Duke 76
NC State 57

January 13, 2002.  

Entertainment & Sports Arena.

   Sometimes a team needs to generate a little paranoia for motivation, like against Georgia Tech.  Then there are times when the other team does the job for you, effectively buying the rope with which you will hang them.  Earlier this week, a State player had noted that they had beaten FSU, and that FSU had beaten Duke, so "where does that put us?" Minor locker-room material, but not a huge deal.  Then forward Marcus Melvin noted that he had called tele-psychic Miss Cleo up and learned that he would be hitting a three over Mike Dunleavy.  Amusing, but a bit more fodder.  But before the game, as Duke was warming up at one basket rookie State star Julius Hodge started shooting at the Duke goal, stepping over players as they were stretching and talking trash.  It was a purely psychological move, one designed to intimidate the Devils.  Hodge is a New Yorker, and this kind of move is not surprising.  Of course, when Coach K saw this, he had pure motivational gold.  He told the team that they shouldn't let Hodge get away with this kind of move, and that they should hold him scoreless--"He gets NOTHING!"

   Results: Julius Hodge-- 0 points on 0-7 shooting, 3 turnovers.  Marcus Melvin-- 0 points on 0-4 shooting, 2 fouls.  Sometimes it's best to let one's actions speak for you.  Beyond motivational tactics and pregame bluster, the cold facts stated that NCSU didn't have the personnel to  stop Carlos Boozer.  To have a chance, they'd have to get hot from the perimeter, force some turnovers and get some offensive rebounds.  As it was, they were only able to get the latter, and it simply wasn't enough, especially when Duke got a working margin. 

   But you couldn't tell the Pack that when the game began, because the ESA was hoppin'.  In this do-or-die year for Herb Sendek, he really unleashed a pressing, running version of the Pack that he had long promised, one that took lots of threes as well as some risks.  Sendek also had a slightly deeper roster to take advantage of, meaning that he didn't have to worry much about fouls.  Melvin tried to start things off with a bang for the Pack but missed a three.  After a Dunleavy miss went off State, Jason Williams found him on an inbounds play, "and one."  Mike missed the foul shot, but Carlos grabbed the board, dished out to Duhon and watched as Chris sank the three.  This is a favorite play of Coach K's, the three attempt off a missed foul shot, and it quick put Duke up 5-0.

   But State was in a fighting mood and Anthony Grundy came down to hit a three.  The Pack threw on a press and Duhon uncharacteristically panicked against it, turning it over twice in a row.  The first turnover ended up as a State basket, but the second was stolen right back by Williams,  who drove in for a layup of his own.  The Pack were attacking Duke perfectly, driving at Duke's guards and using backdoors to take advantage of Duke's overplaying.  Williams missed a jumper but Duke got a couple of offensive rebounds before Dunleavy dished to Boozer, and then Mike hit 2 free throws.  With four minutes gone by, the score was knotted at 11 and there had already been 3 lead changes.

   Duke looked like they were going to take control for a moment with back-to-back threes by Duhon and Dunleavy, but crafty frosh Ilian Evtimov got open and hit a three of his own.  The next couple of minutes were a bit ugly as Duke missed 4 shots and State 3, many of them blocked.  State finally came up with a layup to sneak back to within 17-16 with thirteen minutes left in the half.  Duke wisely went inside to Boozer, who was not being double-teamed by the Pack.  Dunleavy fed him for a three point play, and then he posted up for a turnaround jumper.  Duke again went into an offensive funk that the Pack weren't able to take advantage of.  For the next three minutes, Duke missed four shots and turned it over twice, while the Pack were only able to score 3 points themselves.  Then Duke's defense really clamped down and Mike Dunleavy apparently got a dose of Vita-Rays.

   Over the last seven minutes of the half, the Devils went on a 23-2 run that ended with 15 consecutive points by Dunleavy.  The Pack didn't help their cause with 8 turnovers, nor did a blown dunk by Grundy or a missed layup by Hodge (who never quite looked the same after Boozer blocked one of his shots).  Duke started the run with Boozer on the bench after picking up his second foul, and so the Devils elected to attack off the dribble. Duhon and Jones both drove and got fouled, making all their shots, while Jason zipped by everyone for a layup.  Jones then stole the ball and fed it to Jason for a layup (after he had blown a dunk earlier on).  With five minutes to go, Duke suddenly had a 30-19 lead and were starting to feel State weaken.

   That's when the Dunleavy show began.  He canned a tough 15' jumper, then sank an even tougher 19' shot on a Duhon assist.  He drove again and made another 15' jumper and it was obvious to all that he was in one of his periodic hot streaks.  Duhon found him again for a three as Duke had rolled 17 unanswered points.  State finally scored on a rebound basket with about a minute left, but Dunleavy was still feeling it, hitting on a long three on a Williams feed.  When Crawford turned the ball over with twenty seconds to go in the half, Mike told Jason to go ahead and take the shot if it was there, but asserted that he would hit any shot within halfcourt range if he passed it to him.  Jason drove, passed way back out to Mike and saw him easily sink a 30' jumper as time expired in the half.  Mike had stunned the State crowd, whose taunts now sounded rather hollow and left the State players shaking their heads.

   Dunleavy finished the half with 22 points on 8-12 shooting, along with 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals.  Williams had 4 assists and only 1 turnover, while Boozer had 7 points.  The Pack were obviously going to key on Dunleavy in the second half in an effort to jam Duke's shooters,  so that meant needing Boozer to be ready to step up.  And that he was.

   Duke wanted to start out strong to deflate a squad that was probably fired-up from a halftime speech (although to be honest I've never thought of Sendek as a tremendous motivator), and Williams did that with a steal and layup.  Duhon got a rebound and fired it upcourt to Boozer, who drove in for a dunk.  The Devils led by 28, but the scrappy Pack team never gave up.  After the Pack scored 4 in a row, Jason dumped it inside to Carlos once again, who hit a nice bank shot.  After an Evtimov three, Sendek was given a technical for arguing after an Archie Miller miss.  Boozer hit 1 shot, then dunked a rebound basket in after Dunleavy missed a three on the subsequent possession.  State was now in a 56-28 hole, but that T fired up the team and the crowd.

   Over the next four minutes, State went on a 12-6 run thanks to a Miller three as well as Josh Powell going everyone for some big dunks and then hitting some free throws.  Duke was struggling a bit, but Williams found Dunleavy on a cut and for a three that kept the lead at 27, 62-35.  State continued to chip away as Duke was using as much of the shot clock as possible, going on a 10-5 run in the next two minutes.  The Pack were pressing, but Jason had the ball in his hands and made good things happen, dishing to Jones for a one-handed throwdown along the baseline.  Ewing then found Duhon for a three, but Duke's lead was down to 67-45. 

   The Devils went inside with a Boozer three point play, but State went on a 6-0 run to bring the lead inside of 20 points at 70-51.  Still, the Pack were running out of time, and Jason wanted to make sure to finish them off properly.  A dish to Boozer for a three point play, another pass to Carlos inside for an easy bucket, and 2 foul shots by Jason himself pushed the lead back up to 25 with three minutes left.  Any potential crisis averted, Duke went to its bench as State scored the last 6 points of the game to make the final 76-57.  Make no mistake, however--Duke was in complete control the entire second half.  Comparing this game to last year's contest in Reynolds, the Devils also had a 19-point lead but let it get away from them, letting State crawl to within 6 points.  This year, that didn't happen, and it was thanks to Duke keeping a lid on State's scorers and forcing their role players to make plays.  Meanwhile, Duke's offense was in "no-ego" mode, going to the hot hand or best matchup  depending on what was available.  The Devils got a solid win over a team that had beaten Virginia on the road and gave Maryland an extremely hard time.  Duke looked like they had learned some lessons needed for this Thursday's test against the Terps.    

  ** Negatives:  

1. Dealing with the press.  Duhon turned it over a bit too much in the first half, with State's press visibly jarring him.  His 6 turnovers were a career high, as he seemed a bit more careless than usual.   

2. Blocking out.  Duke did a good job of this in the first half, but let Josh Powell and others go wild on the offensive boards in the second half.    

3. Bench play.  The fact that the bench was 0-4 was not bothersome.  The fact that the bench only had 3 rebounds in 30 minutes of play is,  especially when you throw in 3 fouls and 3 turnovers.  The Devils will need at least one player to make a difference against Maryland.   

  ** Positives:              

1. Ball movement.  Duke had 21 assists on their 28 field goals as Williams and Dunleavy in particular did a marvelous job of finding the open man, be it inside, in transition or on the perimeter.  

2. Defending the goal.  In years (and recent games) past, if an opponent could get by Duke's pressure, they were often assured of an easy basket. But Jones, Boozer & Dunleavy were very aggressive in both blocking and altering shots.   

3. Ball pressure.  Duke forced 19 turnovers, including 6 by nominal point guard Crawford.  More than that, they shut down three of State's leading scorers, with Grundy, Hodge and Melvin combining for 3-22 from the floor.   

Player-by-Player:  

  ** Boozer: A superb second half that took advantage of State's limited inside presence.  He scored in transition and a rebound basket, but  mostly just posted up and made life hell for State inside.  Carlos had a remarkable 3 three-point plays.  His efficiency on offense (9-13) and great  hands (just 1 turnover) give Duke just the right amount of balance.  His numbers are all the more impressive considering that he only played 25 minutes.  The most surprising thing about his game was that he actually missed 3 foul shots--unusual for this 80% shooter.  His only real negatives were again his foul problems, with a couple of truly unnecessary hacks, and a slightly low rebound total (5), though he did do well on the offensive boards.  

  ** Dunleavy: As K put it afterwards, Mike went "berserk" in the first half, turning a comfortable Duke lead into a rout.  But he did much more than just score.  His 5 assists, 8 rebounds, 3 steals and a block showed the kind of all-around game he possesses.  Mike is definitely a streaky shooter and cooled off in the second half (just 2-7 from the field), but didn't stop making plays, including a couple of big assists.  About the only thing he didn't do well was block out in the second half, allowing a couple of dunks.  But his end of the half run in the first period was amazing to watch, because he was simply unguardable.  His threes were impressive, but I loved seeing him drive and pull up to stick the short jumper, adding another level of versatility to Duke's offense.  

  ** Jones: While Dahntay didn't make as big an impact on the offensive end in this game as he did against Tech, his smothering defense on Hodge  broke his spirit.  Jones picked up a couple of steals and had a truly earth-shattering block, one where he rose out of nowhere to stop a driving player and send the ball back into play.  Dahntay was also strong on the defensive boards; really, he simply fit in where he was needed and didn't force things.  

  ** Williams: Another game where Jason didn't feel compelled to have to carry Duke offensively, so he picked his spots and ran a brilliant floor game.  This was especially important because Duhon was having some difficulties with the press.  Pressing Jason is another matter, because his speed dribble and ability to go behind his back make him very difficult to press.  Jason has rarely had trouble dealing with such defenses--his turnovers usually come trying to make a play in the halfcourt.  Williams knew to go to the guys who were on fire--he had 6 assists to Dunleavy and 3 to Boozer, including finding Mike twice in the last minute of the first half.  Jason's 2 steals were also big because they led to baskets.  In a game where his three point stroke abandoned him (0-5), he didn't have to force his offense because others were clicking.  All he had to do was get them the ball.  This game is a reminder that for all of his prowess as a scorer, he still knows how to run a team and has been doing it for much of his career.    

  ** Duhon:  Not a great floor game, but he contributed with stellar defense and another nice showing on the boards, along with several deep threes. It was also nice to see Chris get to the free throw line, something he hasn't done much of this year.  Chris had 3 steals in the second half alone as he disrupted State's offense.  The turnovers are a concern for a player who never made mistakes last year and was sterling against Tech last Thursday. He'll need to be careful against Maryland's pressure and Juan Dixon's quick hands in particular.  Dixon came up with a critical steal with the score tied late in their game with Tech that sealed the outcome.

  ** Ewing:  Dan didn't contribute much offensively, but he played his usual sound defense, grabbed a couple of offensive boards, and found Duhon for a three.  Most importantly, he got some crucial minutes of rest for Jason & Chris.  Only real negative: 2 fouls.  

  ** Horvath: Nick came on fairly early in the game but missed an easy basket and picked up a foul.  

  ** Sanders:  Casey missed a close-in shot but played credibly defense when Boozer was on the bench with foul trouble.  It was pretty clear that Duke was a much better offensive team with Boozer on the floor, however, because State could cheat on Duke's guards and leave the middle exposed.  Casey needs to catch and shoot much quicker--he's still thinking about it way too much.  

  ** Christensen: Again, with a relatively small and quick opponent, Matt wasn't of much use out there.  Watch him get some significant playing time against Maryland, especially if Boozer gets in foul trouble and/or the Terps are killing Duke on the boards.  

  ** Love & Buckner:  Just some cameo appearances for this twosome.  I think Reggie also has a chance of playing time against Maryland, depending on how the matchups go inside.   

  ** Next Game: The Big One, against our friends from College Park.  Expect a lot of intensity and matchup shuffling as Maryland tries to figure out how to guard Mike Dunleavy and Duke figures out how to guard Chris Wilcox and Tahj Holden.   

  Reported by Rob Clough, tmc@duke.edu

Rob's Archive