MARYLAND 98

DUKE 87

February 9, 2000

Snapping Turtles

 The Maryland Terrapins duplicated the feat pulled off by their women's team a week earlier: they defeated the Duke Blue Devils at home on February 9th, 98-87, to snap several amazingly long winning streaks. Duke's streaks of 18 straight wins, 46 consecutive home wins (dating back to 1997), and 31 consecutive ACC wins (dating back to 1998) all came screeching to a halt. Maryland did it by using excellent team speed, a patient offense, and the mental toughness to hit several key shots and come up with a number of important stops. This was easily their best performance of the year, and they came into Cameron brimming with confidence after coming back from 17 down to beat North Carolina State last Sunday.

 Maryland won because they utilized each player's potential to his maximum, but didn't make any player step outside of his comfort zone. For example, Steve Blake didn't take a bunch of spot-up jumpers. Juan Dixon didn't try to drive and draw fouls. Lonnie Baxter wasn't taking any 15' jumpers. Blake ran the offense and kept his team cool; Dixon used his lethal mid-range game to get open again and again; and Baxter patiently stayed near the basket and powered his way to a brilliant performance.

 For the Devils, Shane Battier was superheroic with 28 points of his own, 18 in the first half. After Shane, the team's production dropped considerably. Sure, C'well, Williams, James and Dunleavy all scored in double digits and shot reasonably well, but everyone had trouble on defense. A lot of the problems came on some very basic things: breaking through screens and rotating over on penetrating players. And even when the defense got a stop, the Terps always seemed to be able to pick up a timely offensive rebound.

 Maryland started the game with an easy post-up by Baxter, beginning a period where he would simply dominate the Devils. Nate James and Jason Williams kept the Devils close. Jason schooled Steve Blake early on, getting a steal and a thunderous dunk. James was very active on offense, scoring 7 points in the first three minutes. Curiously, Coach K subbed him out after a big scoring play. Danny Miller was hot for Maryland, sinking threes throughout the half. Both teams traded leads an amazing 15 times in the first half alone, with 8 ties. Behind a barrage of Battier threes, Duke actually took a small lead at 33-26, but the Terps went on an 11-0 run and then went up 40-35 on another three from Miller. Battier scored 5 in a row to knot things up again and the Devils retook the lead on a Boozer foul shot. But the Terps righted themselves and led by 2 at the break.

 The second half featured more of the same, with 5 ties but only 2 lead changes. The Terps were slowly taking control behind the indomitable Dixon, who repeatedly frustrated Duke's defense. Carrawell's offense came to the fore at last as he was driving and slashing his way into taking over the game for Duke. Maryland took a 7 point lead with thirteen minutes left before Duke went on a devastating 7-0 built on nasty defense and a spirited crowd. Carrawell did it with a three, Dunleavy with a rebound hoop and Boozer a cut. Duke actualy took a 70-69 lead with nine minutes left on a Battier three, but the Terps countered with a three of their own. Duke responded with another flurry of points but couldn't stop the Terps from countering. Battier hit a three to put Duke up 75-72, but Dixon hit a short jumper to cut into the lead. Maryland recaptured the lead at 80-79, but Williams drove and tied things up at 83 with three and a half minutes left. That's when the wheels fell off. Morris hit backbreaking, back-to-back threes, and then Blake followed it up with a short baseline jumper with 1:44 left. Duke got it to within 6 and Dixon actually missed the front end of a one-and- one, but two bad shots ended Duke's chances. The Terps hit their free throws and danced on Duke's court in victory. Lonnie Baxter left the game with a finger across his lips, silencing the Duke crowd.

 So what does this game mean? Other than letting Maryland and UNC back into the ACC race, it signalled one problem: the team is tired. Fatigue leads to mental mistakes on offense, which leads to more pressure on defense. K may well have to start to play Christensen/Horvath/Sanders a bit more to help rest his starters. The problem is that none of them can take over for Battier or Carrawell in any realistic sense. The solution may be to have Dunleavy slide into Carrawell's position and then move Boozer over to power forward while the three-headed back-up center gets a shot. Christensen has demonstrated recent improvement and Horvath can score. Sanders is a project for next year right now, but even a minute or two just to give a different look might not hurt. Above all else, Duke must concentrate on defense in its next few games to reestablish their identity.

 ** Negatives:

 1. Rebounding. Morris, Baxter and Dixon killed Duke with second chance points. Dixon in particular snuck by Carrawell a few times to get easy baskets on putbacks. The numbers were pretty even but Maryland benefitted from it much more.

 2. Rotating on defense. This, plus not fighting through screens, let Maryland get into a nice rhythm early in the game. Maryland was using high screens so well that Miller was getting a bunch of wide-open threes. Morris did some of the screening, but it was Baxter who helped create the space. Blake's penetration meant that lots of guys had wide open shots on relocation passes.

 3. Valuing the ball. This is what really hurt. Rather than press Duke and risk the Devils running wild, Gary Williams instead chose to go to a variety of zones with some minimal level of trapping. By cutting off lanes and collapsing on the ball whenever a player had it in the post, he forced Duke's frosh into some bad decisions. Jason Williams forced things too many times instead of patiently trying to pick apart the defense or using the skip pass to locate spot-up shooters. Worse, Boozer didn't go up strong with the ball and turned it over several times in the lane. This inefficiency is what eventually doomed Duke.

 ** Positives:

 1. Shooting. This was what kept Duke in the game, because the three point shot was falling. Battier was completely unstoppable from all ranges.

 2. Transition offense. Duke was able to get several opportunities to run, though they did flub a break here and there.

 3. Determination. Down by a sizeable margin, Duke still fought on. They never gave in even though it was obvious that it was Maryland's night.

 Player-by-Player Analysis:

 ** Boozer: 6 points, 6 boards and 4 turnovers isn't going to get it done against perhaps the best post player in the league. For the first time in a while, Carlos looked like a timid frosh. In his defense, he's still adjusting to the rigors of the league after a limited practice schedule. But he was rattled early by Baxter's size and aggressiveness, and only had brief periods of efficacy. I knew something was wrong when he started bricking free throws (2-5 in the game) because his release is usually very smooth. K yanked him fairly early in an attempt to settle him down a bit, and he played somewhat better in the second half. He had a nice move on the baseline where he simply jammed the ball in over two guys and a cut for another basket. Ultimately, he didn't prove to be much of a factor in this game. He simply needs to relax and understand how skilled and powerful he is, and be more aggressive around the basket. For Duke to be great, he must step up.

 ** Battier: A spectacular, magnificent night for a player who always seems to save something special for the Terps. Shane was actually quiet for the first 8 minutes, until C'well found him for a three. After that, Shane went crazy. He scored 18 of Duke's next 21 points, including 4 three pointers, 2 foul shots and a rebound basket. He kept Duke close on his accurate (6-8) shooting, and also played superb defense on Terence Morris, frustrating him at every turn. Battier wasn't quite as hot in the second half as Morris stepped up his defense a bit, particularly in the last four minutes when Shane didn't score a single point. He again took a while to warm up in the second half, not getting his first points until after the ten minute mark. But he scored in bunches once again, scoring 10 of 14 Duke points and passing for another. He hit another couple of threes, a 15' jumper and had a drive. In his spare time, he took a charge and picked up a couple of steals. There simply wasn't much more he could have done.

 ** Carrawell: I was shocked at how timid Chris was in the first half. It's not just that he wasn't scoring, it was that he wasn't shooting and was having a hard time even getting the ball. He did at least find the hot shooter, Battier, and Shane scored 12 points in a row as Chris found him open time and again. With time running down in the half, Chris scored his first points on a drive. Another disappointment was C'well's lack of production on the boards. He ended up with 0 rebounds in the first half but rallied to end up with 6. It became very clear that Chris was getting tired chasing around Dixon and I think this hurt his offensive game. Carrawell came out prepared in the second half and hunted his shot much more aggressively. He got things rolling with a rebound basket and then scored on a drive. Not trusting his jumper, he started to drive more and more, either going all the way to the hoop or getting fouled on his way there. He rallied the team from a 67-60 deficit with a three and briefly got Duke the lead at 70-69 with a pass to Battier for a three. Strangely, however, Chris became nearly invisible when the game was on the line, leaving decisions in the hands of frosh. By that point, he looked very tired and just seemed to lack his customary aggresivenes. I think he's running down a bit and needs rest more than anything. Playing him 38 minutes a night against the ACC will come back to haunt them at some point. It had to be frustrating him that his best defensive efforts were going for naught, not to mention not seeing the ball as much as he needed. He only had ten attempts, equalling Williams and fewer than Battier, James or Dunleavy. While Chris redeemed himself in the second half, it was tough overcoming a deficit.

 ** James: Nate started out on fire but cooled down in the second half. He hit a three for Duke's first lead, drove for Duke's next bucket and cut to the basket and took a perfect pass from Williams for an easy score. He also had an open court steal that he laid in. Early on, he also had a couple of strong boards. But in the second half, his contributions were muted a bit. He hit a long jumper towards the end of the and made a couple of solid defensive plays, but he was completely shut out on rebounds, something that hurt Duke again and again. He also did not cut properly on a break that cost Duke a turnover. Like Dunleavy, Nate did some good things but on a night where Duke was desperately looking for someone to step up (the way he did against DePaul), he simply turned in a solid effort rather than a spectacular one.

 ** Williams: A frustrating game for Jase, with many excellent plays and some dumb ones. He started out with all guns blazing, finding Nate for a three and a beautiful cut as well as forcing a steal and getting a dunk out of it. As the stalemate raged with the Terps, he found himself driving into the lane alone and being left hung out to dry, often being forced into turnovers. He would also take Maryland's defense apart and find Christensen and Dunleavy available for baskets. When he turned the ball over, it often meant easy opportunities for Maryland to score. But on one possession after he had turned it over near mid-court, he raced down to his basket and rose up and up to cleanly block the shot into the hands of a Duke player. It was one of the most spectacular plays I've ever seen, just a hint of what Jason is capable of. He struck for a couple of more assists early in the half, this time to Carrawell on a drive that got him the basket and one, and finding Dunleavy open for three. He cut down on his turnovers in the second half, but he was obviously bothered by Steve Blake's defense al day. But he kept fighting: his driving layup produced the last tie of the game at 83. He passed to James to get the margin down to 6 with a minute left, but a too-quick three resulted in a Maryland block and basket that basically put the game away. Jason is still learning, but he sometimes gets too emotional out there and doesn't think things through. In the ACC, especially over the last three weeks, he's been much calmer and more collected. He just needs to relax and remember to find his teammates, especially when they're hot.

 ** Dunleavy: Kind of a flaky game from Mike D, where he had as many bad plays as good ones. He turned the ball over twice immediately after entering the game, but made up for it with a rebound basket, a transition bucket, and a nice cut that got him a pass from Williams. He sank a three early in the second half that tied the score at 55 and continued to hit the boards. He actually tied C'well and Battier for most boards in this contest. He had another rebound basket in the second half and also drove in for a layup in the last minute to cut the lead to 6. His defense was not that great, however, as he got caught in screens a bit too often. He had a decent game overall and helped lead the charge of Duke's bench over Maryland's, but nothing game-saving, like his excellent performance at Virginia.

 ** Christensen: Matt had a very solid effort when Duke really needed him. He provided a physical presence in the lane that cancelled out Baxter for awhile and did some good work on the boards. One of his scores came on a rebound basket, a rare offensive board at that point in the game. He also managed to roll to the basket on a nice pass from Williams. Showing his savvy, he posted up Baxter and saw that Williams was in front of him, wide open. He passed back to the three point line and Jase buried the shot. Christensen also had a nice block and rebound that fired up the team. He didn't play much in the second half which I thought was a shame.

  Cameron Craziness: There's been a lot of criticism of the crowd on Wednesday night, and some of it is justified. First off, even though it was a late night game, there is no excuse for fans to leave with three minutes left in a game that was eminently winnable. Second, it was extremely disappointing to see so many empty seats in the student section no matter what the academic or social circumstances on campus might have been. Third, it was absolutely moronic to chant "overrated" at Terence Morris with the Terps in the lead down the stretch. Morris responded by taking over the game. That said, the Crazies still had some good moments and got extremely loud in the second half when Duke came back from a 7 point deficit to tie things up. Rather than condemn this crop of Crazies as a whole, I'd prefer to think of this as just one bad game. Remember, this same group willed the team to victory over DePaul. Simply put, neither the team nor the fans were ready for Maryland's grit and determination. I did like one sign that said "Lonnie is a girl's name" with hearts and flowers on it. Another sign pointing out Lonnie's weight was not the most original, and should bring back bad memories of Robert "Tractor" Traylor's last-second dunk back in '96. A number of the students were chanting "let's go Duke" in the last seconds of the game even as the upstairs crowd was leaving in droves.

 Next Game: Saturday, February 12th at Georgia Tech. Tech has greatly underachieved this season and it's widely rumored that coach Bobby Cremins will resign at the end of the season. After a number of losses and figuring he had nothing to lose, Cremins fiddled with his starting lineup and replaced Jason Floyd with Clarence Moore and Tony Akins with TJ Vines. The first game after the adjustment was a blowout of a bad FAMU team, but it seemed to spark the Jackets a bit and made them more athletic. Bobby continued along these lines against Virginia, and the result was a dominating win over a very good Cav team. True, the Cavs were in the last game of a 4-game road trip, but Tech beat them by 20 and without Jason Collier providing much offense. I tend to doubt that Cremins will try to trap a lot, but look for lots of zone with a number of variations. Tech may try to run a bit on Duke to get some easy points. This means that Duke will need to be extra judicious in their shot selection so as not to lead to long rebounds for the Jackets. On defense, Duke must concentrate on shutting down Tech's shooters. This means Fein, Collier, Akins and Floyd. The Devils locked them up in Durham, but Tech always shoots better at home, especially if they have a little lead. Duke must come out hungry on defense and knock Tech back immediately.

Reported by Rob Clough, tmc@duke.edu