Duke 94
Virginia 81

January 27, 2002.
Cameron Indoor Stadium.

   This game was billed as a matchup between two top ten teams, though it wasn't that long ago that Virginia was in the ACC basement.  And it's a testament to players like Chris Williams that this program turned around, because even with an influx of greater talents like Roger Mason, Jr and Travis Watson, he's still the heart and soul of this team.  But one thing he has never done is beat Duke in Cameron.  In fact, CIS has been a house of horrors for the Hoos in recent years, with 20-30 point beatings a  regular occurence.  Even last year's excellent Virginia squad froze up and was smashed by Duke.  So while the Hoos were hurt by considerable foul trouble to veterans like Watson and Williams, in some respects this wasn't a bad thing for them.  That's because rookies Keith Jenifer,  Jason Clark, Jermaine Harper and Elton Brown played with no fear whatsoever, even daring to jaw a bit at the Devils.  Jenifer attacked Duke's defense but still took care of the ball.  Clark was simply a force inside.  Brown was a factor inside and outside.  And Harper also had some success taking Duke off the dribble.  Of course, they are freshmen, and their mistakes ultimately led to Virginia being blown off the court in the second half.

   Duke still has a relatively young team themselves, with just the one senior.  Despite players like Jones, Williams and Dunleavy stepping up their leadership in recent weeks, the team lacks a player with the experience and personality that have classically suited a Duke leader.  The core of  this team has been together for long enough that it may not be a big deal down the road, and Coach K has certainly adjusted the way he prepares teams based on their strengths and weaknesses for quite a long time.  This is why he's taking such an active and loud role in motivating the team, something he hasn't had to do in well over a decade.  One thing a leader does, especially a leader who is also a good player, is take on certain roles for those outside the program.  Some of this is related to being in many ways the public face of college basketball, the way Shane Battier did last year and the way Jason Williams is this year.  But there's another role and in some ways it's more important.  That role is Team Villain. 

   This is a player who acts as a lightning rod for the vitriol of opposing fans and sometimes media.  These sorts of players relish abuse and take a special joy in shutting up their detractors through their play.  The most obvious example in Duke history is Christian Laettner.  There has never been a player at Duke who has had to endure the kind of homophobic, crude insults that Laettner did.  Better yet, he simply answered with a sneer--in true Villain style.  Battier had this role to some degree, dealing with insults in the press, playing his annoying style of defense, and playing the scholar-athlete role to the hilt.  This is the player who sometimes might challenge his team in public and say outrageous things about other teams. Why this role is important is because the Villain can take the heat from the fans and the press, deflecting criticism from his teammates.  For an older and experienced player, it's easy to have this sort of mental toughness.  Who holds this role right now for Duke?  Coach K.  The theatrics during the Tech game, the "no press" talk, the hard handshakes--Coach K is drawing away negative attention from his team and taking it on himself. He's also serving to pump up his team when needed.  With four years of Battier and four years of Wojo, not to mention C-Well, Nate James, Ro McLeod, Jeff Capel, Chris Collins and other great leaders, this isn't  something he's had to do for awhile--but he's doing it well.

   The Duke-Virginia game in the first half was an ugly, choppy affair. Things were being called tight, which tends to favor Duke since they like driving to the basket.  This team has become subtly different from last year's bombs-away bunch.  First off, losing shooters like Battier and James hurts.  The reason why Duke shot so many threes is because so many of them went in.  While Jones and Dan Ewing have had their moments from behind the arc, it's clear that their touch is not quite as deadly as the duo that graduated.  Second, the team has started to go to its strengths more often, and one of those is a Carlos Boozer who is ready to score or pass to an open shooter on virtually every play.  Third, many teams  simply grew tired of giving Duke any room on the perimeter and wanted to see if they could put it on the floor.  This plays into the hands of Williams and Jones (along with Dunleavy) who can drive and either finish or dish.  They won't always make the right decision, but Duke's offensive flow is improving.  Of course, driving to the basket yields lots of free throws, and this tight approach to things was the story of this game. The Hoos played their typically sticky style of play, but their team speed couldn't cope with Duke's.  As a result, players were out of position and Duke forced a ton of fouls.  Worse, it forced them early and often. But it took a half for Duke to get over the physical play and take  advantage of Virginia's foul trouble.

   Virginia started the game doing what they do best: grabbing offensive rebounds.  Watson went up for a couple and the Hoos grabbed a quick 3-0 lead.  Duke answered with Boozer hitting 2 free throws after being fouled on a power move and Williams passing to Dunleavy for a three.  But Williams also turned the ball over, leading to an easy Virginia basket.  After UVa took an 8-5 lead on a rare Jenifer jumper and a Watson free throw, Duke blasted back with a 9-0 run.  It was sparked by Williams and some Virginia turnovers.  Jason hit a couple of free throws, a three on a Duhon pass and on a beautiful give-and-go run with Dunleavy.  Duke led 14-8 with less than five minutes gone by.

   The Hoos came back with a 6-0 run of their own, helped by a Chris Duhon charge and Boozer blowing an easy layup.  Cool Ewing drove into the teeth of the defense and then calmly passed to an open Boozer for a score.  UVa kept pace, even after Duhon found Ewing for a three on the wing.  Williams was driving and drawing fouls, and this time he was sinking most of his free throws (7-8 in the half).  A Dunleavy runner and 2 free throws off a Virginia turnover put Duke up 28-20 with seven minutes left.  Watson and JC Mathis had already picked up 3 fouls apiece and were on the bench. But the Hoos wouldn't say die, going on a 10-1 run to take a lead with  under five minutes remaining.  Three Williams turnovers and a missed  three helped the run, as Clark had 5 points, Brown hit a three and Williams drove and dished to Clark for an easy dunk.

   Duke had been sucker-punched, but they drove and drew fouls to stay in it.  Jones actually broke the drought with a nice drive and short shot, while Dunleavy and Boozer also hit some free throws.  Duhon found Jason for a three that put Duke back on top at 37-35, but Brown amazingly hit another three.  Boozer grabbed a missed Williams free throw, passed it back to Mike, and then got a pass back from Mike for a great dunk. After Jenifer drove by Williams to dish off to Clark for an easy jam, an annoyed Williams cut through Virginia's defense on the next possession and threw down an intimidating dunk of his own.  Still, Virginia tied the game at 42 after Duke blew the final possession.  The Devils had done a poor job at stopping the penetrator and switching to avoid easy dunks by the opposition.  On the bright side, Watson, Mathis and Clark all had 3 fouls apiece.

   Mathis scored quickly in the second half to give Virginia their last lead of the game.  The Devils struck back with a 7-0 run, sparked by a Boozer three point play on a Duhon pass.  But the Hoos helped do themselves in.  C.Williams and Watson had back-to-back turnovers where they compounded their error by immediately committing a foul--Williams' third and Watson's fourth.  The foul on Watson was especially huge because he had played well in the first half despite his foul trouble.  Duke responded with  a Jones tip-in of a Williams shot and a Dunleavy leaner in the lane.  UVa closed to within 49-46 on a Brown stickback as their bench continued to step up.  A Williams three was then matched by a couple of Mason free throws.  Then came another 7-0 Duke run, again led by Mr. Jones.  He drove and dished to Boozer for a dunk, then tipped in a Boozer miss by skying up for the rebound.  After a Virginia miss, Jason passed to Chris who hit his only field goal of the game, but it was a big one as he put Duke up 59-48 with fifteen minutes to go in the half.

   The Hoos were struggling on offense but managed to scrap out a 6-2 run, marred only by a Jones pull-up jumper--a shot they were allowing him all day.  With thirteen minutes to go, they were within striking distance at 61-54.  But Duke started to step up its intensity on the boards and cranked up its mighty fast break.  By this time, Clark had fouled out on two consecutive dumb fouls and Mason had picked up his third, so the Hoos weren't exactly as aggressive as they had been in the first half.  Dunleavy got a steal and ran a perfect 2-on-1 break with Williams, getting a pass back from Williams for an easy score.  Boozer got a steal and ran down court, getting a pass back from Duhon for a dunk.  Watson missed the front end of a one-and-one, Jason grabbed the rebound and ran another perfect break with Mike, putting Duke up 68-55 with eleven minutes left.  After two Mason free throws, Williams drove, drew two defenders, and dumped it in to Boozer for a layup.  Duke's offense was in an incredible rhythm, and the Hoos simply couldn't hit anything.

   After a Virginia basket, Duke launched on a 6-0 run that gave them an 18-point lead and sent them into running their delay game.  First, a Duhon steal led right to an easy Williams basket.   Ewing then hit a couple of free throws after grabbing an offensive rebound.  After a missed Brown three came the play of the game: Williams rebounded the long ricochet and fired it down court to a streaking Boozer, who took one step and then flew to the basket with a thunderous slam that brought the house down.   The Hoos went on a little 5-1 run as the Devils missed some shots, cutting the lead to 78-64 with seven minutes to go.

   Running the delay, Duke took 30 seconds off the clock before Duhon drove and found Boozer for an "and one", though Carlos missed the ensuing free throw.  Virginia turned it over on its next play, and then Duke ran the clock down again, with Jones scoring on a drive with a bit over five minutes to go.  Jason Williams then scored twice in a row, once on a Dunleavy feed and a second time after a Mason turnover.  Duke didn't  score for a couple of minutes as Williams turned it over twice and missed 2 free throws, but the Cavs only got as close as 87-74 with over a minute left.  Jones helped put it away with 2 free throws and a rousing dunk from a Boozer feed.  Boozer hit a couple of more freebies with a minute left, and that was it.

   Virginia matched Duke in the first half in intensity and execution.   Instead of backing down or trying to beat them individually, the team responded by making hustle plays (Jones' tip-ins) and using teamwork (13 assists on 19 baskets in the half, with Williams getting six dimes). Dominating the boards became crucial because the Hoos simply weren't making many ballhandling errors or bad passes.  The Devils imposed their will on Virginia, and their young players didn't make the right plays at the right time.  They remain, however, a potent group that will cause Duke a lot of problems in Charlottesville.  Travis Watson played just 18 minutes but scored 9 points and had 11 rebounds.  The frosh forward tandem of Brown & Clark combined for 23 points and 9 rebounds (not to mention 9 fouls!).  Most importantly, frosh Jenifer was cool under pressure and must be accounted for. 

    ** Negatives:  

1. Bench play. Aside from the scrapy and heady Ewing, who played his usual good defense, only Horvath got any significant playing time. And he hurt his shoulder and played just 7 minutes.  Buckner, Sanders and Love just got some cameo time.   

2. First half energy.  Duke simply didn't play very hard on defense at times in the first half, and the backcourt did a bad job of valuing the ball (8 rebounds).  Duke was not attacking: not the boards, not on offense and not on defense.  They were content to react instead of pounce.  Once they injected some energy back into their game in the second half, the results were much different.  

3. Fouls.  The game was being called tight both ways, but it took Duke a while to get used to how it was being called.  This was a very dangerous game to play since every one of Duke's top six had at least 3 fouls.  Duke's switching on defense helped prevent anyone from fouling out.  

    ** Positives:  

1. Rebounding.  This was particularly true in the second half, when Jones and Williams combined for 11 rebounds and started break after break.  Dunleavy and Boozer combined for 12 in the first half, keeping Duke in the game. The Hoos had 11 offensive rebounds, which was an acceptable total for  this game.  

2. Transition game.  The second half was as good as it gets, folks.  But the treat here was seeing Boozer finish with dunks in transition.  He certainly put the lie to any claims about his lack of athleticism.  He's not Grant Hill, but he can definitely get up and down the court and throw down nasty jams.  

3. Delay game.  From about the twelve minute mark to the seven minute mark, Duke ran Virginia off the court.  But from seven minutes til the end, Duke rocked them to sleep using their 2-3 motion and setting high picks.  Virginia didn't have the manpower to stop much of what Duke was doing. 

  Player-by-Player:  

  ** Boozer: Carlos has reached the point where even a bad first half means 10 points and 6 rebounds.  But the truth is that he missed four easy shots around the basket, including a blown layup where his man had fallen down. It's clear that someone alerted him to the fact that he was 270 pounds and that it was OK to leave the rim shaking with forceful dunks.  So that's what he did: dunk.  Forcefully.  In the second half, he had three dunks, two three-point plays, and a layup on the break.  With his ability to finish, it's gratifying to see him get more three-point plays these days and take full advantage of his ability.  Only minor slipups: a couple of turnovers and (oddly) 3 missed foul shots.  Carlos has actually been pretty mistake-free this year, another sign of his growth as a player.    

  ** Dunleavy: Another relatively quiet and effective game for Mike, who took just 9 shots.  Several nice things jump out about his performance: 4-5 shooting from the line, 9 rebounds, 3 assists and 0 turnovers, and 2 steals.  Then you'll want to throw in the two charges he took, perfectly understanding the way the refs were calling this game.  Add it all up and you get a mistake-free game.  Not a dominant offensive performance,  but one where he simply stuffed the stat sheet.  I enjoyed seeing him use his mid-range game on offense, hitting a runner and a leaner in the lane.  He did take a couple of awkward, long jumpers that were well- defended, though.  Still, he realized that he wasn't hot and converted the high-percentage plays instead of taking shots he wasn't going to make, for the most part.  

  ** Jones:  Dahntay is continuing to excel on the offensive end even as he does his usual great job on the defensive end.  He helped harrass Mason into a 4-14 shooting night, including 1-6 from three.  It was his     play in the first six minutes of the second half that really turned the tide for Duke.  He had two big tip-ins after Duke misses, pulled up for a 15' jumper, and dished to Williams for a three and Boozer for a dunk after he drove to the basket.  Again, he didn't step beyond his limitations on offense, and found that he was unstoppable when he simply concentrated on the simple plays.  I think this is adding to his  confidence, because that little leaner of his is really going in these days, especially after he's taken a couple of hard dribbles to back his defender up.  He missed some open jumpers that were given to him, but those were shots he needed to take for the most part.  Dahntay will continue to get plenty of scoring opportunities as long as teams are willing to double Williams and/or Boozer.  As long as he continues to keep up his defense and come through with some solid rebounding performances, he'll be just fine.  With a couple of tip-ins in this game, he's starting to really take on the role of designated offensive rebounder, the title that Nate James had last year.     

  ** Williams:  Jason was back in good health and ready to rumble.  He was most of Duke's offense in the first half, and his 7-9 mark from the foul line stood in open defiance of the common wisdom on his free-throw shooting ability.  Not everything was rosy, because some of his turnovers were just plain ugly.  Some came when trying to make plays, but he was picked clean twice in the last couple of minutes when he lost his focus.  No matter, because his performance otherwise was outstanding.  He scored his 27 on a night when he was only 3-8 from three, punishing Virginia with drives.  He was so unstoppable off the dribble that the Hoos were finally forced to double down on him when he got in the lane, which led to an easy basket or two.  Better still, his court vision was excellent, making four great passes in a row in the second half in transition.  Whether it was a 2-on-1 break or the fact that he saw Boozer in the clear downcourt, he was in tune with his team.  Also of note was the fact that he was assigned to Mason at times and did a good job on him.  Jenifer broke him down a couple of times, but that drive and nasty one-handed jam let the rookie know who was in charge here.  Next up for Jason: valuing the ball more while still being daring.      

  ** Duhon: Chris really struggled from both the field and the foul line, to the point where it became clear that he didn't want to shoot from either.  He needs to get over this slump and bounce back with a big offensive game against UNC, because I have a feeling that the Heels will leave him alone quite often.  He charged twice going to the basket (resulting in 2 of his 5 turnovers) and didn't hit a shot until the second half.  He also took a charge and picked up 3 steals, playing his usual aggressive defense.  Hopefully his breakout offensive game will come soon.  

  ** Horvath:  Nick was having an active few minutes on defense, grabbing a couple of rebounds and even blocking a shot.  He missed a three, but it was a good shot within the flow of the offense.  Then he hurt his shoulder in the second half.  He probably could have played, but was held out as a precautionary measure.  I imagine that he will probably be available for Thursday's game against UNC.  

  ** Ewing:  Had a big impact when he came into the game in the first half. First he drove and drew his defender, allowing him to pass to Boozer for a basket.  Then he spotted up from three and nailed it.  In the second half, he was 3-4 from the foul line.  Dan only made good decisions, got a couple of rebounds as a bonus and played his usual sound defense.  This is a case where doing just a few small things right and doing nothing wrong can really contribute to a team.  

  ** Sanders & Love: Strictly cameo appearances.   

  ** Cameron Craziness: A full crowd, though not quite as spirited as for other games.  Still, they alerted Fox announcer Kenny Smith as to where Carolina could go.  After Jason's rousing dunk, a chorus of "J-Will, J-Will, rock you" broke out.     

  ** Next Game: UNC.  Dean Dome.  The rivalry where ANYTHING can happen, and usually does.  While there have certainly been many one-sided contests in the history of the series, it's not unusual for weird things to happen and upsets to occur.  Carolina played very well against Clemson, especially in the shooting department.  They'll be confident and play much better at home.  Duke still has a big advantage, but must come out focused and intense.         

    Reported by Rob Clough, tmc@duke.edu

Rob's Archive