Duke 108
NC State 71

February 14, 2002.  Cameron Indoor Stadium.

   Sometimes a well-run system can compensate for a lack of talent, size or athleticism.  That was certainly the case in this game's first fifteen minutes, as State used a disciplined Princeton-style offense to utterly baffle the Devils defensively.  I never thought I'd utter the words, "Duke had trouble keeping up with Herb Sendek's offensive gameplan," but there you go.  The Princeton offense is built on lots of picks, sharp cuts and back-door passes.  It's ideal for a team with a big man who can move without the ball, pass, screen and shoot.  Ilian Evtimov was born to play in this sort of attack.  At 6-7, he can't jump or run very fast, but he has a solid build and moves as well without the ball as anyone I've ever seen.  This offense is great at punishing teams that overplay on the wings and leave the middle open for periods of time (like Duke), especially if the defenders don't do a good job at switching and rotating (like Duke in the first five minutes).  Defense affected offense for awhile as well, because the Devils were playing as individuals, with each man trying to bring Duke back on their own instead of finding the  best shot for his team.  

   Eventually, Duke got its act together in a big way.  They adjusted the defense first by tightening up on the switches and forcing State to make more passes.  When that happened, Duke got a little more aggressive in the passing lanes and started tipping some balls.  That fired up Duke's transition game and really got the Devils going.  Interestingly, Williams and Boozer were pulled early in the game for their defense and replaced by Dan Ewing and...Reggie Love.  It was a clear sign that Duke needed more pressure from the guards and more hustle in the post, and both players delivered it.  Lesson learned, Jason and Carlos returned to the game and raised their level of play rather dramatically.

   The biggest adjustment Duke made on offense was to abandon the perimeter game and concentrate on breaking down Pack guard Archie Miller off the dribble and then dish to either a cutting wingman or Boozer.  Carlos didn't get nearly enough touches in the early going, especially since the Pack didn't have anyone with the size or strength to stop him.  With  the passes he was getting and his very soft hands, Carlos was unstoppable. He also had a great night on the boards with 3 stickback scores.  At one point in the second half, he scored 10 straight points en route to a  career-high 32 points.

   Duke's level of offensive execution was frightening in the second half-- 69% from the floor, 12-13 from the foul line.  Duke was -3 in rebounding margin at the end of the first half and was +8 by the end of the game.   16 of Duke's 22 field goals in the half came from assists and 2 more came from rebound baskets.  Jason and Chris ran the spread offense with ease, scoring virtually every time.  Meanwhile, the Pack were missing free throws and easy shots and digging themselves into a bigger hole.  Duke took advantage of this and really went for the throat.

   State started the game with a 13-6 run in the first five minutes of play. Most of that was Marcus Melvin getting great passes from Evtimov, Julius Hodge and Archie Miller, beating Duke with backdoor passes.  It didn't hurt that Duke was shooting too quickly and giving them all sorts of opportunities to score in the open court.  The nadir of this was Williams and Dunleavy getting confused on a switch and Melvin taking advantage by swooping in for a layup.  Duke's only scores were a bit higher on the degree of difficulty scale: a pull-up jumper from 19' by Dahntay Jones, a scoop shot with a man on him by Mike Dunleavy, and a tough drive by Jason Williams.  Coach K responded by pulling Boozer and Williams and inserting Reggie Love and Dan Ewing.  The result was an 11-2 run that gave Duke the lead.

   The run started with Duhon penetrating and kicking out to Ewing for a  three on the wing.  Jones then drew a charge from Hodge, and Duke got a foul shot from Love on the other end.  The tough Grundy got into the lane and flicked away one of those floaters of his to get a score, but Dunleavy drew a foul and hit both shots.  A State turnover led to Dunleavy feeding the ball to Boozer inside for his first score.  Carlos had missed his first shot of the game, but wouldn't miss any more...and he wound up taking a lot of shots.   Williams got a steal and was fouled, making 1. Ewing rebounded a miss, then set up a gorgeous give-and-go with Carlos Boozer.  Both men were on the baseline, with Ewing in the corner.  Ewing drove, quickly passed the ball to Carlos who pretended to post up, and then quickly caught the pass that Carlos threw to score.  Simply beautiful basketball as Duke had the lead back at 17-15 with about twelve minutes to go.

   The next three minutes were quite even as State took back the lead with a 10-7 run.  State was still having some success taking Duke off the dribble and did a much better job making sharper passess.  Hodge stole the ball from Duhon and got Grundy an easy basket.  Duke countered with Williams driving and hitting a short jumper, Duhon passing inside to Boozer, and Williams finding Jones for a dunk off an inbounds play.  Duke continued to pick up their intensity, particularly on the offensive boards, where they would get 5 stickback baskets in the last eight minutes of the half.

   Boozer got things going by sticking back a missed Dunleavy three to  give Duke a 26-25 lead.  Williams followed up by going to the glass after a Duhon miss.  Grundy kept his team close with more drives, never allowing Duke to really break out.  Ewing came back in and dished to Horvath and Boozer for baskets inside, while Duhon got a steal and passed ahead to Boozer on the break, who slammed it down and was fouled.  He missed the free throw but Duke had its biggest lead at 34-29.  Grundy cut the lead to 3, but you could sense that Duke was on a roll on the offensive side of things.  Jones drove in for a power layup, while Williams picked Grundy's pocket and scored on a Duhon feed from a 2-on-1.  Evtimov was fouled and hit 2 freebies, but Jones went hard to the boards and tipped in his miss.

   After that play, Jones yelled exuberantly at no one in particular, shouting "Let's go!" afterwards.  For this display, he was given a technical foul, which made everyone unhappy.  To some degree, he must blame himself, because his earlier taunting of the Clemson bench easily could have been worth a technical, and with the new emphasis on sportsmanship, it's clear that he's become a target.  State hit both tech shots and then scored on the ensuing possession, cutting the lead to 40-37 with under three minutes to go in the half.

   Duke didn't get mad, they got even and continued to pound the boards.   Boozer rebounded a Ewing miss to fire up the team and Williams drew a  foul, hitting both shots.  After another Grundy jumper cut the lead to 5 again, Williams went off a pick and sank his first three of the game.  Sherrill missed a three and Dunleavy snagged the board.  He was about to pass it downcourt to a wide-open Ewing, but K had called timeout first.  That was fine, since Duke wanted to hold the ball for the last shot.  That wound up being a Williams three that missed, but Boozer caught it with one hand near the basket and flipped it back up before the clock ran down, scoring. That gave Duke their first double digit lead at 49-39 and a lot of momentum for the second half.

   Duke struck right away with Dunleavy passing to Boozer inside for an easy score.  State exchanged baskets with Duke in the first minute, with Evtimov and Grundy both driving for scores, the latter matching a Williams drive. The Devils then went on a 7-0 run sparked by Duhon.  First, he drove baseline, put up a shot that went in, and got fouled.  Evtimov then missed 2 free throws, a crucial miscue that Duke took advantage of.  Duhon quickly found Dunleavy for a layup on a cut, and then hit a cutting Boozer for another score.  With seventeen minutes left, Duke suddenly led 60-43.  With Grundy playing through the pain of tendinitis, State would soon be struggling to find ways to score.

   But not quite yet.  State scored 4 in a row, including a runout by Grundy on a Duhon turnover.  Duke responded with a 13-2 run that broke the game wide open, spearheaded by Dunleavy's resurgent play.  He caught an inbounds pass from Williams, dribbled twice and turned around near the basket for a score--much like a center would.  Mike then drove after a State miss and passed to Duhon on the wing, he sank a three.  Everyone could feel the momentum swinging in Duke's direction as a State turnover led to Duhon driving, missing and Dahntay flying in after him for a spectacular rebound slam.  Another State turnover led to Dunleavy tipping in a Williams miss. Boozer got into the act by being fouled going up (after yet another State turnover) and scoring on a Duhon feed.  With thirteen minutes to go in the half, Duke led 73-48.

   State wasn't finished and responded with a 7-2 run when Coach K sat Williams and Boozer, ending with an Evtimov three.  Williams promptly started a 6-0 run, dishing to Dunleavy for a reverse and Boozer for a power-up. Duhon then passed to a cutting Jason for a 79-53 Duke lead with eleven minutes left.  The Pack had one last run in them, going on another 7-2 run.  Sherrill scored on a layup but was matched by Williams dumping it off to Boozer for a dunk.  A Duhon charge led to immense center Jordan "Not Bootsy" Collins hitting an 18' jumper.  NC State had cut the lead  back to 81-60 with over nine minutes left.  Still an imposing lead, but stranger things have happened.

   Duke put their foot down and this time State didn't get up again.  Ewing drove and delivered an absurd behind-the-back pass to Boozer, who scored and was fouled.  Duke then went into its delay offense, scoring 4 straight times from the foul line after going into its 2-3 motion delay set.  Boozer came out of the game at the eight minute mark, while Williams joined him a couple of minutes later after dishing to Dahntay for a dunk and getting a steal and runout.  That put Duke up 92-63 with six minutes to go.

   Things proceeded to get uglier from there, as the Pack would only score 8 more points.  Ewing hit a couple of more threes and threw another pass to Jones for a dunk.  Buckner came in at the four minute mark, along with Mark Causey.  The subs continued to play hard and kept the energy going. This was not an insignificant victory.  The Wolfpack are a tough team that had dismantled Virginia without Hodge and a legitimate NCAA contender.  Duke simply exploited their matchups and made State look bad that way.  More than that, this game meant Duke held serve against Maryland--with the next game likely going a long way in deciding the regular season race.

  ** Negatives:

  1. Rotating on defense.  This was really only applicable in the first five minutes or so, but Duke looked utterly lost on their switches.  State was either cutting to get either baskets or going baseline with no one there to stop them.  Once Duke fixed this, they were in business.

  2. Shot selection.  Duke missed 5 consecutive jumpers in the early going, with most of them taken off the dribble.  The Devils were doing too much one-on-one stuff, which made them much easier to defend.  When they started making the extra pass, State couldn't keep up.   

  ** Positives:

  1. Playing the passing lanes. Duke had 6 steals in the last thirteen minutes of the half, resulting in 8 Duke points.  This was practically the entire scoring margin for Duke.  The steals came because Duke took advantage of State's passing and forced them to make more efficient passes, and when State got sloppy, the Devils took advantage of them.

  2. Valuing the ball.  With Grundy and Miller, State didn't really have the personnel for a lot of ball pressure, but Duke still did a fine job of staying under control and making the right pass most of the time.  There were a few miscues here and there, but Duke's overall assist to turnover ratio of 23:9 was impressive.

  3. Exploiting matchups.  Offensively, this was the key to Duke's success. State stayed in a man-to-man defense the whole night and refused to double- team Boozer, so that meant that Duhon and Williams simply had to be patient enough to get him the ball.  Once that happened, Boozer's soft hands and nearly 50 pound weight advantage did the rest.  4. Perimeter defense.  Here's your stat of the game: NC State's tough guards were 9-19 from the field, 0-5 from three and had 10 turnovers.  Throw in backups Scooter Sherrill & Clifford Crawford  and that's 11-25, 0-7, and 14.   It's worth noting that most of the production came from Grundy, who had 16  points on 8-11 shooting.  Duke took away State's outside weapons in a way  they couldn't manage to do in Raleigh.   

Player-by-Player:  

  ** Boozer:  The best way to describe Carlos' performance tonight is "synergistic".  His 32 points came as a result of great positioning,  aggressively calling for the ball, soft hands, being ready for tough passes, guards who were looking to get him the ball, a favorable matchup and defensive tactics that left him with only one man on him.  Carlos had 8 of Duke's last 17 points in the first half, and then scored 13 points in a six minute span in the second half--and threw in an assist to boot.  He didn't need to be subtle--just get the basket and power up.  Three of his baskets were stickbacks, 6 more came from foul shots (he was a perfect 5-5 in the second half after missing 2 of his first 3), he had one dunk on the break and one shot that slipped out of his hands but went in anyway. Carlos also did the job on defense, blocking a three point attempt, flashing into the passing lanes for a steal, and running that give-and-go with Ewing. He did it all on his career night, meshing perfectly with the rest of his team.  

  ** Dunleavy: For most of the first half, Mike played a brand of basketball than can kindly be described as "awful."  He was 1-5 from the floor (the one being an up-and-under basket the crawled over the rim), 1 assist (to Boozer) and just 2 rebounds.  Worse, he was being killed by Marcus Melvin in the early going, getting lost on defense and giving up 9 points to the rangy forward.  After missing his first shot of the second half, he got it together and impressively dominated State at both ends of the floor. He immediately found Boozer inside to start the second half, and soon scored on a cut.  That basket seemed to loosen him up a bit, and he started making more plays.  He hit a short turnaround jumper in the lane, drove and dished out to Duhon for a three, and scored on a stickback within the span of a minute.  Moreover, he was sticking tight to Melvin, allowing him just 3 more points after his initial outburst.  Mike also hit the boards hard, leading to Duke's dominating edge in the second half with 7 of his own.  Mike noted that in past games, he would tend to disappear when he wasn't shooting well but was determined to make things happen somehow in this one.  He would score again on a pretty reverse and dish to Ewing for a three, but he helped turn a solid 14 point lead into a 25 point rout.     

  ** Jones: Duke's most excitable player got a "season achievement" technical in this game after an animated but hardly profane or provocative shout after a big offensive rebound.  Dahntay must realize that he's now a  targeted player, which means he needs to keep his emotions under control a bit more.  Note that after his tech, he quieted down considerably and made his point through rim-rattling dunks.  Efficiency marked his game on offense here, as he kept his jump-shooting to a minimum and concentrated on finishing plays with dunks (thrice), tip-ins (once), and drives (twice). He also had a long jumper to start the game.  He made Hodge's life very unpleasant when guarding him, harrassing him into all sorts of mistakes. He had a key early steal that showed Duke's aggressiveness was starting to take a toll on State.  Throw in 6 rebounds and you have a typically strong night.    

  ** Williams: After some initial defensive problems, Jason used his ability to penetrate to abuse the Wolfpack at will.  After punishing them for 14 first half points, he switched tactics in the second half by dishing to Dunleavy, Boozer and Jones for easy baskets.  His jumper was a bit off here, (just 1-5 from three), but he was solid from the foul line (3-4), kept his turnovers under control (5:1 assist/turnover ratio) and was very active on the defensive end.  A fine game for Duke's leader.  And his one turnover came when he drove a bit too deep and ran out of room--an error of commission, as Coach K would say.  Jason's overall ball pressure has become much more consistent of late, forcing 3 steals and 2 five-second calls.  That is simply remarkable for a single game and shows how he can use his athleticism in so many different ways.  Five of his field goals came off drives, one from a three, another from a runout and the last from a stickback.  This was simply a case of an intelligent defender taking what the defense was going to give him.  Miller couldn't come close to stopping him off the dribble, and their height disparity (Miller's about 5-8 to Jason's 6-2) meant that he couldn't sag or Williams would shoot right over him.  There really is no prettier sight in college basketball than watching Jason break down a defense off the dribble, especially with wide range of options that he has.

  ** Duhon:  Chris again had some inexplicable turnovers where he tried to do too much, but this was balanced out by his solid all-around play.  He didn't shoot that well, missing a few layup in addition to 3 threes, but there was always someone waiting to clean up his mess.  His baseline jumper and long three were both big plays, and he was 3-3 from the foul line, continuing a new and welcome trend.  His early outburst in the second half led to  Duke getting a comfortable lead.  Not his best game, but he was one of many players who contributed to Carlos' big night and played good defense, getting 3 steals.    

  ** Ewing: Wow.  Dan's numbers were simply spectacular tonight, no matter how you look at it.  Even more importantly, he got his stats at a crucial time of the game: when Duke was behind by 7.  He came into the game explicitly to provide a boost on the defensive end and add some energy to the lineup, and he succeeded at this magnificently.  It wasn't just that he hit an open three, it was the way he operated as a near-point guard in the offense. His two-man game working with Boozer that resulted in a give-and-go was a thing of beauty.  His dish inside resulted in Love getting to the foul line. Later in the half, during his second stint, he played point guard again, getting Horvath an easy basket thanks to his own penetration.  He also found Boozer inside.  In the second half, he had that spectacular behind-the back pass to Boozer (which was absolutely the right play to make in that situation) and a dish to Jones for a hoop, not to mention those two pure- looking threes that he hit.  While he's not a great off-the-dribble shooter, he can nail shots all day when he's set.  Dan was ready to shine in this contest and looked not just to hold the fort, but to dominate.  In some ways, one could say he was a key player in the game because his presence helped neutralize State's three-guard lineup with his quickness.  A three guard lineup usually stretches out another team's defense, but Duke's countermove (with 3 players who were quicker) left State hurting.  

  ** Love: On Valentine's Day, it was clear that Duke's defense just needed a little Love out there.  (Can you tell how long I've been waiting to  make this quip?)  Seriously, Reggie came out and played aggressive, physical basketball.  He didn't get any rebounds, but a couple of his box-outs helped others get boards.  Reggie also showed his team one of the keys to beating State: pound on them inside.  Love played like one might expect a deep sub to perform when he got into a game: he fought like a maniac, raising everyone else's energy.  Great minutes for a guy who could easily play more.  

  ** Horvath: Nick had a pretty good game, staying within his limitations. His layup on a nice Ewing drop off game him confidence.  Interestingly, when Duke went to 2-3 motion in the second half, Nick took the place that Boozer would usually occupy.  That role is setting a high screen for the point guard, and then either staying high to cement the pick for the  guard to dribble around or rolling to the basket to catch the pass if the defenders go up to meet the ballhandler.  In Nick's case, the defenders cheated up to stop Williams, who dished it to Nick, getting fouled.  Nick made both shots, which was great considering his recent free throw  difficulties.  A definite confidence-booster all-around, especially since he may be needed against Maryland.  

  ** Christensen: Other than setting some mean picks down the stretch, Uncle Matty wasn't used much in this game.  He may make a cameo or two against Maryland, a team with much more size.  

  ** Buckner: Very nice game for Duke's practice point guard, dishing to Ewing for three and inside to Sanders for a three point play.    

  ** Sanders: Casey posted up after a great feed and scored, which everyone was very happy to see.  Casey looked like he was ready to get more playing time, but he was pretty much glued to the pine in this one.  We'll see if he gets some time against bigger teams like Maryland and Wake Forest down the line.  

  ** Causey: Mark had a nice baseline drive and hit a jumper, much to  everyone's delight.    

  ** Means: Had an offensive rebound.  

  ** Borman: Last man off the bench as the crowd was calling for him.  Jason was sitting next to him, playfully slapping him on the back before his number was called.   

  ** Cameron Craziness:  Not a bad crowd considering the occasion, and while there were more than a few Wolfpack fans in attendance, they got very quiet in the second half.  Lots of old chesnuts were trotted out for this one, like the venerable "If you can't go to college, go to State."  That was altered to "If you can't go to State, be a ref" after the technical on Dahntay.  When a rowdy and pudgy State fan was harrassing Jason on the foul line, the crowd begged, "Please don't eat me."  When State was at the line late in the game, a parody of State's "NNNNNNNN...CCCCCCCCCCC.... STAAAAAAAAAAAATE...NC State!" cheer was brought back as "BIGGGGGGGGGGH HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGH SCHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL...Big High School!"  And at the end, a chant of "Start the Tractor" was heard.  The usual player cheers were done, as well as chants for Reggie Love and Daniel Ewing.     

  ** Next Game: Perhaps you've heard about it.  Duke vs Maryland in their last  clash at Cole Field House.  The keys here, as usual in this game: Duke must contain Maryland's rebounding edge; Duke must force twice as many turnovers as they commit; they must account for Juan Dixon at all times.

      Reported by Rob Clough, tmc@duke.edu

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