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Duke 78,
Virginia 59.
February 15, 2003.
University Hall.
It's easy for
the pressures that surround big-time college basketball to affect
performance, especially for young players. That goes double for places that
have a storied tradition of excellence. When Steve Wojociechowski, Trajan
Langdon and Ricky Price endured the 1995 season as freshmen, they felt like
they had let the program down. To a certain extent, this has to be the way
that Duke's current class is feeling.
The reality of
the situation is that Duke's past two outstanding frosh classes (the
Battier-Brand-Avery led group and the Williams-Boozer-Dunleavy led class)
both had a number of outstanding upperclassmen to lead the way. On the 1998
team, you had guys like Wojo, Trajan and Roshown McLeod along with Chris
Carrawell to lead the way. In 2000, you had the "Three Pillars" of Battier,
Carrawell and ultra-tough Nate James to lay down the law. This year, Chris
Duhon, Casey Sanders, Nick Horvath and Dahntay Jones are the leaders, and
while all four have done some great things this year, they simply aren't
quite as good as the aforementioned players. As a result, there's been more
pressure on Duke's young players to perform, and when they've struggled (as
they all have), it has affected the team's performance more than in past
years.
That's why
it's so satisfying to see what this team is capable of when the frosh do
step up, especially the way that Shelden Williams did against Virginia.
Physically, Shelden has been ready to go from day one. In terms of the finer
aspects of the game, it's taken him longer to develop. Like with many young
players, the speed of the game at this level was something of a shock to
him. The other problem he's had is learning how to take advantage of his
quickness and size against smaller players. This has been the single
greatest impediment to him getting more playing time--he simply doesn't know
how to react when other teams go small, playing defense with his hands
instead of his feet. That's why he's played well against big teams or those
who chose not to pack it in down low, but has struggled against others. With
Shelden giving the Duke offense a much-needed dose of consistency and
balance, the Hoos had trouble stopping Duke. A fired-up Duke defense fed off
Virginia's
mistakes, creating some easy opportunities along the way.
Duke started
the game with a 6-0 run. It was important for Duke to get an early lead on
the road; in Duke's losses, they had lost leads and struggled to get back in
the game once they did. Secondly, it was crucial that Dahntay Jones get off
to a good start after struggling against Wake Forest (that dreaded 0-12
showing). He scored on two tough drives, while JJ Redick dished to Shelden
inside for a dunk. It was clear that Coach K thought that Shelden would be
ready because he started him over Nick Horvath, and that early basket elped
bolster his confidence a bit.
Meanwhile,
Virginia
turned the ball over twice and missed a shot in the game's first couple of
minutes. A tough Jermaine Harper basket was matched by JJ Redick sinking a
jumper. JJ was excited to be playing ear his hometown, and one can sense
that he will always be extra ready to play
Virginia
during his career.
Jones and Chris Duhon (the other starters, along with Sanders) missed a
couple of jumpers, and
Virginia
went to their power game inside with Elton Brown and Travis Watson to cut
the score to 8-6. The teams slugged it out to no avail for a couple of
minutes, with Virginia missing 3 times and turning it over once and Duke
missing 4 times and turning it over twice.
Finally, Dan
Ewing came into the game and got a three point play off a drive. Sanders
tipped a pass ahead to
Ewing,
who zoomed by the Hoos for a strong one handed slam that silenced the crowd.
That fired up the Devils, who shut down
Virginia on
the next possession. Casey then tipped in a Duhon miss and was fouled, but
missed the freebie. A few possessions later, JJ found Dan for an three in
the corner, giving Duke an 18-6 lead with under ten minutes to go in the
half. A Virginia free throw was matched by a Nick Horvath drive and bank
shot, making it 20-7.
After a Todd
Billet three, Duke kept up the pressure with a Sean Dockery fadeaway and a
three & tough 15' jumper from Redick. A block from Shelden helped set up the
three, while two missed foul shots from Brown set up the jumper. With under
eight minutes to play in the half, Duke had an amazing 27-10 lead. UVa
fought back, once again going inside to Brown and Watson for consecutive
post-ups. Dan Ewing stopped the run with a couple of freebies, and Derrick
Byars missed the front end of a one-and-one.
Shelden got
the ball inside, was double-teamed and wisely kicked it out to Redick for a
three and a 32-14 lead. Brown and Williams then traded baskets, with JJ
feeding Shelden inside.
Virginia
again fought back, scoring 4 points in a row. JJ drove and dished to Duhon,
who hit a rare three to make it 37-20. Jason Clark dunked a miss to bring
the Hoos within 15 with two minutes to go, but both teams missed a series of
shots until Shelden was fouled with 4 seconds left. He made both shots,
finishing up a 39-22 half for Duke.
Duke was only
15-37 from the field, but they kept their turnovers down (just 6) and forced
10 from the Hoos. They also did a nice job on the boards, especially Nick
Horvath, who notched 6. Shelden blocked an amazing 4 shots in the first half
and scored 6 points. Dan Ewing gave the team a huge boost with 10 first half
points. Eight different players scored for the Devils, showing both depth
and productive depth.
The two teams
traded baskets over the first five minutes, with Virginia slowly cutting
into the lead. Duhon hit a hanger and Jones a free throw, while UVa hit a
couple of jumpers and posted up Brown. Duhon dished to Dahntay for an
impressive slam plus the foul and Horvath followed that with a foul shot to
make the score 46-28.
Virginia
once again fought back with 4 straight points thanks to Brown, but Shelden
stunned the Hoos with a spectacular spin move that resulted in a three point
play. He followed a Billet jumper with another such play, though he missed
the foul shot this time. Still, Duke's lead was again 17 and the Hoos
weren't making much progress in putting a dent in it.
Redick hit another 15' jumper to make it 53-35, and this time Virginia
scored 5 in a row, aided by a Jones turnover. Once again, Duke went into
Shelden, and he delivered with his third straight basket while being fouled.
He hit the shot and gave Duke more breathing room. The teams went back and
forth, with Shelden matching Cav scores with a post-up and a tip-in of a
Jones miss. A Redick three where he took a dribble and moved over a foot
made it 63-47 with over seven minutes to go.
After another
Virginia
score, JJ came up with a steal and threw it ahead to Duhon, who dished it to
Jones for a transition dunk. Duke finally got a stop that was rebounded by
Shelden, and Jones rewarded him by passing to him for a little 2' jumper. A
Duhon drive and Ewing free throw gave Duke a 70-50 lead with over four
minutes left. The game seemed over, but Duke celebrated a bit too early and
the Hoos went on a 7-0 run to cut it down to that pesky 13-point margin.
They were aided by a Redick turnover under pressure and Shelden missing 2
freebies. With five seconds to go in their next possession, Coach K called a
timeout.
Duke inbounded
the ball to Dahntay, who shook off one defender and took off about 10' away
from the basket. He kept rising and slammed the ball with one hand over huge
Nick Vander Laan, resulting in a three point play and a couple of bonus
pushups from Dahntay. This was posterization at its finest, a dunk that even
Virginia
fans were buzzing about. It certainly sucked the life out of the Hoos, who
scored just 2 points in the last three minutes of the game. Dahntay actually
dunked a couple of more times, on passes from Shelden and rebounding a
Shelden miss.
Duke had
simply put
Virginia
in too deep a hole to really gain any significant momentum, and their
offense had enough balance to fight through slow periods. The Devils weren't
just relying on jumpers to get them through the game. Williams scored 12
points in about five minutes to stave off Virginia, who simply couldn't
defend him. Throw in a solid second half from Jones, and Duke wound up with
four guys in double figures. More importantly, by contesting the entry pass
into the post, Duke wound up forcing 16 turnovers and several forced shots.
Even though Brown wound up having a field day against Duke, Travis Watson
had a meager 6 points on 3-8 shooting. This is Virginia's biggest gun, a
player who has tortured Duke in the past, but he had trouble doing much of
anything against Williams, a player who is quick, strong and tall. Duke did
not make a lot of great decisions in the overtime periods in their loss to
Wake Forest. Instead of crying about it, they went back to work and
remembered that it was important to have fun while working hard.
Incredibly,
the quotes from
Virginia
afterward indicated that they were almost complacent against Duke. They were
undefeated at home and had beaten two outstanding Duke teams in a row there,
so everyone just sort of expected to beat Duke without working up the actual
intensity needed to beat Duke the past two years. On the other hand, Duke
was quite ready emotionally for this game, and gave
Virginia
an early punch that didn't quite knock them out, but left them woozy for
much of the contest. Of course, Duke's next opponent will be quite ready for
them--the Maryland Terrapins. Duke must remember the same lesson--simply
being at home won't win the game. The Devils must have the kind of intensity
they showed against Virginia, and then redouble it against the Terps.
Priority #1 will be to stop penetration, which means that Duke's forwards
have to be ready to step in to take a charge. Priority #2 will be to keep
Maryland
off the boards. Priority #3 will be to keep up a nice offensive balance.
Duke is 7-4 right now and still quite alive in the ACC race, but every
single game remaining is crucial.
**
Negatives:
1. Fouls.
Duke should be aiming to get no more than 15 fouls a game and should
strenuously avoid offensive fouls. Duke had 17 here and picked up 3
offensive fouls.
2. Foul
shooting. 56% was extremely sloppy, even on the road. Two missed
Williams free throws briefly gave
Virginia
life.
** Positives:
1.
Rebounding. When Duke outrebounds an opponent, it simply means that
they will have an excellent chance of beating them. Getting 10 offensive
boards and limiting the Hoos to just 7 was even more significant.
2.
Balance. Four different players took between 11 and 13 shots. A fifth
player took 8 shots. Four different players had between 6 and 8 rebounds.
Three different players had blocks. Five different players had steals.
Three different players had threes. Duke's lack of a go-to guy has been a
disadvantage at times, but there are ways to make this into an advantage
if everyone is ready to score at all times.
3.
Toughness. Duke has settled for too many wimpy floaters and layups at
times. In this game, it was exciting to see Jones, Ewing and Williams
attack the basket and force Virginia to defend the shot actively and risk
fouling, or to simply let their man go by them for a humiliating dunk.
There was no backing down in this game.
Player-by-Player:
**
Sanders: Casey played about an average game for him this year,
including a stickback and a half dozen rebounds along with a block. Like
Horvath and to a lesser extent Jones, his first half playing time was
limited due to picking up 2 fouls. He had some trouble with Elton Brown
though he did limit him to 4 rebounds. Casey did take a charge, showing
that he's really learning how to rotate over to make that play. This was a
good role player's kind of game for Sanders.
**
Williams: Shelden played well in this game because he read and reacted
quickly. When he was on the block against a single man, he spun and used
the contact when putting up short shots. When double-teamed, he made sure
to know where the guards were outside and zipped it to them quickly. He
had a better understanding of when and how Virginia's players would
release the ball, and so erased four of their shots. This is a player who
has taken a long time to absorb the offense and defense and how to excel
in both, but it's quite clear that he's had the tools all along. Instead
of hesitating or trying to bull his way to the basket, Shelden relaxed and
waited for his teammates to get the ball to him, which they did. When he
wasn't in the right position to score, he passed it out. Simple stuff, but
not so simple for a rookie in the middle of league play who's trying so
hard to get it right. Defensively, he used his superior height and long
arms to contain Watson, a thorn in Duke's side for many years. Shelden
still fouled too much and probably should have grabbed a few more rebounds,
but overall this was a spectacular performance. He will need to repeat it
against
Maryland's
tall trees, who humiliated Duke's frontcourt in their first meeting.
** Jones:
Dahntay is the toughest player on the team and showed it tonight. He
understands that as a senior, the team does not have time for him to sulk
over his performance against Wake and in fact is looking to him to pick the
rest of them up. While they look to Duhon for floor leadership, they look
to him for toughness and swagger. In this game, he very quickly showed that
he wasn't going to have "Wake hangover" by taking it to to the hoop twice
in the early going. Foul trouble limited him a bit in the half, but he was
big in the second half, scoring 13 points and grabbing 6 boards. When UVa
spread the floor to put more scorers in the game when they were down big,
Coach K used Dahntay as his "power forward" to combat this and he
responded. He had five field goals in the second half and they were all
dunks, the most impressive being the megaslam over Cal transfer Vander Laan.
The fact that he threw down the dunk with 1 second left on the shot clock
when UVa was trying to make a comeback made it a true statement dunk,
effectively ending the game.
** Redick:
JJ was very aggressive tonight, which mostly led to good things. His one
bad play was an ill-advised drive where he got caught charging. He burned
the Cavs with 3 threes and 3 shorter jump shots and actively looked to get
his teammates involved. In particular, it was great seeing him feed Shelden
for some easy scores, as well as dishing it to Ewing for a three. While JJ
is a great shooter, he's not a gunner--he's an all-around player who is
concerned about everyone on his team playing well. There are times perhaps
when his ambitions exceed his ability at this point, but he's still
learning when to do things and when to lay back. It's clear that JJ is a
gifted player who will only get better as he continues to adjust to the
college game, especially due to his confidence level.
** Duhon:
Good floor game for Chris, who was mostly concentrating on limiting
Billet, who wound up shooting 5-13 for 13 points. Duke kept him off the
foul line altogether, which was a crucial game point. Chris did not shoot
all that well though both of his second half field goals seemed to come at
important times for the team. This game wasn't quite the heroic effort that
we saw at Wake, but it was a solid all-around game with few mistakes.
**
Ewing:
This was simply a great game for Dan, who was a huge force on offense.
His 8 point burst in the first half helped turn a 2 point lead into a 12
point lead, giving Duke a cushion that they never relinquished. He matched
up well against Devin Smith and Jerome Harper when he was guarding them.
**
Horvath: Nick went to the bench but didn't stop working hard. He was a
man on the boards in the first half and did hit that nice driving bankshot.
He got his hand on a lot of tipped passes and was just all-around active.
Nick probably would have played a little more if Shelden hadn't had such a
dominant performance. Nick did take a big charge, wiping out a
Virginia
basket.
**
Dockery: Dock came in and hit one of his wacky falling-down fadeaway
jumpers early in the game. His minutes have tended to fluctuate a bit, but
considering that Duhon was taking care of the ball (0 turnovers) and
playing good defense, he simply wasn't needed quite as much. Still, this
is a guy that can play 15-20 minutes in a pinch if need be.
**
Melchionni: Lee came in briefly at the end of the first half to prevent
Jones from picking up a possible third foul, then came up with a steal in
his stint at the end of the game. He's still a guy who can come in and
contribute if needed, though he's not part of the regular rotation.
**
Buckner: Always nice to see the senior get some playing time,
especially as the season begins to wind down a bit.
**
Thompson: Just a cameo appearance for now.
Reported by Rob
Clough, tmc@duke.edu
Rob's Archive
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