DUKE 85

FLORIDA ST. 54

January 16, 2000

Second half slaughter! 

Duke defeated Florida State 85-54 in Tallahassee on 1/16. Like the women's game earlier in the day, it was a tale of two halves, with Duke dominating their opponent in the second half. Now, Duke wasn't terrible in the first half and one never sensed that they were in any great danger, but the fact remains that they trailed at halftime. Poor defense was partly to blame, as was the 5 points on 2-11 shooting from captains Carrawell, James and Battier. The frosh carried the day, particularly Carlos Boozer, who blasted FSU with 13 points and 5 boards. Jason Williams and Mike Dunleavy had 7 points apiece to help keep Duke in the game. Williams looked much more comfortable on offense in the first half than he has for quite a few games. FSU was boosted by their crowd and their ability to stay in the game early on. 

Things were tight for the first seven minutes. Duke managed a 12-7 lead thanks to 7 points from Boozer, but the Noles tied it up. Boozer scored another 6 points and helped Duke to a 22-15 lead with nine minutes left, but FSU chiped away with some aggressive play from their PG, Delvon Arrington. Arrington scored on a drive, taking Williams to the basket, and hit a three. The score was tied at 24 when Battier hit his first basket, a three. FSU responded with a 6-0 run that left Duke a little stunned. Duke managed to tie it on a Dunleavy three at 32, but FSU scored the last basket to take a 2 point lead into the locker room. 

Needless to say, Mike Krzyzewksi was not pleased. He read the riot act to his veterans and they knew that he was right. Battier immediately scored on an aggressive post-up and Carrawell helped Duke take the lead on a drive. FSU briefly stole it back on a Simmons three with time running down on the shot clock, but this was a bump in the road. Boozer and C'well set up Williams for back to back threes which began a 32-9 run. There was tremendous balance and fantastic defense during this run, with Carrawell dishing, driving and tipping in misses; James doing much the same; Williams finishing off drives; and Boozer scoring on powerdunks and reverse layups. The 'noles were settling for weak jumpers for fear of their passes being picked off, and the Devils simply feasted on the boards. Carrawell and Battier owned every carom and helped set up breaks. Duke was so efficient and aggressive that they stopped bothering to take outside shots, because FSU couldn't stop their penetration. They forced 7 steals and demoralized a team that had been right there with them. Not only was this a road win for Duke, it was their first dominant road win, the kind that sends a statement. Duke only gave up an amazing 20 second half points while they scored 53. Even Duke's bench players got into the act, with Sanders hitting a couple of foul shots and blocking a shot, Horvath hitting a three and Christensen connecting on a layup. Truth to tell, this was a game that Duke should have won going away, and they did. FSU only has a few ACC- caliber players on their roster: Ron Hale, Damous Anderson, Delvon Arrington and Adrian Crawford. David Anderson is pretty good but no threat to score. Only Hale is at all-ACC level. With Crawford recovering from an injury, it meant that Duke could concentrate on shutting down the big guns, and they did. Only a surprising performance from Oliver Simmons prevented this from getting uglier much sooner. Duke will have very few opponents like this on the rest of their schedule. 

Duke still hasn't put together 40 great minutes yet. There's a lot of room to improve, particularly its bench and blocking out. But it's becoming clear that Duke's top 6 is as good as anyone's. It's gotten them to 4-0 in the league; the question is how far this group can go. Duke still must play Wake Forest and Clemson on the road, which means that the Devils will get 5 home games in the second half the ACC season, which could be a huge advantage. 

** Negatives: 

1. First-half intensity. Duke didn't really do anything great in the first half: they allowed too much penetration, too many open threes, and took too many quick shots. They simply weren't playing smart. 

2. Too many shots blocked. Granted, David Anderson's timing was great, but Duke should have taken the ball to the rim a bit harder, especially in the first half. 

** Positives: 

1. Rebounding. Particularly in the second half, when Battier and Carrawell really stepped it up. FSU got very few second chances. 

2. Penetration. Carrawell, Williams and James carved up the Seminole defense and were able to deliver great pass after great pass. And Duke was able to finish nearly every time. Duke was 18- 26 from inside the stripe in the second half, a tribute to an aggressive offense. 

3. Valuing the ball. Well, FSU didn't exactly put on a ton of pressure, but only getting 8 turnovers is impressive no matter what the situation. And Duke was still aggressive in attacking the basket and going for the big play. 

Player-by-player Analysis: 

** Boozer: When Boozer is matched up against a team that's weak inside, you can sense his excitement. Now that his foot is healed, he has no problem whatsoever in attacking the interior again and again. And that's exactly what happened early on, as Boozer got the basket plus one on his first shot. Then he scored 4 more on his next possessions, a layup and a hook. He had 13 by the 9:30 mark of the first half, putting Duke up by 5. FSU was starting to figure him out a bit by then and David Anderson was starting to block some of his layups. But there's no question that he was THE dominant force for Duke in the first half, with 5 boards and a block to go along with his points. He scored nearly half of Duke's first half points and compensated for the problems Duke was having on the perimeter. Carlos didn't help quite enough on Damous Anderson, especially since David A. wasn't much of an offensive threat. In the second half, he spent about six minutes as the focal point of both the Duke offense and defense. It began with a pretty reverse layup that allowed him to stay out of reach of the FSU shotblockers. Soon, Carrawell found him for a vicious two-handed jam right in David A's face, just retribution for an afternoon filled with blocks. Shane found him on the baseline for a tough post-up. Carlos then fed the ball to Williams for a beautiful give-and-go (a rare play in Duke's motion scheme since it invokes a two-man game). To cap it off, he had an open court steal on an overplay and ran it in all the way for another flying dunk. Carlos is amazingly quick for his size, with the agility of a small forward. His touch with the ball is remarkable, yet he's still an excellent rebounder. Combine all that with a still-developing aggressiveness and consistency and you have a very dangerous player. 

** Battier: For far too long, Shane reverted to Role Playing Man when he should have been The Dominator. He did a few good things in the first half, like hitting a big three, getting some steals and grabbing some boards, but he mostly removed himself as an offensive threat. He also let Simmons and Damous Anderson have way too many easy shots. In the second half, he corrected these flaws and gave the 'noles a lot of problems. He started off with an aggressive post-up that showed he was going to play more aggressively no matter what. He also hit the boards much harder and took a big charge on a play that might have shifted momentum slightly towards FSU if it had gone the other way. He pulled up on the baseline and hit a soft 5' jumper and later posted up again, but this time found Boozer, who put it in with his left hand. Not a superstar performance, but one where he got the job done and shut down his opponents. 

** Carrawell: Coach K said of his performance: "Except for one play, this was a perfect game." And it was, even given his 1-6 start from the field. His second half and defense throughout the game was simply magnificent. He did hit one jumper in the first half and found Shane for a three, but his shots just weren't falling. However, he kept Hale bottled up (as he has his whole career) and forced FSU to look elsewhere for scoring. He completely dominated the second half from beginning to end as Duke turned a modest lead into a complete rout. He got going on a pass from Williams, and then returned the favor with a dish for a three. He then drove for another score and later put Duke up 54-40 on a rebound putback plus one. He drove for yet another basket and then dished off to Boozer for a demoralizing dunk. This kept up for the rest of the half folks--with less than four minutes to go, he hit Shane on an inbounds play and then drove for another short pull- up jumper. He concluded his night's work with a three that put Duke up 29. Now, if Chris was simply scoring and passing, that would have been enough. But he also had 7 rebounds in the half (10 for the game) and started a number of breaks. He also continued to lock up Hale, blocked a couple of shots, got a couple of steals on overplays and had only 1 turnover. All-ACC, anyone? One last footnote: at 1136 career points, Chris is 1 point away from Alaa Abdelnaby, 3 away from Bob Fleischer and 5 away from Chris Redding. He may well hit the top 20. 

** James: A deceptively quiet game for Nate in that he didn't score a ton of points, but he made a number of big plays. A common complaint levelled against Nate is that he doesn't pass enough. I would say that he more than adequately addressed this deficiency against the 'noles. He dished to Boozer inside for a basket and hit Williams on a huge three near the end of the first half. In the second half, he was terrorizing FSU with his driving ability. He drove to the basket and got the points and the foul, then dished to Williams on the next possession. With about four minutes left, he snuffed out any possible thoughts of an FSU comeback with a drive and passes to Horvath for a three and Christensen for the hoop and one. He also picked up a couple of steals and just 1 turnover and also contributed to shutting down FSU's perimeter game. A solid "intangibles" game for Nate, with no wasted effort and few mistakes. 

** Williams: Jason had a fantastic game but like a good team player, brushed all of that aside and talked about how the team showed what Duke basketball is all about in the second half. In all my years, I've never heard a kid speak more passionately about his love for his school and program. I think it's why Jason puts too much pressure on himself sometimes, because he feels that when he messes up, he's hurting a tradition rather than just one team. Of course, he's done little but bring honor to his team thus far, particularly with his sparkling offensive performance against FSU. He started off the game with a three and also had a steal + layup as well as another nice drive for a score. But he also let Delvon Arrington score 9 points on him, including being used on a coast-to- coast drive to the basket. Jason finally had had enough, and completely shut him down in the second half. Zero points, and what's more, zero offense generated in any fashion. Arrington had trouble delivering any decent entry passes and could barely find the blanketed Ron Hale, one of the ACC's leading scorers. What's more, Jason went absolutely nuts on offense. He hit 2 threes in a minute's time, both on relocation passes. He also hit C'well for an easy basket. With his threes, Duke went from being down 1 to being up 5 and hungry for more. Jason became a finisher the rest of the half, taking a feed from James for a layup, taking a long outlet pass from C'well for another, and scoring on a give and go from Boozer. He did have a couple of turnovers, but they were of overexuberance in an attempt to really bring the hammer down on FSU in transition. Jason needed this kind of game in the ACC to help with his confidence. He had a nice defensive performance against Tech and put it all together today. 

** Dunleavy: Mike had a big first half but his only memorable second half highlight was getting a nasty elbow planted in his cheek. He had one of his typical tip-ins after a miss, a layin on a pass from Carrawell, and a three that tied the score at 32 with just a minute left in the first half. He represented the totality of Duke's bench scoring in the first half and outscored all three tri- captains--combined. He simply wasn't needed as much in the second half, when the tri-captains asserted themselves. Mike will be needed against State rather urgently, so hopefully it'll be an up- cycle game for him. 

** Christensen: Basically did a nice job at being big. He clogged up the lane and played solid defense, which was all that was required of him. As a bonus, he hit a tough leaner on a great pass from James and got fouled. FSU was slow enough that his footspeed didn't matter much, and he got some much-needed moments of rest for Carlos. 

** Sanders: Came into the game in the first half and promptly turned it over. Played much better in the second half, as he took it right at Nigel "Big Jelly Is Watching You" Dixon and got fouled. He also had a fantastic block on a jumper very close to the basket. 

** Buckner: I am constantly amazed at how high this kid can jump and what a good rebounder he is for his size. He must drive Jason Williams nuts in practice. 

** Simpson: Nothing to note here, just a last-minute appearance. 

Next Game: January 19th in Cameron against NC State. NCSU is just a game back of Duke and they're eager to beat a top-25 club. They have the size, the depth and the athleticism to do it, too. They also have one of the more experienced teams in the league. Their only real question mark is a consistent shooting threat and backcourt size. If Duke is smart they'll try to post up the smurf- sized State guards Gainey, Grundy and Miller. State has a lot of balance so it will be difficult to focus on any one player, although it'll be interesting to see how the next chapter of the Battier- Inge feud plays out. Battier really got his goat last year and Inge responded by kneeing him in the head. The Boozer-Thornton battle should be extremely interesting. Carlos will have to bring it strong to the basket or Thornton could wind up shutting him down. The bench could be a key, as State holds an advantage with Ron Kelley, Cliff Crawford and Marshall Williams. Dunleavy will have to step up to match their threat. The most intriguing individual matchup will be C'well vs wunderkind Damien Wilkins, who plays a role not unlike Chris' for State, although less advanced at this stage. He's a great defender and rebounder who likes to set up his teammates, but can also score. The last thing Duke wants is for him to go off. Grundy is another key, because he's had some success against Duke. James will have to deal with his quickness, and Williams may see some time against him. 

Reported by Rob Clough, tmc@duke.edu