before the games to score “uppers” and “downers” to take the uppers before the game and the downers after. One game they got them mixed up. Carroll described how the players were anchored to the floor and moved in slow motion. It was a disaster (comic in the book). Duke played last night as if they had gone to Central Park and swallowed the wrong pre-game drug, as Carroll described. “Not in sync” was my assessment when Bill and I talked during the game. It was understatement. Duke was behind by double digits for the entire second half where the Wolfpack lead reached 27 with just under 2 minutes to go. That does qualify as a nightmare game.
It was a hard game to watch and is an even harder game to write about. Only Vernon Carey came to play (27 points in 30 minutes; to go with 12 rebounds and 3 blocks). He was 10-20 from the field (0-2 from deep and 7-12 from the line). In 35 minutes, Tre scored 17 on an inefficient 18 shots from the field (6-18; 2-5 from deep and 3-5 from the foul line to go with 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and 2 turnovers. The contributions fell off after that. Jordan Goldwire took the third most goal attempts was (3-9; 1-4 from deep) for 7 points in 31 minutes. Duke got virtually no other offense. Moore (4 points in 29 minutes), Stanley (4 points in 23 minutes), Hurt (1-2 from deep for 3 points in 9 foul-plagued minutes) Alex (2 points in 20 minutes) and Javin (2 points in 11 minutes) was all that the rest of the Duke team scored. Baker (8 minutes) and White (4 minutes) failed to score. Nightmare stuff.
Duke shot under 50% from the foul line (10-22) and poorly from behind the arc (4-17; 1-7 in the first half) and under 38% from the field. The defense gave up 44 points in each half. The Wolfpack shot 62% from deep (8-13) and 90% from the foul line in the second half (16-21 for the game). Obviously, it was Duke’s worst game of the year on both ends of the court.
Next Play: I predict Duke will play as if the Blue Devils “need to win” Saturday night against Virginia Tech at Cameron (8 pm on ESPN2). Duke can still win either or both post-season tournaments (Duke won 2 national titles after being badly beaten in Raleigh during the regular season). Let’s hope this nightmare is a needed “wake up call”.
DUKE 88 – VIRGINIA TECH 64
If you follow Duke basketball, you knew that tonight’s game probably was over before it started—and if you didn’t, it was obvious after the first few minutes. For whatever reason, Coach K’s Duke teams rarely lose two games in a row. And coming off a surprisingly listless 22 point loss, where they were thoroughly out played, Coach K replaced Matthew Hurt with the more athletic Wendell Moore and, I’m sure, had more than a few choice words about effort and enthusiasm. At home against a young, undersized, struggling three point shooting team, the Blue Devils, atypically, started fast and never looked back.
The key to this team are the 3-10 players, because in Tre Jones and Vernon Carey, you have not only two of the best but also most reliable players in the country. However, from game to game, it is any one’s guess whom that might be—or might not be. Against N.C. State, Cassius Stanley and Matthew Hurt were missing in action. Tonight, Cassius played like his namesake Muhammad Ali (formerly Cassius Clay) and “floated like a butterfly, sting like a bee”. And Hurt, off the bench, responded with one of his most confidently aggressive, best all-around games of the season with 16 points, 10 rebounds, 1 steal, 2 blocks, and solid defense. At halftime, the Blue Devils led 51-25. Stanley had hit four 3’s and had 16 points. After going 4-for-17 on 3’s in the 88-66 loss to the Wolfpack, Duke was 8 of 15 in the opening half and 10-22 on two-point shots.
Such inconsistency might seem inexplicable until you remember these are young freshmen and that Coach K’s first great recruiting class—Dawkins, Alarie, Bilas, Henderson, etc.–. didn’t figure it all out and start winning until their junior year. With the one-and-done drop-in athlete-student, the whole maturation process has accelerated to warp speed—some get it, others don’t, see ya– so it is imperative that every game is a learning experience and the time between games is a teachable moment.
Coach K: “It’s not a matter of busting their chops. It’s a matter of being honest with them. So, this is who we are. We are going to go on the court now, we’re not going to do animal drills or crazy-ass things. What they’re going to be are things we need to improve on. We had a really, hard good practice. . . . We talked about attitude and belief. Whenever there’s adversity the single biggest gift that God has given to you is attitude. Only you can control your attitude.”
As former NFL Coach Bill Parcells famously said: “You are what your record says you are” and this team is 23-4, 13-3 in the ACC, in a three-way tie in the loss column with Louisville and Florida State, who play each other Monday night. Last night #3 Kansas beat #1 Baylor, BYU beat #2 Gonzaga, and UNLV beat #4San Diego State. Duke beat Kansas at he beginning of the season and lost to a talented but unranked North Carolina State that lost to #6 Florida State last night. What does that tell you? This year there are no great teams, just a lot of good ones. Any one of the top thirty teams can beat anyone else once, but winning six games in a row, as Virginia demonstrated last year, takes talent plus luck.
Miscellaneous:
Coach K on his 1000th win as a ranked team: “It’s hard to believe. I think I’ve coached over 1,300 games here, and almost 90% of them have been as a ranked team and to have 1,000 wins as a ranked team is kind of mind-boggling. We have crazy numbers. A few weeks ago we had our 500th win against ACC competition, and for me, because we don’t look back, it’s hard to believe that that’s happened and it’s taken a lot of years and a lot of really good players, but that’s something we’re very proud of, the consistent excellence I guess is what we would call it, hopefully we can continue to pursue that.”
Alan Adds:
How did Coach K handle the NC State debacle in getting ready for last night’s rout of Virginia Tech? It is illuminating as to how he produces “consistent excellence”. It also seemed to me that as he was dispensing his wisdom, he was subtly critiquing ‘Ole Roy’s attitude to this year’s Tarheels (at least I hope so).
The team was angry and Coach K was angry. But there were no crazy practices, the team wasn’t forced through a workout on the night of the game when returning to Durham, the team wasn’t told they couldn’t wear anything that said Duke, and they were not kicked out of the locker room (all previous Coach K tactics). The team “took responsibility right away.” So his response was more intellectual than emotional.
He explained that no game was complete until there was a post-game evaluation (the next day) of individuals and team. After NC State demolished Duke, Coach K said this team had to not only hear, but also see what they had not done. We used tape and talk! “We showed the team on the bench during the game “looking comatose”. Different assistants discussed differing aspects of the game. “I wanted them to hear it from more than just me and to see it.” We were just honest – we showed them what they had to learn. Then we had a good hard practice (Thursday) working on things to improve on.”
“We couldn’t do that on Friday because it was too close to Saturday’s game. On Friday, we worked on attitude and belief.” Each person has complete control over his (or her — to make the point these are more than basketball lessons; these are life lessons we can all use) attitude. That’s a gift of insight. “We worked on belief – in yourself and in the group. Finally, we worked on preparation.” The test for the game is “execution”. Duke’s defensive game plan and execution were at the highest level. Duke’s defense against a “5 out” offense was a superb improvement. Carey and Javin are now competent perimeter defenders so Duke can switch everything. Last night, the help defense was absolutely breathtaking; every driving Hokie was met with more than one defender. 51-25 at the half is execution at both ends of the court.
Coach K said “we were 1-1 this past week.” A game like being “knocked out as NC State did to Duke “is an opportunity that makes you better. We grew as a group this week.”
Coach K acknowledged in this strange season, Duke might get “knocked out again”. If so, we’ll do the same thing. I won’t throw my team under the bus, say they are not good, say they are not trying. [Hear that, ‘Ole Roy?] We will keep trying to get better for the tournaments.”
The First Half Explosion
While Duke exploded on offense with Cassius leading the way with 16 first half points (4-5 from deep) on 9 shots in 15 minutes. Carey scored 11 in 15 minutes to go with 7 boards. He only played 8 minutes in the second half. Tre led in minutes, playing 17 and scoring 8 (6 in the opening minutes to set the tone for the game). Mathew Hurt was superb in his 12 minutes, scoring 8 and grabbing 5 boards. He drove to the basket for 2 lovely layups in traffic and blocked a pair of shots. It was his defense that I thought was an amazing improvement. He helped (one of his blocks was of a jump shot being taken by JGold’s man), he got deflections, he dominated the boards. It was the improvement we all thought possible after his heroics in the Florida State game.
Duke had 10 assists on 18 baskets while committing only 3 fouls (I am not counting the 3 fouls Alex was told to commit at the end of the first half to run the clock on the Hokie’s last possession of the first half). It was a flawless half of superb hoops.
JRob got a job offer in the press conference. Coach K extolled his value to the team and hoped he would stay around to coach. JRob scored 5 and blocked a shot in his 3 minutes.
Next Play: Duke’s last two ACC road games are this week. Tuesday at Wake Forest (7 pm; ACC Network). With the Cavaliers of Virginia coming up next Saturday at 6 pm, yes, Bill, Wake Forest is yet another trap game. Then it will be March with the final two home games: NC State (we hope payback will be a bitch) and senior night against the desperate Tarheels.
First and foremost: Wake Forest on Tuesday.
DUKE 50 – VIRGINIA 52
There are some inescapable conclusions to be taken from Duke’s three recent losses to unranked teams: Duke’s team is less than the sum of their parts; Virginia is more than the sum of their parts; Tony Bennett sure can coach; a team has to be able to walk (play offense) and chew gum (play defense) at the same time; it is not easy to mold a true college basketball contender with one-and-done players; and finally, I have always thought one of Coach K’s terrific strengths was as a bench coach and his feel for substitutions to change the flow of a game. For all the talk about the depth of this team and a deeper rotation, I think he has struggled to find the right combination at the right time. Perhaps, that is more a case of incomplete skill sets of the 3-10 players. Whatever the case, time is running out in finding the right chemistry. Alan follows with a very insightful analysis if this issue.
You really have to admire Virginia coach Tony Bennett. He essentially takes the recruiting leftovers and molds them into a unit that plays the equivalent of Ohio State’s former Coach Woody Hayes “three yards and a cloud of dust” basketball—boring but effective difficult to beat. And yet, to their credit, the Blue Devils were ahead (barely) much of the game and in a position (down one point) to win in the last seconds as they got the play it wanted– the ball to Carey down low. He didn’t go strong to the rim, but pump faked, giving the legendary Pack-Line-Defense time to recover, and had the soft finesse shot blocked from behind by Jay Huff, amazingly his tenth assisted by two other Cavaliers. After the Wake loss, someone wrote: “Also a suggestion for Vernon Carey: “Go strong for dunks at the rim and power the ball through the basket or get fouled doing so. Finesse at point blank range doesn’t get the job done against big athletic, centers and forwards” (or the Pack Line Defense). Except for Jones and Carey, every other player was offensively missing in action as none of them scored more than 6 points.
We, as Duke fans, are spoiled. We are not used to seeing our team lose many close games—certainly not back-to-back. It is interesting to note that the teams beating us are primarily veteran teams, most of whose players are older and physically and mentally more mature than Duke’s one-and-doners. For instance, despite his physical appearance, Vernon Carey just turned nineteen years old a few days ago Then, there is the Zion exception:
“Zion Williamson’s NBA career is off to a great start. Less than 20 games in, Williamson has already provided fans with a plethora of highlights while displaying the unbelievable athletic ability that led to him being the top pick in the 2019 Draft. He has made some history along the way too. During a stretch of games earlier this month, Williamson became the first rookie since Michael Jordan to record four consecutive games of at least 25 points while shooting at least 57 percent from the field.
The fact that he was the first player to accomplish something since Jordan, a player that he idolized growing up, isn’t lost on Williamson.
“Chico, my name’s next to Michael Jordan?” Williamson said when he first learned of the feat, via ESPN. “I mean, it’s dope. I can’t even lie. One of my favorite players growing up. I said in some interview, my mom told me to study film of him so to be in that category, it means a lot.”
Jordan is already a fan of Williamson, as evidenced by the fact that he signed the explosive rookie to the vaunted Jordan Brand. In fact, Williamson’s five-year agreement with Jordan Brand is the most lucrative rookie shoe deal in NBA history.
“I think his passion for the game is coming through the way that he plays,” Jordan said of Williamson in January. “That’s great for the league… The NBA is very fortunate to have a talented young man who shows a certain passion about the game. That’s something you can’t get. You’re born with it, and you share it with the rest of the world.”
Though Williamson’s four-game streak of 25-plus points on 57 percent from the floor came to an end on Friday night, he set another mark by becoming the first teenager in league history to record 10 straight 20-point games. Williamson’s early success has garnered him a lot of individual attention, and though he is appreciative of it, he is more concerned with the success of his team as a whole.
“I think the world and the media, I think, is more happy for me than myself,” Williamson said. “Honestly, I don’t even think much of it if I’m being honest. I just want to get the win. You know, my stepdad taught me growing up, you know, if the team has success then the individual things will follow. So I guess it’s just one of those things.”
Alan adds:
There was not a single moment from the end of the Wake Forest debacle last Tuesday that I thought Duke would beat UVA in Charlottesville last night. Not during the first half; nor at any time during the second half including the last couple of minutes where Duke historically makes the winning plays. It was not (at least not completely) that I thought Duke would again play badly; it was that I thought UVA had morphed into a team that has as good a chance (perhaps the best chance) as any team in the league to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament. The Cavaliers may be the best coached team in the league (and that’s saying something!). But there were thoughts that Duke could not recover from the Wake Forest disaster (losing a 9 point lead in the last 1:21 of regulation; giving up 113 points – the most ever for a Coack K team). Hence my Humpty Dumpty/All The King’s Men concern.
In great contrast to the genuinely poor performances against NC State and Wake, Duke played hard, tough and competitively. Coach K: “I’m proud of our guys; but disappointed we lost. It was a very good basketball game where each team played well enough to be deserving of winning.” But, in truth, only Duke’s defense was deserving of winning. The offense has been regressing instead of “getting better”. Yes, Duke is second in the nation in scoring, but UVA’s famed “pack line” defense held the Devils in check. Tre was magnificent and Carey was very good. But Duke got little from the rest of its supposedly deep team. Duke seems to me to be regressing because rather than jelling (as should be the norm with talented young players and a Hall of Fame coach) and seems unable to find an identity. Coach K is struggling to help his team find chemistry and an identity. The UVA game was a dramatic example that the struggle continues without success … yet.
Coach K put the point (the capitalization is mine): “THE WINGS DIDN’T SCORE; NOR DID OUR 4 MAN! That’s the level of our inconsistency. Vernon is a good passer out of the post. Our guys need to hit shots.” Last night the supporting players were abysmal on offense. It cost Duke and prevents building the needed chemistry.
Cassius played 29 minutes scoring only 4 points (1-9 from the field and 2-4 from the line). Goldwire played 25 minutes, scoring only 2 points (1-3; 0-1 from deep). Wendell Moore played 20 minutes, scoring only 2 (1-5); Jack White failed to score at all in 14 minutes (0-4). Mathew Hurt played only 9 minutes and failed to score (0-2; with one horrible 3 point attempt). Baker was 1-5 for 2 points in only 9 minutes; while Alex was 0-1 in his cameo of 3 minutes. So those 7 players logged a total of 89 minutes and collectively scored only 10 points. Duke had only 4 assists (2 by Tre), but turned it over 10 times. Duke’s carelessness as well as UVA’s defense was responsible.
Javin offered the only real support in his 23 minutes (only 2 fouls), some 9 minutes at the same time as Carey was in the game. He scored 6 (but only 2 in the second half) and contributed 3 crucial blocks but missed a dramatic dunk for a 5-point swing when UVA hit a second chance 3 off the long rebound.
Carey was heroic but struggled inside against the Pack line that collapsed on him in the post. He scored early (8 points in 9 minutes on 3-3, including a 3 to go with 1-1 from the line) in the first half, but was again limited in playing time by picking up his second foul with 7:21 left in the first half. He played the entire second half (19 minutes) fouling out with 3 seconds left in the game. He had 17 points in 28 minutes (3-8 from the field as the Pack Line closed down on him effectively, though he drew fouls – 3-4 from the line). Bill thinks he is not going up strong enough, I see it a bit differently. I credit the Pack Line and the blocks from behind when Carey thought his moves had produced a clear shot.
Tre was simply heroic. He played all 40 minutes. He was 3-5 from behind the arc and 2-3 from the foul line with 5 rebounds, 2 assists without a turnover and a steal. He was, however, only 3-9 from inside the arc. He was also the heart of Duke’s effective defense.
But the offense was ineffective. For example, Duke led 18-13 in the first half with 8:37 left in the first half. Duke did not score again for 5 minutes and 20 seconds.
Duke’s defensive game plan worked superbly. Coach K wanted to take the ball out of Clark’s hands (he has become a force as point guard – that improvement from early season is one of the chief reasons for UVA’s latest impressive winning streak. Tre did that. Duke also wanted to close down UVA’s newly discovered shooting star, Woldetensae. Duke held him scoreless in his 23 minutes. But that left Duke vulnerable on the interior and Huff and UVA made the defense pay scoring on layups when Duke switched. It kept Virginia in the game.
Next Play: NC State at Cameron on Monday night at 7pm (ESPN). This is like an NCAA tournament schedule. Tough game on Saturday (say, Sweet 16) and then another tough game two days later (say, Elite 8). But you have to win the first game or you don’t get to play two days later. Coach K says his team needs the experience of being in close games like the UVA struggle to grow. We’ll see, but there is a Humpty Dumpty-All the King’s Men aspect to Duke’s regression.
DUKE 88 – NORTH CAROLINA STATE 69
After another inexplicably inept start where the Blue Devils missed 12 of their first 13 shots and turned the ball over like it was a hot potato, I was going to write: “A Duke team that just ninety days ago beat Kansas, currently the unanimous #1 team in the country, has played these last three games like they don’t deserve an invitation to the NCAA Tournament.” It has been painful to watch such a promising team play so poorly. Last Saturday, I did write something to the effect that one of Coach K’s strengths is that he has been a terrific game day bench coach who has a wonderful, intuitive feel for the flow of a game and how to maintain and/or change the momentum with a timely timeout or the right substitution, but, for whatever reason, hasn’t been able to find the right combination with this group.
Well, who could have imagined the magic in this move? Down eight points early and the game looking too much like the blowout in Raleigh ten nights ago, Coach K called all the way to the end of the bench for Justin Robinson, the often praised but seldom used fifth year blue blood, grad student—and, Holy Jim Boeheim, went to a 2-3 zone. The unlikely pair of J-Rob and G-Wire sparked a comeback that had Duke ahead 38-36 at the half. Robinson had exploded for 8 points, making back-to-back threes and slamming a put-back dunk to inject new life onto the moribund Blue Devils and, perhaps, the season.
Alan texted: “Have never seen a team so undeserving of a halftime lead.”
In the second half, Duke stayed with the zone and the Wolfpack did not adjust well, shooting only 37.5%, scoring just 33 points, and being outrebounded 46-27. The 3-10 players who were missing in action against Virginia (shooting 6-for-34) were on fire the rest of the game, none more than Cassius Stanley who had 18 points and several spectacular dunks that would make Zion Williamson proud.
After the game Justin Robinson said: “Any time I get a chance to play, I want to bring energy. I want to bring leadership and talk. Luckily, I got a couple of shots to fall early, so that helped a lot. We needed a little more energy, especially on defense. And then once our defense picked up, our offense always follows, we get the transition buckets you see, like Cassius [Stanley] throwing down lobs. That always brings our energy up too. I love the Crazies. They’re so fun. They always do give a little extra energy for me – I notice that and I appreciate that. It’s always fun.”
Following back-to-back losses, the Blue Devils’ mini-resurgence came none too soon as they must get tougher, more consistent, and play better both defensively and offensively to fulfill their potential.
Prediction: Johnny Tar Heel says that Coach K is worth 10 points and Cameron is worth 8. Duke by 18 on Saturday.
Alan Adds
Coach K said this game was Duke’s biggest win of the year, and from a psychological perspective he is correct. Duke’s first half looked like a continuation of the NC State game in Raleigh (not to mention the debacle at Wake that followed the mugging by the Wolfpack). I thought the first half was Duke’s worst defensive performance of the entire year. That was one reason why I texted Bill about Duke not deserving its half-time lead (down by 6 with 2:03 to go, Duke scored the last 8 points of the half – Hurt close to the rim; 2 foul shots by Carey, and a steal by Goldwire that led to his great assist on a Moore bucket on the run; followed by 2 Moore free throws). Duke could not defend State’s ball screens even slightly. The Wolfpack lived in the Duke paint, shooting 50% with 9 assists (6 turnovers). On offense, only the heroics of Goldwire (Coach K: “He was sensational; not just very good; sensational) and Justin Robinson, who may have just played his way into the rotation, kept Duke in the game. Tre played the entire game – a subpar first half (1-8 with an assist and 2 turnovers) before delivering one of his best halves of the season in the closing stanza. Stanley (2-9 in 13 minutes) and Moore (0-3 in 10 minutes) struggled early before shining in the second half.
Duke started with 2 bigs – Javin and Carey alongside Stanley, Baker and Tre. That lasted for 2 minutes before Goldwire entered the game and never left it (38 minutes). Baker and Javin were ineffective in their cameos (each was 0-1). Javin did, however grab 4 boards in his 5 minutes. Robinson led Duke’s first half scoring with 8 crucial points (also 2 rebounds) in just 7 minutes. Think about Robinson being Duke’s leading first half scorer in just 7 minutes. His play saved Duke in the opening stanza. The bench kept Duke in the game: Goldwire had 7 points (not really bench) and Hurt had 5 in just 9 minutes. The second half rotation was much more truncated. Really only 6 players were used. I am not counting Hurt, who played only 3 second half minutes or Javin, just 1. Neither Baker (after his first half cameo), White nor Alex played at all in this game. It is worth examining Duke’s stellar return to form in the second half where Tre, JGold and Stanley each played 20 minutes. Moore played 16 of the 20 (spelled so briefly by Hurt and Javin) while Carey (13 minutes) and Robinson (7 minutes) manned the center position.
Coach K’s zone was the catalyst for Duke’s resurgence. Coach K said the zone gave 4 major advantages that Duke used to pull away: 1) (and most important) it kept not only State’s brilliant point guard, Johnson, out of the paint after he had torched Duke in the first half with his classy drives, but it kept the entire State team out of the paint; 2) it enabled Duke to control the backboards on both ends (Duke had more offensive rebounds than State had defensive boards); 3) it set up Duke’s fast break. With Tre and Goldwire on the top of the zone, the outlet pass was there and the two guards were devastating running the break; and 4) it allowed Duke to play 4 perimeter players around Carey or JRob, which fueled the break. Stanley and Tre had halves to remember. Cassius scored 13 second half points (5-9; 0-1 from deep; and 4-5 from the stripe). He also had 2 boards, 2 blocks and an assist without a turnover, and – together with Tre — was the catalyst for Duke moving from a small lead to blowout. With 12:52 to go in the game, Duke led only by 2. In the next 8 minutes, Stanley scored 13 points (3 spectacular dunks on great passes; 4-4 from the stripe to go with a layup and a jumper) while grabbing 4 rebounds, handing out an assist and making a block as Duke stretched the lead to 18. Some 8 minutes! Tre had 12 second half points (3-6; 1-1 from deep; 5-6 from the line) to go with 3 assists and 2 steals. Carey scored 10 second half points in his 13 minutes. Moore had 6 in the closing stanza and Goldwire 4. Those 5 scored 46 of Duke’s 50 second half points (JRob, 2 and Hurt 2). It was (or might turn out to be) the half that resurrects Duke’s season.
Coach K had special words for Cassius and JRob. “ Cassius played with a verve”. Competition for the understatement of 2020 may have ended early. He praised JRob’s attitude and off the court contributions to the team before talking about his game performance. He said Robinson has been having good practices for the last month and played like it in the game. “What a good story of persistence” Robinson is. He may be supplanting Javin in the rotation.
Next Play: Senior night at Cameron against the Tarheels – Saturday at 6:00 pm ESPN. We will try and get out a pre-tournament edition as the ACC tournament begins on Wednesday. Duke, guaranteed a double bye will not play until Friday (the 13th). We won’t know the matchups until the weekend is over.
DUKE 89 – NORTH CAROLINA 76
In horse racing, when one horse leads from start to finish and wins impressively by open lengths, it is often said he “wired” the field. Well, Duke “wired” Carolina last night but that would be deceiving as they had to collectively play their best game of the year on both ends of the court because it was the equivalent of a heavy weight fight. Duke was never behind but neither could they put the Tar Heels totally away until nearly midway through the second half when Vernon Cary with assists from Tre Jones (What else is new?) played some of his most versatile and effective basketball and Cassius Stanley continued to assert himself as a third closer. Do not be deceived, Carolina is now a healthy, talented but not deep team that had won three in a row. UNC will be a dangerous opponent in the ACC Tournament.
This was one of Coach K’s very best late season fine tunings of a good but not great team that was on the cusp of winning the ACC Regular Season Championship only to fall apart against mediocre N.C. State and Wake Forest teams. Setting aside for a moment the awkward question of how the winningest, arguably best, coach in the history of college basketball (and his staff) has for five years not recognized what a versatile game changer they had at the end of the bench in five-and-done Justin Robinson– let’s just call it another stroke of genius. But I digress.
Coach Mike Krzyzewski assessment: “Really a key was J-Rob. He has been a Godsend for us. His fingerprints are on every aspect of the game.” Consider this: Three weeks ago the player who may potentially be the missing piece of the puzzle to make this a more consistent, formidable team, Robinson had 72 career points in almost four red shirt seasons. In the last three weeks he’s scored 34 points and has 17 blocks in just 102 minutes. Coming into this game against the Tar Heels, Justin Robinson, or J-Rob as he is affectionately known, had played just 227 mostly mop up minutes in his five years with the Blue Devils. But the graduate student saved his best for last in Cameron, driving the Crazies to new levels of appreciative insanity and his teammates to their best efforts with 13 points, 4 blocks, and stellar interior defense. The basketball gods certainly rewarded J-Rob for his years of patient, hard work as 2 of his 4 successful threes where way off target but somehow miraculously bounced through the basket. However, they had no hand in his gritty ability to play interior defense next to Vernon Carey and Javin DeLaurier, which makes this a much more formidable team.
In many ways, it appeared Coach K took a couple of pages from Dean Smith’s playbook by starting seniors Javin DeLaurier, Jack White and Justin Robinson in their last game on the iconic Cameron Court. Though this combination isn’t what we are accustomed to seeing to start a game, the three seniors played with a fire that only someone playing their last home game could, giving the normal starters something with which they were unfamiliar– a lead. Robinson hit two 3-pointers, while DeLaurier caught and finished a lob to help Duke establish an early margin. Then, giving Carolina some of its own medicine, Coach K had Carey and the other big men primed to race their counterparts baseline to baseline producing 15 easy, discouraging points to none for Carolina. Holy Fast Break, Batman, had the players changed uniforms? Krzyzewski said it wasn’t an accident. “That’s been the biggest point of emphasis in our practices, to beat them down the floor on both offense and defense. We really worked a lot on that.”
Duke also played-man-to man the entire way. Tre and his teammates harassed Cole Anthony, their most lethal and important offensive weapon, into trying to play one-on-five, only scoring 9 points. But the real back breaker was the fast-break points flip flop: “I thought the biggest key in the first half was their fast-break points,” Roy Williams said. “It was 15 to 0. I don’t know that I’ve ever had a team outscored 15 to zero in fast-break points. When we pushed it, they did a great job of getting back.” This simply never happens. It is the Tar Heels who specialize in run-outs, drowning opponents in easy fast-break baskets.
Duke led by as many as 10 points in the first half before taking a 42-34 lead into intermission. However, UNC would not fold and outplayed Duke early in the second half as the Blue Devils scored on just one of their first eight possessions. But then, Duke, with an assist from the Cameron Crazies, closed out the game with flawless execution (No turnovers and hitting 10 of 11 free throws)—a very satisfying and impressive close to the regular season.
The stats tell the story. Duke hit 29 of 33 free throws and 10 of 21 three pointers, 6 of which were in the second half. That turned a 1-point game into a 13-point game with 3:43 left. Had Duke shot the same percentage on these attempts as last year’s team, there would have been a 16 point turn around and perhaps a different outcome. While the depth of talent offers many options, it appears we are back to a mostly seven man rotation with Robinson taking minutes from Hurt, DeLaurier, White, Baker, and O’Connor.
The Bottom Line: Coaching and chemistry make a difference. Matthew Hurt is talented but is not yet physically strong enough to hold his own—as Justin wasn’t initially– against more mature strong forwards. He is a teenage boy playing against mature twenty year old plus men—as many of Florida State and Louisville players are. Player development takes time. The emergence of the more mature and versatile Robinson was years in the making. And the mental maturation of Cassius Stanley and Wendell Moore, almost a season in the making, to go with the steady Jordan Goldwire, three years in the making, are all pieces of a puzzle that may be a season in the making.
Boys & Men (perhaps, there is a lesson here.) Although they are not comparable, consider the emergence of Justin Robinson with the sensational, record breaking LSU QB Joseph Lee Burrow. He is also a five-and-done, 23 year old, who did not initially find success at Ohio State before transferring to LSU as a 21 year old. Then, consider how many Duke one and dones—other than Zion– have fared in the NBA as opposed to Grant Hill, Shane Battier, Elton Brand, who stayed three or four years. Here’s a flash: In the NBA, there are only real men who can run and jump and shoot and play defense that get playing time. Otherwise, it is the G (Gee, I almost made it in the NBA) Development League
Perhaps, patience is an underappreciated virtue.
Alan Adds:
The Duke stars in this game were (in no particular order): Coach K, Justin Robinson, Tre Jones, Cassius Stanley, and Vernon Carey Jr.
Coach K
Coach K: Bill’s friend Johnny Tar Heel says Coach K is worth 10 points a game as bench coach. Last night his genius exceeded that value. His game plan was flawless and worked to perfection. First, he stole a page from UNC by his fast break and long passes, even after made baskets. Second, on defense he wanted to: a) slow or stop Carolina’s best offensive player, Cole Anthony; b) stop the vaunted Carolina fast break (and secondary break); and c) hold even on the boards after being so badly outrebounded last month in Chapel Hill. In the first half, Duke outscored Carolina 15-0 on fast break points. ‘Ole Roy said ruefully in his press conference, “I don’t think that ever happened to a Carolina team before.” Carey ran the floor like a greyhound and Tre found him with full length of the court passes that emulated a fourth quarter Tom Brady. Duke completely shut down Carolina’s potent fast break (UNC had only 5 fast break points for the entire game). Coach K said they worked hard on transition defense in practice, but “we played even better than we practiced”. Duke got back in lanes, picking up the Carolina player in that lane rather than guarding the Tarheel designated in the man to man. It was sublime defense. Duke held even on the backboards (38-37 for Carolina), even though the Blue Devils gave up 18 second chance points. As Ole Roy (at his rueful best) praised the Duke interior defense. “In the second half we got it inside better, but they contested everything underneath and we couldn’t finish inside.”
Justin Robinson
What a story! Coach K said it’s an amazing story, like the movie, “Rudy”. In 25 minutes (15 in the second half), J-Rob scored 13 (4-6 from deep) to go with 6 boards, 4 blocks and 3 assists. He was, as Coach K said, “a godsend. He impacted every aspect of the game. He not only blocked 4 shots, but he altered a bunch.” (think ‘Ole Roy’s “they contested everything, and we couldn’t finish inside”.) “He made us better.” Will J-Rob be the catalyst that allows this team to reach a higher plateau? He was the second big for almost all of the second half. Javin played only 11 minutes (4 fouls), just 4 minutes in the second half without scoring. Jack White failed to score in 6 first half minutes (did not play in the second half); Matt Hurt failed to score in 9 minutes (only 3 in the second half). Hurt looked absolutely lost trying to defend the Carolina bigs and rebound. If Robinson can maintain this level of play going into the tournaments, Duke becomes more of a true contender.
Cassius Stanley
Stanley had an efficient 19 points in 36 minutes (6-10; 3-5 from deep; 4-4 from the line) to go with 6 boards. It was in the second half that Stanley soared, playing every minute, and scoring 11 (3-4 from deep; 2-2 from the line) to go with 3 key rebounds and an assist without committing a turnover or a foul. He and J-Rob hit back to back 3s that broke the game open. He is a superb athlete that can and did defend. He was instrumental in Duke’s second half defense, which was adequate, though UNC did score 42 in the closing stanza.
Tre Jones
Tre was simply magnificent in his 39 minutes (I don’t remember him coming out for a minute in the first half) scoring 21 points and handing out 11 (yes, 11) assists against 2 turnovers. His long outlet passes shredded the Carolina defense. His 10-10 from the line, including 6-6 down the stretch kept Duke safely in front. Tre’s 7 second half assists were crucial. He added a block; committed only 2 fouls. But even more important than his offense was his defense. Tre is a better defender than his brother was (or is in the NBA), and was part of the way Anthony was kept totally in check and completely frustrated. Stopping the other team’s best player has long been a Coach K value. Tre (Goldwire and the helping team defense) accomplished that task against Anthony, who was only 4-14; 0-2 from deep and 1-2 from the line for 9 points even though he played almost the entire game — 39 minutes. The Carolina point guard managed only 3 assists and turned it over twice. Shutting such a great player down like that was one of the keys to Duke’s win.
Vernon Carey, Jr.
After an under achieving (for him, anyway) first half (playing only 13 minutes, grabbing only 3 boards while shooting 2-4 from the field and 3-4 from the line), he took over the game when he came back in with 11:08 left in the game, Duke leading 54-53, and Brooks on the line shooting to tie the game. When Brooks missed, Carey immediately grabbed 3 boards, made 2 layups in just over a minute. 59-54. After a Tar Heel 3, he scored again underneath and followed that with an old fashioned 3 point play to give the Devils a 69-63 lead with 7:18 to go. He scored on another dunk with 5:46 to go, stretching the Duke lead to 7 and setting the scene for J-Rob and Cassius to close the door on Carolina. J-Rob blocked a Brooks layup and then hit a 3 with a beautiful assist from Tre. When Anthony missed a contested (by Tre) 3, Cassius got the rebound and sunk a 3 with an assist from J-Rob. Duke up 13 with only 3:27 to go. The game was over then.
Carey scored 18 in the second half (6-10 from the field and 6-7 from the line) while defending the back board with 7 second half rebounds. He also had a steal. What an amazing performance!
Overview
Duke was aggressive and won the game from the free throw line (29-33) and from behind the arc (10-21). Duke’s defense did the job as per the Coach K game plan. A bit troubling was the lack of production from the rest of the team. In the second half, Carey, Cassius and Tre accounted for 38 of Duke’s 47 points. Add J-Rob’s 6 and those 4 scored 44 of the 47. Goldwire’s 3-4 from the line completed the second half scoring.
Neither Alex nor Joey Baker saw the floor. White, and Hurt were scoreless in essentially cameo appearances. Moore had 4 points, but none in the second half. Javin had 4 first half points (0 in the second half). Goldwire was scoreless from the floor 0-3 but was 3-4 from the line at crunch time for 3 points in 24 minutes. However, his defensive contributions were immense.
Next Play: Duke will be the #4 seed in the ACC tournament and will play on Thursday (March 12) at 2:30 p.m. against either Pittsburg, Wake Forest or NC State. Pitt and Wake play on Tuesday, with the winner to face NC State on Wednesday. If Duke wins that Thursday quarterfinal, The Devils would play at 7 pm on Friday the 13th against the winner of the bracket that includes top seeded Florida State. The Championship game is on Saturday (March 14) at 8:30 p.m. Let’s hope that Duke is in that game.
Duke Basketball Playbook 