Duke 103
Wake Forest 80

January 19, 2002.  

Cameron Indoor Stadium.

   By now, the perception that Duke has gone soft has started to fade in the minds of their ACC opponents, especially after the way Duke dismantled Maryland in the last ten minutes of their contest.  Still, playing the Devils tends to bring out the best in their opponents, and that's especially true for a Wake squad that last year played Duke tight for 30 minutes in Durham and lost on a buzzer-beater in Winston.  Darius Songaila and Josh Howard in  particular have always had some success against Duke, and were eager to attack Mike Dunleavy and Carlos Boozer inside.  Another thing to note that this team is really playing like a Skip Prosser-run crew.  The way they ran up and down the floor in the first half seemed to catch Duke a bit off guard, and their athleticism was certainly eye-opening.  In fact, Howard may well be the best athlete in the league--and he's not a bad player, either.

   But the good news for Duke fans is that this team is playing harder for all 40 minutes than in December.  There are occasional lapses here and there at both ends, of course, but it must be noted that their recent opponents have had some serious offensive firepower.  Furthermore, Wake has played a killer schedule and had no fear of Duke whatsoever.  That said, it's  clear that Duke's opponents can't afford any significant dry spells or mistake-filled stretches.  Wake played Duke even for the first fifteen minutes of the game, but lost their concentration and their poise and ended up being down by 12 at halftime.  After they fought back and pulled within 3 with ten minutes to go, Duke changed their offense, turned up the pressure on defense, and owned the boards.  Wake played 25 minutes of great  basketball, but they needed to go hard for 40.

   It must be said that a Howard hip pointer and subsequent foul trouble as well as Darius Songaila's mental breakdown didn't help matters any, nor did Broderick Hicks' injury.  But the subs who came in for them played quite well--Taron Downey had 7 points and 5 assists and looked quicker than Hicks; Jamaal Levy did an able Howard impersonation with 10 points and 5 rebounds; and fellow Lithuanian Vytas Danelius came in with 7 points and 3 rebounds.  They in fact outplayed other Wake starters like Craig Dawson (6 points on 2-7 shooting in 31 minutes) and Antwan Scott (9 points on 4-11 shooting).  And Songaila's absence from the game for much of the second half came at his own coach's behest, angry at his player for losing his cool.

   Wake has long been one of the league's most physical teams.  Songaila has continued that tradition with a bruising style of his own, but Wake has lost some of its nastiness with the departure of Rafael Vidaurreta. More than that, they lost a lot of their rebounding power.  Wake aimed to curtail some of Duke's scoring with bodying up players and fouling, making Duke prove it at the foul line, and seeing if Duke would get tougher or back down.  The response of Carlos Boozer in this game, with 18 rebounds in traffic, says a lot about how Duke did respond.  As I've written many times before, Duke generally gets outrebounded because their defense tends to be spread out on the floor, with very few guys surrounding the basket. Duke never plays zone, a system that can help manufacture rebounds.  Nor does Duke send 5 guys to the boards the way programs like Michigan State does, because Duke's system is built around starting breaks and getting downcourt as quickly as possible.  This means that rebounding is often left in the hands of one or two players, and it's their responsibility to block out and authoritatively grab boards.  No player has done this as well in recent years as Boozer.  As he's learned how to adjust to physical contact, he's used his size and power to shrug off other players and grab the ball with both hands.  Against Wake, he did this again and again, becoming more confident and dominant as the game went on.  He single-handedly led Duke to a rebounding advantage in the game (38-35), and this was the key factor that allowed Duke to win so comfortably.

   Duke came out strong in the opening minutes on offense, but was quickly matched by Wake's intensity.  Boozer started things off with a basket off a Williams feed, and Jones followed up by simply driving to the basket when he saw that he was being left completely unguarded on the perimeter. After Hicks drove past Duke in transition, Jason dished to Mike for a three. Hicks drove again and passed to an open Dawson for a "back atcha" three, keeping thing close.  Boozer got a stickback basket after a Dunleavy miss, but Duke was late in stopping Wake penetration and gave up some free throws. Three minutes into the game, Duke led 9-8.

   Duhon dished to Williams at the top of the key, where he nailed a three and was fouled, but missed the freebie.  Wake capitalized on a couple of Duke misses by getting a dunk in transition and a rebound basket.  They were definitely in it to win it and weren't making any errors.  Jones once again was left open and eschewed the long range jumper, preferring instead to drive once again and get fouled.  He smoothly made both shots.  Songaila turned the ball over and then picked up a dumb foul, and Duke took advantage when Dunleavy found Williams on a cut.  Wake took advantage of 2 consecutive Duke turnovers with a massive slam by Scott and a tip-in basket by Howard to once again tie things up, this time at 16.  Neither team was having much success in stopping the other.

   Duhon found Dunleavy for a three and then hit a free throw, but Wake  countered with a short Howard jumper and a Dawson three (his last basket of the game) to give them their first lead of the game at 21-20.  Boozer got some touches at last, hitting a free throw and finding Jones on a relocation pass for a three.  Dahntay always seems to do better when spotting up for a three rather than taking it off the dribble, so the little two-man game he played with Boozer worked to his advantage.  Two Songaila turnaround jumpers (a tough move to stop) gave Wake the lead back at 25-24, but Jones fixed that with a great rebound dunk of a Williams miss.  Wake's strategy of ignoring Jones hurt them here, because no one blocked him out.

   The Deacs took their last lead of the game with another Howard jumper and he extended it with a rebound dunk.  He was playing extremely well  until he got hurt and then in foul trouble.  The clutchest of Duke's clutch players, Jason Williams, immediately responded with a drive and Jones came up with a free throw to tie the game at 29 with over nine minutes left. Dahntay then drove and hit a leaner, a shot I suspect may one day become his signature shot.  The next five minutes were mostly a battle of attrition for both teams that featured some physical play.  After Songaila was called for a foul on Jones, he was unhappy and apparently said something inappropriate to the ref.  Duke hit 3-4 free throws and led 36-33.  Wake kept up, with Scott throwing down a dunk on the baseline and tying things up at 37.  Jones hit a hanging jumper in mid-air but was matched by a  Danelius dunk.  Wake had tied the game at 39, but this was the last time they'd manage it.

   Up to this point, Wake had done a few things well on defense.  Since they hadn't turned the ball over and were competent on the boards, Duke's fast break hadn't been unleashed.  They stuck close to Williams and Dunleavy, and so shut down Duke's most dangerous three point shooters.  Wake was getting hurt by Duke's penetration but they couldn't stop everything.  In response, Duke made a concentrated effort to get the ball to Boozer and Duhon more often and see what they could do.  The answer: a lot, scoring 10 of Duke's last 20 points of the half. 

   With less than five minutes to go, Williams passed to Jones inside for another basket.  Duhon drove and passed to Williams, who finally got open for a three and buried it.  Downey came back with a short jumper, but Dunleavy drove and passed to Duhon, who hit a long three to give Duke a  5 point lead.  Just when Duke thought they had a little room, Jason fouled Wake reserve Steve Lepore as he was sticking back an offensive rebound-- an extremely silly foul.  With over three minutes left, Wake was definitely still in it at 47-45, but this was as close as they would come for the rest of the game.

   Duke went on a 7-0 run fueled by Dunleavy and Boozer.  Mike drove, was surrounded, and passed out to Carlos, who spotted up and sank a 15' jumper. Carlos definitely has the long-range shot in his bag of tricks, but doesn't get a chance to use it that much.  Boozer then played great defense on the next possession, got the rebound, and was rewarded by Dunleavy by posting up for a basket.  Boozer then snagged a long rebound and gave it to Duhon, who pulled up from 30' and drained a trey, firing up his team and forcing a time-out.  Duke led 54-45 and one could sense that they wanted to really close out the half strong.

   After a Wake free throw, Jason drove and passed to Nick Horvath, who was fouled and easily made both shots--a good sign, considering that his  percentage on the year isn't that great.  Howard came back in and hit a shot, then blocked a three by Nick.  But Boozer grabbed the rebound and Dunleavy drove, getting fouled and hitting 2.  After a Wake foul shot brought the score under 10, Duke ran down the clock.  Duhon drove and found Dunleavy spotting up, and he nailed a three as time expired, giving Duke the  momentum and a 61-49 lead.  Wake had done all it could and the Devils still pinned a 61 point half on them.

   The second half fell into more discernable segments than the first.  The first couple of minutes saw the two teams exchange baskets, followed by a Duke drought.  A brief Duke spurt brought the lead into double digits again, but then a another drought brought Wake closer.  A three pushed the lead into double digits again, but a drought combined with a serious Wake run made it a game again.  But a 16-0 Duke run essentially ended the game as Duke got a scoring spurt and nursed it with a spectacularly effective delay game.  Stat of the half: Wake scored 7 points in the final ten minutes of play.

   Jason took over in the half, starting with a floater that put Duke up by 14 early in the half.  Hard work on the boards got Wake to the foul line, but another sensational Jones rebound dunk put the margin at 14 again. Downey hit yet another short jumper, playing extremely well with Hicks hurt and on the bench.  Williams dished to Boozer inside, who worked free for an easy layup.  The Devils had a 67-53 before they went cold for the first time.

   Wake went on a 6-0 run, powered by Levy and Downey, to cut the margin to 8.  Duke had missed 3 threes in a row, so they went to Boozer, who delivered. Dan Ewing came on to relieve Williams and immediately picked up a steal and runout to boost the lead back to 12.  The Deacs then went on a 6-2 run after they brought veterans Scott and Songaila (properly chastised) back into the game, who combined for all 6 points.  Boozer hit Ewing for a relocation pass to push Duke back into a double digit lead at 76-65 with over twelve minutes left.  That's when Wake went to work.

   The Deacs went on an 8-0 run, 6 by a now-unstoppable Songaila in the paint.  Duke missed 3 straight shots and Coach K called a time-out when Wake got within 76-73 in just two minutes.  Not surprisingly, he called on Jason to do his thing, and he drove and got a three point play.  That fired everyone up, and Jones came up with a steal on the next possession. Jason dished ahead to Boozer, whose shot was goaltended.  Up by 8 again,  Duke turned up the defensive pressure.  They denied the ball to Songaila and Dawson was forced to take a three that Boozer rebounded.  Duhon drove right into the teeth of the defense for a layup, and Prosser was forced to take a timeout. 

   The teams turned it over a couple of times each before Boozer snagged yet another rebound.  Duke then went into its 2-3 motion delay game.  In years when Duke's halfcourt execution wasn't at its best, Coach K would elect to run down the clock a bit more and hope for the best.  The stall isn't there simply to run out the clock (though that's part of it), but also to get his players some rest on the court, preferring to rest on offense rather than defense.  And with this group exhausted after the Maryland game, they needed that kind of stall.  But he's thrown in a new wrinkle in the last two games, using some NBA-like sets.  Jones, Williams and Duhon would all take turns handling the ball up top, with the ball resting in Jason's hands with about 10-12 seconds left on the clock.  Boozer would then come up past the foul line and set a high screen.  Jason would then have a  number of choices depending on what the defense did: he could drive all  the way in with the post defender up to find Boozer, he could pass to a  rolling Boozer if the post man came up on him, he could pull up for an open jumper if the post defender stayed home, or he could pass out to the open wing if a forward came in to rotate and stop his penetration.  Interestingly, all of these things happened in the last eight minutes of the game.

   The first two times down, Jason drove in for uncontested layups when  Boozer set the screen.  His second opportunity came when Dunleavy stole the ball from Songaila, symbollically ending his threat to Duke in this game.  An over-the-back foul gave the ball back to Duke, and Wake's few team fouls in the half were working against them as Duke ran off more clock.  This time, Jason drove and kicked it out to Mike in the corner, who nailed a three.  That put Duke up 90-73 with six minutes left and made things very grim indeed for Wake.  It was an important shot  considering that Mike looked tired and had been 0-4 from the field thus far in the half.  Duhon finished the big run with a steal and spectacular circus finish as he was being fouled.  He missed the free throw, but it didn't matter--Wake was done.

   The last five minutes were pretty much a game of keep away, as Jason pulled up for a three, Jones drove for a basket, Duhon hit a couple of freebies and Williams dished to a rolling Boozer for a basket.  Duke's offensive efficiency, combined with an extremely solid defensive finish, had turned a close game into a rout.  This was an important win, because it showed that Duke still had the fire and energy to compete against a great team less than two days after a huge, emotional win.  Furthermore, it gave Duke wins against 3 of their 4 closest competitors in the league. And the fourth--Virginia--will be Duke's next ACC game.  Duke is now playing at a higher level of consistency with every game, though there are still some things to work out.  With Duhon and Jones proving that they can be contributors on the offensive end, the team needs to continue to work on defense.          

  ** Negatives:  

1. Post defense.  One-on-one, Songaila was impossible for Boozer to stop. His turnaround was simply too good.  But I fault Duke's perimeter players for letting him catch the ball too easily here as much as I do the inside defense.   

2. Ball pressure.  Duke had exactly 1 steal in the first half.  Considering that Wake's starting PG was out and a frosh was in his place, I'm surprised that Duke didn't try to pressure him more, perhaps throwing a trap or two at him.  

3. Transition defense.  Early in the game, Duke did a poor job of getting back after misses, allowing Wake a few easy and sensational baskets.   

  ** Positives:  

1. Rebounding.  I've gone over this in some detail, but I wil note that Boozer had an amazing 11 in the first half alone, and 6 on the offensive end.  Jones also had 6 offensive boards, dunking in 2 of them.  Considering that Duke shot 54%, getting 14 offensive rebounds is impressive.  

2. Valuing the ball.  Duhon was superb in this regard, with 0 turnovers. The starters combined for just 6 turnovers overall, which put a lot of pressure on Wake to find other ways to score, especially since Prosser  didn't dare press Duke.  

3. Offensive execution.  Great all game, but magnificent in the last ten minutes as Duke ran its delay game using a new wrinkle: high post screens set by Boozer allowing Williams a variety of options. 

    Player-by-Player:  

  ** Boozer: A great game all-around as Boozer outrebounded Wake's entire front line, 18-17.  Basically, whenever Carlos got the ball, good things would happen.  He'd either go up and score, pass it out for a three, or get fouled.  Carlos also hit a 15' jumper, spotting up rather confidently for the shot.  It's clear that if he's open, he's supposed to take that shot.  The way Duke's offense is developing, Jason is the clear #1 option who can take any shot he wants when open, but Carlos is a steady #2 option. Duke should get him the ball at least every other possession, because even if he doesn't score, he will kick the ball out to an open shooter if double-teamed.  And on Duke, virtually every other player is a shooter. Boozer gave up some hoops to Songaila one-on-one, but Boozer wisely didn't commit any dumb fouls to make the situation worse.  In fact, he only committed 2 the entire game, which enabled Duke to keep him in for 34 minutes.  Carlos can body up with the best of them on defense, but at 6-9 he has a hard time stopping anyone with a good turnaround jumper.  His key to defense is to force his opponent further out by bodying him up sooner.   

  ** Dunleavy: Mike has progressed to the point where a 14 point, 4 assist, 4 steal game can be considered an off-game.  That's because he was just 4-14 from the field and had just 2 rebounds.  This was magnified by him missing a number of easy shots near the basket.  Still, he had a number of great passes and hit 4 threes.  The biggest was his last, which pushed Duke past the 14-point mark in its lead and officially made the game a rout. But Mike looked very tired in the second half, perhaps drained at last after the Maryland game.  He was short-arming his shots and even missed a floater on the baseline, the sort of shot that always goes in for him.  But his first-half contributions were crucial, including his buzzer-beating three and 3 consecutive assists that boosted Duke to a big halftime lead.  He also came up with an important second half steal that sparked a big basket.       

  ** Jones: Wake Forest chose to isolate Dahntay, and he made them pay.  He actually had many, many more chances to shoot than the boxscore would indicate, as Wake would literally leave him unguarded from three.  He only took one such shot off the dribble, but intelligently realized that this wouldn't be Duke's best shot.  So he would either way for someone else to break free, or take the ball straight to the hoop.  He did the latter extremely well in the first half, hitting 4 of his 5 drives/leaners and got to the foul line for 6 attempts.  While this was not a bad strategy overall for Wake, they at least should have tried to block him out, because he made them pay with some thunderous putback slams.  Getting 4 offensive boards aside from those putbacks hurt Wake's defensive strategy.  Dahntay really skied in for some of those boards, nearly levitating in for them. In the second half, he was limited by some foul trouble, but Wake had stopped laying off him by that point anyway.  To his credit, he did not force any shots, letting his teammates take advantage of the defense.  This game puts the lie to the notion that Dahntay was a selfish player who couldn't fit into this offense.  He certainly has struggled at times this year to find his role at that end, but he's been patient and it's paid off. The best part of his game was seeing another slasher on the team apart from Williams (and to a lesser extent, Dunleavy).      

  ** Williams:  Another day at the office for J-Will.  Except that now he's doing more of the little things to win, not just carrying the scoring load. His defense has become much better-witness Dawson's 2-7 day from the field. He has balanced his scoring with his playmaking, trusting his teammates with his passes as easily as he believes in his own ability to score.  He's also forcing his outside shots a lot less, taking just 2 open jumpers in the first half.  Instead, he's confident that he's strong enough to get to the basket whenever he wants--and he's usually right.  His dismantling of Wake's defense in the last ten minutes of the game was a sight to behold, scoring 10 points and dishing off 3 assists.  As Coach K noted later, it's the job of his players to make reads based on what the defense is doing and then make the correct decision.  Duke has enough balance that no defense should be able to shut down all aspects of Duke's offense if they're clicking. And right now, this Duke squad is starting to understand its offensive roles in the post-Battier era.  Of course, a game where Duke isn't prepared for a team's defensive pressure and coughs up a bunch of turnovers can shut them down, as can a game where Duke's players rely on quick, individual shots and don't work on setting up their teammates.  It's up to Jason above all other players to make sure that his team remains focused and unselfish.   One other note: I found it interesting that Coach K tabbed Jason to take Duke's technical foul shots.  He made 1 of 2.  

  ** Duhon: An excellent game for Chris.  While still working well as a playmaker, he's now becoming more daring as a penetrator and scorer.  In games where every single Duke starter scores in double digits like this one, the Devils will be tough to beat.  In the first half, Chris was setting up his teammates for threes--2 each for Dunleavy and Williams.  But it was his threes from downtown that gave Duke its comfortable lead at the half.  In the second half, it was his drives that hurt the Deacs, not to mention that huge steal and layup he had that was the nail in the coffin for Duke.  Chris' energy level has been a big key to Duke's recent resurgence, and I hope that he continues to raise the level of his play--because he's certainly not at his peak yet.  While he's second in the ACC in steals, I think he can be even more fearsome in his on-ball defense.  He's learning to balance the kind of intensity he brought at the defensive end last year with his new offensive responsibilities this year, and I also hope he continues to  penetrate as much as possible.     

  ** Christensen: Matt had limited minutes here for a couple of reasons.  First,  Boozer was not in any serious foul trouble and was playing great basketball. Second, the matchups in this game didn't really include him as a big factor.  He did have a nice board in the first half and scored Duke's last points of the game.  Matt knows his role and is always ready when the team needs him.  

  ** Ewing: In some ways, I regard this as a big game for Dan despite his  relatively modest numbers.  In the first half, he was posterized on a Wake dunk in transition as he was trying to take a charge.  Then he missed a  couple of threes that Duke really needed.  In prior games, he might have been a bit discouraged and not played that well the rest of the game.  But when he entered the game in the second half, he displayed a lot of energy right away, coming up with a big steal and basket.  He looked really fired up when he hit a three a few minutes later on a Boozer pass, pumping his fist.  His energy kept things going for Duke in the few minutes that Williams and Duhon spent on the bench.  Going out and playing hard after some early discouragement shows that he's absorbed the "next play" philosophy.         

  ** Sanders: Casey came in as an experiment on defense, guarding Songaila up high.  He got beaten for a basket and didn't return until the end.  

  ** Horvath: Nick came in for Dahntay when he got into foul trouble.  He responded with hitting 2 free throws late in the first half and cleaning up for 3 rebounds in the second half.  As a bonus, he also had a nice assist to Christensen.  Nick missed a three, but it was a good shot to take. All-in-all, a nice little appearance that will hopefully lead to some more playing time when necessary.  

  ** Buckner & Love: Just some last-minute cameos for both.  Andre had a  rebound in traffic and a turnover.   

  ** Cameron Craziness:  Cameron was not as loud or intense as it was for the Maryland, but this is not to say that there was any letdown.  The stadium was packed, the students were loud, and the atmosphere was such  that Coach K once again immediately thanked the fans after the game.  After Duhon's huge steal and foul, his younger brother Thomas crowd-surfed in the student section to the cheers of "Little Duhon".  Mike Dunleavy's youngest brother James also got the same treatment.  Shavlik Randolph was in attendance, and the shy star was given a cheer by the crowd but had to be nudged by his brother to stand up.  A group of graduate students who had been Wake undergrads took up the front row of the grad student section, wearing yellow and drawing attention to themselves.  They got taunts of "Safety school" by the crowd and a clever student put up a sign behind them that said "Duke UGrad Rejects" with an arrow pointing down.  All in good fun. Whenever Dahntay went up for a jam, a group of three students held up signs that read "Dahntay's Flight Crew".    

  ** Next Game: Thursday, January 24th at 8:00pm against Boston College.  After     the bad feelings surrounding last year's game, the Eagles will be fired-up for this game, despite some recent struggles.

  Reported by Rob Clough, tmc@duke.edu

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