DUKE 82

GEORGIA TECH 57

January 12, 2000

  Watch out for snakes, or felling the tall trees.

   Duke defeated Georgia Tech 82-57 on January 12th in Cameron.  Duke had a lot of trouble with Tech's tall timber, as Alvin Jones and Jason Collier teamed up for 32 points and 26 rebounds.  But the Devils absolutely shackled Tech's backcourt, holding Shaun Fein and Tony Akins to 6 points on 3-17 shooting.  This was especially encouraging after Duke struggled to keep Maryland and Virginia's backcourts in check. 

  While Duke's defense was solid throughout, the Devils had a lot of trouble scoring.  Part of that was due to the intimidating presence of shotblocker Alvin Jones, which led to Duke taking an inordinate number of jumpers (8-25  from the three point line) and missing a number of them. 

  The first five minutes were nip and tuck all the way, with five lead changes in that span.  Tech went immediately to Collier and Jones, and they delivered.  Duke countered with drives and a foul drawn on Jones. The Devils were able to stake out a little lead thanks to some spectacular play by James and Carrawell with some smart passes from Williams.  But overall, Duke looked sluggish and was allowing Tech to get easy entry passes into Jones and Collier, who were tough to stop when they got near the basket.  Tech capitalized on a Duke turnover and one of their many offensive rebounds to actually go up by 4 at 23-19, but C'well and James teamed up to score 6 straight.  Tech again used its rebounding prowess to take a 29-28 lead with three minutes left, but a Duke 8-0 that featured Williams hitting 2 jumpers and Battier's first three of the game made it look like Duke was heading for a comfortable halftime lead.  But a Duke turnover allowed Tech to pull to within three before Mike Dunleavy scored on an offensive rebound of his own to give Duke a 5 point lead at the half.

  Duke had looked tentative, almost scared, to play against Tech's front line. While missing shots was OK, they weren't pressuring Tech the way that they should have been, and let their big men have too many unmolested shots. Duke turned up the pressure in the second half with improved rebounding, more active defense and better hustle.

  Duke's lead quickly swelled to 8 before Tech used several offensive rebounds to cut it to 41-37.  Then the Mike Dunleavy show began.  The slender forward dominated the game for several possessions, aggressively driving through the teeth of the defense, alertly slapping away at balls in the post, sacrificing his body to get the tough rebounds, and slowly helping Duke build a ten point lead at 54-44, with ten minutes left.  Tech cut it to 8 very quickly, but in a play that I think had a big impact on the outcome, Carrawell outworked a bunch of players for a tip-in.  The Devils went on a 14-6 run punctuated by a Battier rebound dunk and back-to-back threes for Shane as he channelled his anger at the surly Jones into pure basketball revenge.  Shane hit anything that came his way and played insane defense. Tech's offense was having all kinds of problems getting open shots at a time when they needed to score quickly.  Their guards were completely flummoxed by Duke, leaving Tech the option of slowly working the ball inside. Jones and Collier started missing shots and Duke took advantage, especially when Jones got his fourth foul.  Duke's lead hit 21 as C'well passed inbounds to Horvath for a layup with only 2 seconds left on the shotclock.  The rest was filler time.

  Duke had one really bad half, made adjustments and came out with as much fire as I've seen them in the second half.  The fans started chanting "Our house!" while the contest was winding down as Duke won its 43rd game in a row at home.  Tech's big men presented a unique challenge, and Duke eventually figured out a way to beat them: with constant pressure and trying to prevent the ball from finding its way down low.  The Devils were happy to be in an ACC win that didn't require a last-second resolution.                    

 ** Negatives:

 1. Shooting.  While most of the shots were decent ones, a lot just wouldn't go down, especially for Battier and the usually reliable Carrawell.  The real problem is that Duke settled for the jumper at times instead of challenging Tech.

 2. Rebounding.  Duke absolutely got stomped on the offensive boards (21-11), which helped Tech stay in the game.  The Devils were much better in the second half, and several key rebounds followed by Tech fouls helped decide the outcome.

 3. Lack of penetration.  Particularly in the first half.  Tech was playing Duke fairly loose but was still playing in a man-to-man.  The Duke guards (with the notable exception of Nate James) settled for jumpers instead of trying to beat them off the dribble.

 ** Positives:

  1. Perimeter defense.  Tech got very, very few open looks.  Williams did a fantastic job on both Akins and Vines, shadowing them and rarely allowing them to get in front of him.  When they did, he managed to funnel them to a defender who often got a steal.  James simply smothered Fein, not allowing the stationary spot-up shooter any open looks.  Duke did allow the ball to be delivered too deep in the first half, but they corrected this deficiency by forcing the Tech big men to put the ball on the floor and then strip it.   

 2. Valuing the ball.  Williams in particular did a great job of not trying to do too much or go too fancy with his passes.  Instead, he delivered the ball in the right place at the right time.  Duke gave Tech very few cheap turnovers.

 3. Offensive tenacity.  Battier and Carrawell kept missing, but they knew that for the Duke offense to work, they had to keep trying.  Carrawell brilliantly was able to generate several fouls by drawing players into him.  Battier kept shooting until they started to go in.  After starting 1-7, he shot 6-9.  His threes were backbreakers for Tech and ended any comeback chances they might have had.

 Player-by-player analysis:

 ** Boozer:  A pretty good night for 'los.  He muscled past Collier for an early reverse layup, but his early inability to guard Jones had K yank him after a few minutes.  Picking up 2 fouls in the first half didn't help any, either.  He did have a nice drive for a layup and ran the court for another, but he wouldn't really start to dramatically affect the game until the second half.  His defensive effort picked up noticeably, as he was grabbing rebounds in traffic and picked up a block and steal.  He also hit a 16' jumper with the shot clock winding down, his first perimeter basket of the season.  His form looked excellent--it'll be interesting to see how much Coach K decides to utilize this facet of Boozer's ability this season. While Jones was able to abuse him for a number of scores, Carlos played much tougher in the second half and started to frustrate him into wilder and wilder shots.

 ** Battier: After a really rough-shooting first half (1-7), Shane kept attacking and got some good things to happen.  He scored on a tip in, a fast-break layup, a thunderous rebound dunk and then layed the hammer down with back-to-back threes that put Tech away.  But his most important shot may have been his first of the second half.  He had an open three (after going 1-5) but passed it up.  Instead, he faked, made a quick cut and canned a 14' jumper.  It was a smart play that let him take a higher percentage shot to help nudge him out of his cold streak.  He also played excellent low-post defense, repeatedly swiping the ball from Collier and Jones as they were setting up down low.  He also rejected a Jones shot after Alvin had up to that point been completely unmolested down low.  Jones got very physical (he jammed two elbows into Boozer while posting up) and knocked down Battier a couple of times, which only made Shane fight even harder. This game really proves that the metamorphosis from complementary player to star is complete, because he continued to take shots even when they weren't falling, a very good sign.  I wish he had tried to challenge Jones  a bit more, because he did draw one foul on him.   

 ** Carrawell:  After a string of brilliant games the Captain had a rough second half, missing 6 out of 7 shots.  He also only went 3-7 from the line, his worst showing of the year.  Despite all that, he still found a number of ways to contribute.  Early on, he had a drive and a three that helped keep Duke's slim lead.  He later put Duke ahead with a drive that also got a foul. He looked a little uncomfortable driving against Tech's big men and it showed in the second half, as his usually reliable jumper didn't fall.  He helped make up for it by hitting the boards hard.  His most important came with about nine minutes and Duke up by 8, but with the outcome of the game in no way sealed.  Duke hadn't scored in a little while, and missed a couple of shots until C'well tipped one in.  Duke was up 10 again and in control. Chris did a fantastic job locking up potentially dangerous Tech forward Jason Floyd, who managed to get open twice for easy shots early in the game and was never heard from again.  Chris was content to sit back and let others step up while he continued to do the dirty work.  He did keep shooting when open, but worked hard to get open shots for others.

 ** James:  Nate's first half performance was one of the best in his career. He was the only Devil who wasn't afraid to drive against Tech's big men, and was a big reason why Duke had a modest 5 point lead instead of a deficit. Nate simply attacked the basket again and again, shooting high bank shots to avoid Jones' reach.  He also made himself a target in transition, often after his defense caused a steal.  He hit an early three in the second half but mostly concentrated on defense and hustle plays after that.  One of his best was after a Duke miss.  He ran down the baseline after the ball and threw himself out of bounds as he was trying to flip the ball back in.  It didn't work, but he drew an ovation and praise from his teammates.  After that, Duke's energy level was noticeably higher and they were able to put away the Jackets. This small play demonstrated that a co-captain must lead by example in order to inspire his other teammates, and Nate has been doing that his entire  career.

 ** Williams:  A solid performance from Jason.  While he didn't shoot well (3-13), he played excellent defense and ran the team effectively.  He found James down low, Boozer on a transition layup, and James & Battier for threes. He did hit a couple of crucial shots in the first half: a nice 12' jumper and a three that brought Duke back from a 1-point deficit and gave them a working margin.  His only bad play was a slip that led to a turnover and basket for Tech, but otherwise his decision-making was very mature.  In the second half, he found Battier and James open for threes.  The Battier shots came back-to-back and crushed Tech's comeback hopes.  He also found Battier on a beautiful break started on a steal by James.  After Jones got his fourth foul, Williams knew that he'd be able to drive a bit freer and drove straight at Jones.  Jones moved out of the way and Williams banked home a layup and displayed his savvy.  Jason doesn't have to score 20 points to have a big impact on the game; his defense and court direction were key factors in Duke's victory.

 ** Dunleavy:  A sensational performance from Mike D.  He was mostly in  Inviso mode in the first half, until a dramatically-timed tip-in right before the first half ended.  But the second half gave us a tantalizing glimpse at the incredible potential embodied in this player.  When he came into the game in the second half, Duke was just starting to pull away from Tech, leading 48-39.  He then went on one of his quick scoring binges, netting 6 points in the next five minutes at a time when Duke was having great difficulty adding to their lead.  Two of them came on gorgeous, aggressive drives. On one, he realized that he had an open lane and scored before Tech could recover; on the other, he simply knifed through traffic.  More impressive than his 11 second half points was his defense, an area I thought needed improvement.  Simply put, he played excellent post defense.  He once simply took the ball out of the hands of Collier when he was posting up.  He also grabbed an impressive 7 boards, many of them in the thick of traffic and against larger players.  His play of the game may have been outwrestling  Jones for a board, and then drawing an over-the-back foul over the frustrated Tech center, his fourth.  Mike then swished both foul shots to give Duke its biggest lead 16 and spell the beginning of the end for Tech.  Mike acted like the forward that Duke needed in this game.  Only negative: 0-3 from three point range.  

 ** Christensen:  I thought Matt might be able to body up the Tech post players, but he ended up just playing for a minute or two and not doing much of  anything.  Came in fairly early, at around the 16 minute mark in the first half.

 ** Horvath:  Had an awful first half where he was badly beaten on defense a couple of times, and then turned it over after hemming and hawing over his shot at the top of the key.  Nick needs to either shoot when he catches it or pass it out immediately.  Played much better in the second half, though. He executed a perfect in-bounds play when Tech fell asleep as C'well tossed it into Nick, who then swooped in for the easy layup.  He sank a nice three from the corner and also got a tough rebound in mop-up play.

 ** Sanders:  Came in for a minute in the first half, but went woefully out of position on defense, which earned him a quick yank.

 ** Buckner: This kid can really jump.  He skied for an offensive rebound and dished off to Horvath for a three.

 Cameron Craziness:  

 It was noted by some students that Tech's Jason Collier revealed that he was afraid of snakes.  This was practically an open invitation for the 6th Man.  Someone made a bunch of photocopies of a snake and the students held them up when he was introduced, whenever his name was called, or whenever he came near them.  In addition, they made a great "hissss" sound at the same time.  Did it work?  Hard to say, but Collier's 13 points are the fewest he's scored against Duke.  It was very funny and very clever, even if it was an inside joke of sorts.

  The stadium was jam-packed with the return of the students.  However, the crowd was a bit listless and reserved in the first half--much like the team itself.  The team and the crowd definitely feed off one another, and when the team's energy level is low, it can sometimes be reflected in the crowd's reaction.  But when James and Dunleavy started making some amazing hustle plays in the second half, it pumped the crowd up and sent the team into the stratosphere.

  Favorite sign: "Next on ESPN: Carolina chokes!"  A prophetic statement, indeed. 

 Next Game:  

  Sunday 1/16 @ Florida State at 4:00pm.  The 'noles are led by dynamic wing Ron Hale, hard-working forward Damous Anderson (who had two great games against Duke last year) and decent guard combo Delvon Arrington and Adrian Crawford.  Hale is one of the best scorers in the league, and he single-handedly beat Wake Forest.  The 'noles just barely squeaked by Clemson, however, and the reason is simple: no post game.  Look for Duke to establish Boozer down low, early and often.  Getting a third ACC road win at this stage of the season, no matter where it is, would be a huge boost and would put Duke at 4-0 in the league.  

Reported by Rob Clough, tmc@duke.edu