Duke 76, Liberty 47. November 28, 2003.
Sullivan Arena.
Purdue 78, Duke 68. November 29, 2003. Sullivan Arena.
Sometimes a team can look better in a loss
than a win, and despite Duke's second-half collapse against Purdue, the Devils played a
lot harder in that game than against Liberty. Duke
went all-out on defense, though they did make mistakes.
The Devils attacked a physical team on the boards and won that battle 39-32,
with 19 of them offensive rebounds. As Coach
K noted, the offense didn't help the defense, and there a few factors that went into that. First, if you watched Purdue, it was obvious that
everything ran through senior guard Kenneth Lowe. He
was the main scorer, defender and distributor, and he willed his team to victory. Duke does not have such a figure on the team
right now, and might not have one all season. This
doesn't mean that they can't be a great team if such a player doesn't emerge (though I
suspect it may well be Luol Deng), but it does mean that they'll have to change their
approach a bit. It seems that the guards, JJ
Redick and Dan Ewing in particular, are trying to do too much by themselves. The team's mantra must be Simplify and Trust. Don't try to do too much by yourself, and trust in
your teammates' ability to get open, set screens and hit shots. As Coach K would say, the mentality must not be,
"This is my shot that I have to make" but rather "This is our shot that we
have to take." Every player is
responsible for the team's failures and successes. Even
in the above example, it's possible that Ewing & Redick could have gotten better looks
at the basket if the posts were setting better screens.
The key to this trust is communication, something that has been fading in
and out all season long. When the team talks
at both ends of the court, they are capable of creating some magic. When they don't, Duke
is a lot easier to defend. While some may
point out that fatigue was a factor for Duke, I would note that Coach K puts his team in
these situations deliberately in order to get them to execute at a high level when they
are tired. The Devils simply didn't do a very
good job of this in their first high-level test.
The Liberty game was a good example of Duke
not looking as good as the final score indicated, because the Flames were so shockingly
inept. They turned the ball over constantly,
had only had consistent offensive player, and fouled every time Duke drove on them. Duke's own turnover difficulties in the first half
contributed to the tight halftime margin of 27-20. The
first nine minutes of the game saw many Duke misses and only 6 points and an assist by
Deng had Duke with 13-11. Duke finally went
on a little run, spurred by a Redick three from Randolph.
Duhon then got a steal and layup, and Deng followed up with a 10' jumper. After Liberty pulled within 18-16 with a three,
Duhon jump-started another break with a rebound and feed downcourt to Ewing. The Devils closed out the half with a drive and
tip-in by Shelden Williams and a long Duhon three with the shot clock running down. Deng had 8 points, Williams 6 and Duhon 6 with 3
steals. There was nothing wrong with Duke's
defense, but shooting 10-34 just won't get the job done.
Duke was much more efficient in the second
half, shooting 15-25 from the field and turning it over just 6 times. Even the bench, which got some extended minutes,
played with a purpose for the first time in a while. Ewing rallied from a bad first half
for 10 points in the second stanza as Duke slowly pulled away. A cut from Ewing and a Duhon drive put Duke up by
11, and a Ewing three later made it 12. Duke
put the game away over the next few minutes, with a Duhon-to-Ewing-to-Deng fast break, a
Redick three, a Shavlik Randolph post-up, a Duhon three point play on a drive, and 5
straight points from Ewing. With eight
minutes to go, Duke led 57-30. After that, it
was mostly free throws, as Duke shot 17-24 for the game.
Duke's game plan for Purdue was to beat them
to the punch by emphasizing post play. Early
in the game, Shelden Williams pummelled the Boilers, scoring on a post-up, a couple of
stickbacks and on two perfect feeds by Duhon. When
he went out, Duhon kept feeding Randolph inside for a couple of three point plays. Duke was flowing nicely as Duhon fed Redick after
he grabbed a rebond, and then JJ drove and kicked back to Ewing for a three. Duke led 23-18 with under nine minutes to go in
the half. Purdue struck back after a few Duke
misses to take a 24-23 lead, and the two teams went back and forth for the next few
minutes. Finally, 2 Redick free throws put
Duke back on top 29-28. A stickback and foul
shot by Deng kept Duke there, but a Boiler three gave them a 33-32 lead with under four
minutes left.
Williams took over once again with a
turnaround jumper and later hit a free throw. With
time running down in the half, Ewing passed to Redick on the wing, who hit a three while
being mugged, and completed the 4 point play. Duhon
blocked a three point attempt by Purdue to preserve a hard-won 6 point advantage. The Devils had played solid help defense, drawing
three offensive fouls, including a charge taken by Shav.
Duke limited their turnovers to just 5, which helped them overcome 3-10
shooting from three. Redick found different
ways to score and wound up with 10 points, but Williams was the star of the half with 13
points and 7 rebounds. Purdue would have to
change their strategy a bit.
First, they started fronting Duke's big men,
and would also put a man behind to cut off the lob.
Second, they put the ball in Lowe' hands and trusted him to make things
happen. Before Duke could blink, the Boilers
went on an 11-0 run out of halftime, a punch that staggered Duke. A Williams hook shot was met by 5 more Purdue
points. Finally, Duke recovered with a 6-0
run of their own, led by Redick hitting a short jumper and Deng scoring on a stickback and
steal. Luol had been struggling the entire
game but was finding ways to contribute. Duke
pulled within 54-51 (thanks to a Duhon drive and a Deng dropstep) but missed a three and a
chance to tie. Purdue went on an 8-2 run
that opened up just enough room to hold the Devils off.
Duke kept trying, pulling with 64-58 on a
Deng three point play, and 72-65 on a Ewing three. Purdue
hit all of their free throws down the stretch. Duke's
problem in the second half was turnovers. Redick
and Duhon had 4 apiece as they were trying too hard to create off the dribble. JJ was 0-5
from three in the half, Ewing was 1-4 overall in the half, and Shav barely got to touch
the ball. The team was simply a bit tight and
trying too hard. The good news for Duke is
that the season is a marathon, not a sprint. Right
now, they are lagging behind some other teams, but for the team it's a matter of getting
the sand out of its gears than having to perform a total overhaul. The team still has a number of different ways to
score, with a legitimate low-post presence in Williams, a versatile inside/outside scorer
in Randolph, a do-it-all guy in Deng, a slasher/shooter in Ewing, a pure shooter in Redick
and a playmaker in Duhon. This isn't the 1997
team that had to rely on jumpshooting because it had nothing else. The defense is solid and promises to get better.
Team rebounding is very good. However,
everyone needs to find ways to help each other. They'll
find out what they learned very shortly, since Michigan State is loaded with wing scorers
and has a powerful post threat in Paul Davis.
** Negatives:
1. Offensive flow.
It was herky-jerky the whole time. When
Purdue started fronting Duke's big men, the Devils took quick jumpers instead of trying to
find the best open shot. Some players tried
to do some things they were that good at instead of finding ways to lean on their
strengths.
2. Help defense.
Lowe did a magnificent job of drawing in an extra defender and either
passing to a cutting post or dishing out to an open shooter. The Boilers just looked like a more experienced
team even if they didn't necessarily have better talent.
3. Valuing the ball.
Above all else, this killed the Devils and has been a problem all year. It's not like a lot of the turnovers came as a
result of pressure, either--Purdue was sagging off to protect the basket from drives. Duke simply made a number of mistakes, possibly
exacerbated by the "I MUST make this play mentality" that afflicted the team.
** Positives:
1. Offensive rebounding. Despite the fact that Purdue had plenty of beef to
throw at Duke, Williams, Duhon & Deng were relentless in going to the offensive
boards, something that helped Duke stay in the game.
2. Post defense.
Williams and Randolph, in terms of on-ball defense, are doing a fine job
down low. Both are challenging every shot and
getting the tough boards. Deng is also
quickly becoming a solid post defender, though he sometimes takes a few too many risks on
the perimeter.
3. Ball pressure.
Duhon was out of his mind with his defensive pressure, picking up a couple
of steals and forcing a 5 second call. His
defense right now is at a level reminiscient of his freshman year.
Player-by-Player:
**
Williams: Shelden blocked 7 shots in
these two games, totalled 25 points and grabbed 17 rebounds. He's a bit erratic at the line (3-7) and doesn't
always work hard enough to get open, but there's no question that he's done a great job
defensively and on the boards. When he does
get the ball, he's showing a number of different ways to score, including a turnaround
jumper and a more polished dropstep. He needs
to work on becoming a more efficient passer, making himself more available by working
around the defense, and learning when to clear out for penetrators. He's certainly still a work in progress but there
is indeed progress being made.
** Deng: Luol can still do anything on the
floor, and quickly learned to find ways to contribute when his shot isn't falling. His bread-and-butter shot, a short turnaround
jumper, wasn't going in and as a result Duke struggled.
Still, his rebounding and defense were stellar in both games, with a couple
of exceptions. While it's important for him
to hunt good shots, he shouldn't get discouraged with the ball. Above all else, he should avoid passing up good
open shots in order to drive and take more difficult ones.
** Ewing: Dan's 8-20 showing was less than impressive in
these two games. Hitting just 3-9 against Purdue was one of the crippling factors in the
game, as it seemed that he rushed nearly every shot.
Oddly, he was fairly efficient from three (4-10), but missed on a lot of
drives and layups. He had trouble handling
Lowe, who seemed a bit too strong for him. Dan
sometimes just seems like he's in too much of a hurry to do everything, and just needs to
slow down a bit. I wouldn't mind seeing him
run the point for a minute or two at a time.
** Duhon:
The bad news for Chris is that he's turning the ball over too much for a point guard. The good news is that his floor vision is as
excellent as ever, and he created a number of great opportunities for his teammates with
some pinpoint passes. He avoided long-range
bombs for the most part and instead concentrated on driving. Chris finished a number of drives with layups,
some by getting fouled, and others by finding the open man.
As I mentioned above, his ball pressure is excellent and his lateral
quickness seems greatly improved--it's much harder for opposing guard to turn the corner
on him.
**
Randolph: After a solid game against
Liberty (not a lot of points but good rebounding & block totals) and a good first half
against Purdue, Shav pretty much disappeared in the second half against Purdue. The Boilers respected him and pretty much gave him
the same treatment as they did Shelden, so K countered by putting both of them in the
game. No one got Shav the ball during this
time, though he didn't help matters with a miss and a turnover the couple of times he did
see the ball. He also didn't do anything on
the boards, being blocked out by Purdue pretty easily.
Shav will need to fight a lot harder against Michigan State to make an
impact.
** Dockery:
Dock's shot looks as awful as ever, but he actually picked up a few assists in the first
half. He did his usual good job of disrupting
the offense as well.
** Horvath:
Nick looked completely unprepared to make any kind of impact in either game, missing
shots, fouling and turning the ball over. He
needs to bring more energy and hustle into the game, worrying about rebounding and defense
rather than getting a look at the basket.
**
Thompson: Michael played well against Liberty with a spin and a tip-in, but his eye
injury kept him out of the finals. His
decision to transfer was not entirely shocking and may be one reason why the team has
seemed so tense. Whenever someone is unhappy
with their playing time, it affects the other players, especially when a program stresses
unity. Hopefully he'll be happy whereever he
goes, and Duke will close ranks.
**
Melchionni: Lee's recent lack of playing time has been disturbing, though he hasn't
looked that great when he has been out there until the Liberty game. Coach K really could have used another scorer to
set off a spark for his team, and I think Lee can be this player.
** Borman:
Andy hit a three in the Liberty game that was nothing but net.
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