Feburary 5, 2004. 
Smith Center.
Box Score  | Photos | Photos2

   This game has been poked, prodded and dissected by every fan in the area and every writer in the country, but I'll take a shot at some further examination.  It was a classic in every sense of the word, with two teams playing at a very high level for 45 minutes.  Both teams were evenly matched with similar talent levels; one never got the sense that either squad was overachieving to stay within range of the other, like in some past years.  While the Heels have struggled at times this year, one sensed that their issues centered around experience and understanding what it took to win on a night-to-night basis.  They seem to have had trouble playing consistent team defense for 40 minutes against every foe, and when faced with adversity their offense seemed to devolve into one-on-one play. But when faced with a top-notch opponent like Duke or UConn, their strengths really came to the fore.  Duke's experience and understanding of what it takes to win on the road were the eventual keys to the win here, but it really could have gone either way.

  There have been Duke-UNC games that were overtime thrillers or close games (like @UNC in 2000 or @Duke in 2001), but this game was more interesting to watch from start to finish.  There was a lot of sloppy play in the early going (a combined 9 turnovers in the first five minutes of play), but the teams slowly upped their level of play as the contest wore on, with some unbelievable plays on both sides when winning time came around.  That made it a great game to win and a tough one to lose, because both teams knew there was no lack of effort here.

  Duke got off to an 8-1 start with some ragged play on both sides of the ball.  Chris Duhon hit Shelden Williams in stride on a fast break, and then Luol Deng found JJ Redick for a very long three.  Deng then drove on Jawad Williams for a three point play.  Jackie Manuel entered the game for UNC and immediately turned up the defensive pressure.  Redick had a three blocked and then he and Dan Ewing turned the ball over on consecutive plays.  UNC pulled within 8-7, but Deng sank a tough turnaround jumper to boost Duke's lead.  Shavlik Randolph pushed it to 12-7 with a tough layup after a Duhon miss.

  The Blue Devils were feeding it into Williams whenever possible, and he responded with 10 points over the next four minutes.  The Heels were guarding him one-on-one, and it just wasn't working.  Ewing hit him with a simple entry pass, Deng found him from the high post, and Redick fed him to finish off a fast break.  Duhon also fed him at an angle that made it easy for him to score.  With nine minutes to go in the half, Duke had taken a 24-12 lead.   UNC missed 3 of 4 shots and turned the ball over 3 times during that stretch.

  The Heels started scoring a bit more, but a three by Ewing and a Deng stickback kept them at arm's length, 29-18.  UNC went on a 6-0 run, but Duhon found Redick for a three to counter that.  The Heels then ran off 5 straight points, but it was Ewing's turn to make things happen.  He grabbed a Deng miss and was fouled, hitting 2 free throws.  Then he drove again and finished this time after he grabbed a defensive rebound.  Duke held the lead at about nine for the next few minutes, with Williams scoring on a stickback, JJ getting a couple of free throws and Duhon scoring on a drive--his first points of the game.  Felton hit a shot and Duke wound up with the last possession of the half.  Duhon turned the ball over as Duke looked disorganized and then Duhon made a mistake--he fouled Melvin Scott with one second left on the clock, thinking that Duke only had 5 team fouls.  That foul made it 7, and Scott hit both of them to cut Duke's lead to 42-37.  Duke had a chance to take a double-digit lead into the half, and couldn't quite do it.  Both teams shot 50%, and had around 10 turnovers apiece (UNC had 11, actually).  Duke had 1 more three and 4 more free throws--otherwise, the teams were pretty much square.

  UNC changed strategies and decided to double and even triple-team Shelden, reasoning that if they descended on him quickly enough, he wouldn't be able to pass out of the double-team.  They were correct in that assumption, and that's what allowed UNC to get back into the game. The Heels tied the game at 49 five minutes into the half, despite the best efforts of Ewing (who hit a three and had an assist) and Williams (4 more points).  May and McCants led the charge, with May even getting a three point play against Shelden.  McCants gave the Heels their first lead at 51-49, but icy shooter Dan Ewing, a Duke fan since he was very young, came back with a three.   After a Jawad Williams offensive foul, Deng threw a perfect cross-court pass to Duhon in the left corner, and he buried the three to give Duke a 55-51 lead with twelve minutes left.  One could really sense that game's intensity really start to pick up at this point.

  Undaunted, the Heels scored 6 straight points from an unlikely trio--J.Williams, David Noel and Manuel.  Meanwhile, Redick missed 2 rushed threes and Shelden turned the ball over.  Redick was fouled and hit 2 freebies to tie the game up, and then Deng hit another of his tough turnaround jumpers to put Duke on top again at 59-57.   A couple of events occurred which changed the course of the game: Duhon picked up his fourth foul with about nine minutes to go, and Deng was knocked unconscious after a collision with Noel.  McCants scored when Deng was on the floor and the Heels had a power play going, much to Coach K's chagrin.

  Dockery and Randolph entered the game, and the Heels embarked on a run. First JJ drove and dished to Ewing for another cold-blooded three to give Duke a 62-60 lead, but the Heels came up with a 9-0 run that, with under six minutes to go, seemed to give them all the momentum they would need. A Dockery turnover turned into a UNC fast break.  Randolph couldn't quite convert a stickback after a Dockery miss, and then Redick & Ewing combined to miss 5 straight shots.  Thankfully, that last miss was rebounded by Shelden for a tip-in, cutting the lead to 69-64.  Suddenly, Duke seemed to realize that they were only down five and that there was plenty of time left.

 Deng reentered the game and threw up a knuckleball that missed badly.  It seemed he was still a bit woozy from the KO.  However, after Duke forced May into a turnover, Luol drove and was fouled, and hit 2 pressure-packed foul shots.  May turned the ball over again and then Redick found Deng on a curl.  It was clear that the Heels were having a lot of trouble guarding him.  Felton missed a three, and Duhon was fouled driving to the basket, and hit both of them to give Duke a startling 70-69 lead.  After misses by both teams, Deng drove and was fouled, giving Duke a 72-69 lead with just over a minute left.  Williams missed a three, but May was there to clean up and cut the lead to one.  After working the clock a bit, Redick drove left and hit a difficult layup across his body with Manuel hanging all over him--his only 2 point shot of the game. It was a tremendously gutsy play considering that he had struggled with off-balance shots the entire night.  Jawad Williams used a pump fake from the three point line and shot over Redick, tying the game at 74.   Coach K in this situation always opts to forgo taking a timeout, instead preferring to attack the other team before they can set up a defense.  Duke got a great look at the basket, but Dan Ewing missed a three with three seconds left. Coach K said that it was a good shot, but he wished that Ewing had driven a bit closer to the basket.

  It was fitting that a game this good should have five extra minutes. There was some concern that Duke would be down after giving up a last second-shot, but the whole team had already moved on to Next Play. Carolina got three cracks at the basket on their first possession, but Shelden blocked a May dunk from behind and grabbed the rebound.  At the other end of the floor, he was fouled by Scott and made both of them. McCants drove to tie the score up, but fouled Ewing going to the hoop. Dan only hit 1 of 2, giving Duke a 77-76 lead.  Shelden blocked a Noel shot, and Redick hit Deng going to the basket to give Duke a 79-76 lead with three minutes to go.

  Scott missed a shot, but Ewing missed a three that probably would have sealed the game.  McCants drove and was fouled with two minutes to go, hitting both.   Redick missed a three, and then rebounded a May miss.  Deng turned the ball over with 55 seconds remaining, giving the Heels a chance to take the lead.   Duke played ferocious defense and Felton missed a shot with 3 seconds left on the shot clock.  May rebounded, by Redick tied him up long enough for the shot clock to expire.   With 20 seconds to go, Noel immediately fouled Redick, a monumental mistake considering that they could have tried to trap or pressure him into giving up the ball. Instead, they sent a near-automatic shooter to the line.   Redick lives for such situations, and he naturally buried both shots.  Felton drove and hit McCants for a three with twelve seconds to go.  Duke again elected not to take a time-out, and Duhon took the ball and flew up the floor.  He checked Coach K and the clock, and saw K urging him on.  Chris then saw Noel and Felton about to run into each other, and he drove past them right as they collided.  He went to the basket from the left and saw J.Williams coming up from behind his left side, going for the block.  So as he drove, he used a reverse layup to use the rim as a shield and hit the shot.

  With less than six seconds left, UNC used the same strategy as Felton flew up the court and passed to Melvin Scott to the corner.  Scott threw up an airball that McCants almost got his hands on, but instead it fell into the hands of Shelden Williams.  The clock ran out, and the whole team mobbed their Captain.  It was hard to pick an MVP for this game, because each starter made a number of big plays.   The Devils had to feel good about the win because UNC gave them everything they had, had to fight against a significant home court advantage (Roy Williams wisely retained the Matt Doherty innovation of moving more students down to courtside) and overcame a couple of offensive slumps to make the plays they needed.  All of that said...it was just one regular-season win, and there's a lot of ball left to be played.  Next Play.

  ** Negatives:

 1. Blocking out.  May really hurt Duke with his unrelenting work on the offensive boards, thanks mostly to his positioning and soft hands.  Felton and McCants accounted for 9 of the Heels' astonishing 21 offensive rebounds, and May for 8.  UNC's quickness had something to do with this, but Duke was just beaten to the ball too many times.  It's no coincidence that in Duke's eventual comeback, the fact that they controlled the boards was a huge factor.

 2. Valuing the ball.  There was a lot of adrenaline in this game that led to some early turnovers, but Duke did not adjust well to the presence of Jackie Manuel (a sentence I never thought I'd have to write).  His ball pressure forced some mistakes that Duke rarely makes.

 3. One-on-one play. When Duhon went out of the game, you could see the team devolve into one-on-one play instead of sticking to what was working (ie, inside-outside play).  Redick and Ewing shot too quickly, and with Deng out of the game there was no one to help Shelden rebound. Fortunately, that all ended when Duhon returned.

  ** Positives:

 1. Balance.   A positive for most of the year, Duke's offense started on Williams attacking May down low, sprinkled in plenty of shots by Ewing & Redick, and a healthy amount of Deng freelancing.  With Duhon setting everybody up, the above four players all got between 12 and 16 shots.

 2. Defensive pressure.  Duke forced 21 turnovers and 5 from one of the better point guards in the country, Ray Felton.  Forcing 3 turnovers after the Heels went up 69-62 was the key to the game for Duke, and proved that even a high-powered offense like UNC's could be stopped.

 3. Calm under pressure.  Along those lines, going down by 7 seemed to focus the team, even after UNC had scored after a Duke timeout.   There was a sense from everyone that it was now time to relax, concentrate on each play and then Next Play.  One of the best thing about this team is that when it seems like it should be rattled or even quit--it isn't and it doesn't.  That fact alone seems to rattle opponents, or get them to relax a bit because now they think they have momentum.

 Player-by-Player:

 ** Williams:  Following a good offensive half against Georgia Tech, Shelden was brilliant in the first half on offense, decent in the second half & OT, and amazing throughout the game on defense.  Playing for 37 minutes against a tough opponent, Shelden's better stamina kept him going when May was on the bench with cramps.  Coach K noted that his post defense improved as the game went on, and was at his best in the toughest situations.  Shelden didn't fool around on offense, trying to seal off his man as quickly as possible for an easy finish.   He's a little bit taller than May and certainly much quicker, and this gave him an advantage. Defensively, he managed to stay fresh throughout the game and had two gigantic blocks in OT.  May was great, but Shelden was better, and in the end that was the biggest difference.

 ** Deng: The frosh went through just about everything in this game: hitting pressure shots, getting huge rebounds, playing great defense, getting knocked unconscious, making some mistakes, and in the end, proving to be a big-time player.  He's the one guy for Duke who can score from anywhere on the court and beat any player on defense.  His turnaround jumper is slowly becoming money and he's becoming much more aggressive off the dribble.  Luol also loves to pass the ball (5 assists in this game) and play defense, and his rebounding is tremendous.  He really is a human Swiss Army knife, because every time you watch him play he comes up with some new feature to his game.

 ** Ewing: Dan missed the last shot of regulation and a big one in OT, but it was his shooting throughout the game that kept Duke in it.  Beyond that, his fantastic defense on Felton was one of the biggest keys of the game for Duke.  In the game, he broke up a 4-0 UNC run with a three; a 5-0 run with 4 straight points of his own; a 9-0 run with a three; a go-ahead basket with another three; and broke up a tie game with a free throw.  He loves to take pressure shots and makes a whole lot of them.  On a night when Redick wasn't hitting, Ewing came through when his team needed him the most.

 ** Redick: Despite a very tough shooting night against a fine defender, JJ still came up with several significant plays.  The first was diving after a loose ball with Duke down 69-64.  It was about to become another UNC offensive rebound, but his hustle gave the ball back to Duke.  The second was his tough layup towards the end of regulation.  JJ is famed for his threes, but that was one of the best shots of his career.  The third was hitting those 2 free throws at the end of OT, because it gave Duke just enough of a cushion.  Of course, JJ did some other, smaller, things that were significant, like finding Deng twice for crucial baskets.  A good player always finds ways to contribute when his shot isn't falling, and JJ demonstrated that in this game.

 ** Duhon: This was not Chris' best night overall, as he turned the ball over more than usual, didn't have any steals and didn't have a remarkable game on offense.  But Duke's captain and undisputed leader made a fantastic play at the very end, staying calm amid the chaos and finishing a fantastic & intelligent shot.  It should also be noted that his three in the corner was a huge shot, as were his 2 free throws with two minutes to go.  Chris has missed a lot of free throws in his career, but he has really improved his concentration and toughness levels to an unbelievable degree.  Chris was having a great year prior to the FSU game, but his last three games have really boosted his confidence level.  His teammates trust him to take big shots and know that he'll get them the ball if they can get open.  The hustling, happy-go-lucky scrapper of 2001 has reemerged this year, with a few more scars and a lot more wisdom.  But the beauty of this year is that you can see that he has regained his love of the game, something that fell by the wayside a bit when he was struggling with the responsibility of leading so many young players.  He's no longer afraid to make a mistake or take a chance, and his experience is enabling him to make that judgment properly.  Chris Duhon is the reason why it's so much fun to watch four-year players.

 ** Randolph:  Shav did not have a great game, missing a layup off an offensive board.  He did have an impressive finish in the first half of a tough pass from Duhon, but had trouble matching up with UNC's speed.  Shav has played very well the past few games (at times bettering Shelden), so hopefully he'll be able to bounce back against Clemson's army of post players.

 ** Dockery:  Dock was a bit out of control, trying to match his speed against Felton's.  He did find Ewing for a three, but had trouble running the team when Duhon was out.  It was clear that UNC was playing way off of him, which wound up hurting the defense when he wouldn't pull up for open jumpers.  However, he did play excellent defense on Felton, helping to slow him down a bit.

         Rob's Archive