DUKE 101

FLORIDA ST. 68

February 16, 2000

Please Don't Eat Me!

  Duke whipped FSU 101-68 on February 16th in Cameron.  Duke got out to a very quick start, keeping the 'noles on a 10-point leash, but found themselves unable to shake them for a good ten minutes.  A 12-2 run fixed that problem as Duke had a comfy 25 point halftime lead.  Duke came out with such force in the second half that FSU coach Steve Robinson yanked his entire starting five.  The Seminoles were scrappy but completely overmatched, and had great difficulty with Duke's defense.  FSU's two big stars, Ron Hale and Damous Anderson, were held to 12 points on 4-12 shooting.  There are some certainties in the ACC: Clemson will lose at UNC, Georgia Tech will lose at Clemson, NC State will embarrass themselves at Wake, and FSU will lose in double digits to Duke in Cameron. 

  Duke did two interesting things tonight: they played their bench extensively (64 of 200 minutes) and used a full-court press almost exclusively in the first few minutes of the game.  Duke's ability to get a working margin over FSU very early (10 point lead five minutes in) allowed them to continue the press and make a number of substitutions.  Nine different players saw time in the first half, with eight getting extensive time.  There were also a few subtle alterations in assignments that I think were put in to reduce the amount of pressure on Carrawell and Battier.  While both played fine defense (especially Battier), neither focused on shutting down specific players.  In particular, Carrawell didn't have to cover Hale the entire game, with James and Dunleavy getting cracks at him.  As a result, Chris looked fresher and still contributed in a variety of ways. 

  Duke started the game with a 10-0 run, built on a three, a couple of drives and a three point play born out of defensive pressure.  FSU was able to keep the margin at about 8-11 for several minutes, as they hit a three and stayed alive with foul shooting.  Once Duke stopped fouling, they started to slowly break the game open.  Battier had 6 straight points to put Duke up 35-21 before Duke's defense went wild.  The Devils closed the half with a 12-2 run that featured runaways on steals, a couple of threes by James, a turnaround in the lane and great outlet passes.  Duke got in a rhythm and just pummeled FSU going into the half, leading 51-28.

  The second half opened with 5 straight Duke points to take the idea of a comeback out of the Seminoles' heads.  The teams traded baskets, although the 'noles were getting 2's while James was hitting threes.  As the lead swelled to 30, Duke brought their reserves in with about eight minutes left. The youngsters played some great basketball, especially when the frosh starters Williams and Boozer were teamed with Dunleavy, Sanders and Horvath. One can already see a nice chemistry that's developed that became obvious with the way they ran the fast break.  JD Simpson got Duke over 100, and a good time was had by all.  This game was valuable because it kept Duke in a winning rhythm, it allowed them to get extensive minutes for their young players, and let them work on using more defensive pressure full court.

 ** Negatives:

 1. Rebounding.  While Duke held the Seminoles in check, they gave up too many baskets thanks to offensive rebounds.  Nigel Dixon in particular used his girth to block out Devils and get easy layups from offensive rebounds. 

 2. Free throw shooting.  A surprisingly ugly 52%, easily the lowest this year.  Boozer continued his mini-slide by only hitting 1-3, but every player who attempted a free throw missed at least one, except Simpson. 

 ** Positives:

 1. Ball pressure.  Duke was simply relentless in its attack, picking their spots for full-court pressure.  FSU was able to break the press once or twice, but Duke got at least 5 turnovers from ball pressure and several more from overplaying the wing. 

 2. Valuing the ball.  Duke only had 7 turnovers, and a couple came on slips and the odd palming call.  FSU didn't have the numbers to really press or play tight defense, but Duke's efficiency was admirable in any event.

 3. Outside shooting.  Duke was more accurate from the three point line than from the foul line or inside the bonus stripe, going an amazing 12-18.  But the Devils took control of the game by driving for easier scores; the amazing three point shooting was just a little bonus.  Duke got threes twice from offensive rebounds off missed foul shots.

 Player-by-Player Analysis:

 ** Boozer:  Carlos had some foul trouble but had no trouble with the FSU post players while he was in there.  David Anderson gave Boozer some trouble in Tallahassee, but Carlos used his superior quickness to blow by him at will. The most memorable play along those lines came early in the second half, when Boozer had the ball on the baseline, and saw Anderson step out just a little, leaving a nice lane open.  Carlos zipped through and threw down a dunk before Anderson could even react.  Earlier in the game, he simply dominated FSU.  He had a drive that ended in a 5' jumper in the lane, than a fantastic open court steal that ended up in a spectacular dunk and the foul.  After another dunk after a steal off the press, the crowd rightly announced that "Boozer's winning"--7-6.  Foul trouble kept him on the bench for most of the rest of the half, though he did find James for a three on a relocation pass, and had a great turnaround in the lane.  In the second half, he displayed his versatility by smoothly nailing a 15' baseline jumper.  He finished up the game with some spectacular dunks off breaks and found Horvath open for a three.  It was an efficient game for Boozer who stuffed the stat sheet in just 22 minutes of play. 

 ** Battier:  About the only thing Shane didn't do well was rebound.  He played excellent defense, particularly on presses where he caused havoc with his pressure.  He took over the game in the first half for about five minutes, where he did most of his scoring.  It started with a three on a pass from Carrawell, then a 15' jumper after his defender got faked out, a rebound basket, and another 15' jumper.  It was an important period, because he increased Duke's lead from 11 to 17 when the 'noles were having some success offensively.  He hit a three in the second half and had a great block on Dixon that went into the hands of Williams, who started a fast break. A nice, balanced game from Shane who did a little of everything but didn't have to kill himself doing it.  I was disappointed that he didn't try to draw a charge from Dixon. :-)

 ** Carrawell:  A good game from a relaxed Carrawell, who was freed up a bit from guarding Hale to hunt his shot.  He took a team-high 9 shots in the first half and hit 4 of them.  Like his teammates, he scored in a number of different ways.  His first came off a drive off a Williams steal for the hoop and one.  He then stepped up for one of his awkward-but-effective 15' jumpers.  Dunleavy found him going to the basket, and Chris drove right under it and laid it in from the opposite side.  He finished the half with a strong drive to the basket, and also found Battier for a three and Williams for a jumper and transition dunk.  Being freed up on defense also helped his rebounding, as he gathered 6 boards in the first half.  His second half was pretty uneventful, as he found Boozer for a jumper and had another nice drive.  During a period where FSU was starting to score a bit, he answered each one of their baskets with points of his own: a 15' jumper, a drive and a couple of foul shots.  That put an end to any kind of rhythm for an FSU comeback and deflated them a bit, leading to them letting down on defense a bit.

 ** James:  Nate had an excellent game in all phases.  He was one of the legion of Devils that guarded Ron Hale, and Nate just shut him down.  The nice thing about his game was that scored in a variety of ways.  He began with a drive where he flipped the ball high off the glass for a layup. He was part of a fantastic open court sequence where Boozer hustled for a loose ball and started dribbling towards the basket, passed to Nate on the wing, who passed back to Carlos to complete the 2-on-1 with a dunk.  Nate's standout stat was his 4-4 mark from three.  He looks like he's changed his shot a little, because his shots had a lot more arc on them than in the past. He helped rip the game wide open with his two early second half threes, and finished off with a 2-on-1 with Williams and a great rebound jam.  One can really sense Nate trying to step up and take some pressure off the team's stars. 

 ** Williams:  Jason had a superb game at both ends of the court, utterly dominating Delvon Arrington.  He was at once both daring and under control, heavily pressuring the ball and making good decisions with it.  He helped cause a ten-second violation and forced two 5-second calls, an astonishing achievement in a single game.  He started off the game with a three, and later stole the ball in the FSU backcourt and fed it to C'well, who scored and was fouled.  On Duke's next possession, he hit a 15' jumper on a pass from C'well.  Towards the end of the half, thinks started to get really spicy.  C'well got a board and found Jase in transition, where he threw down a one-handed jam.  Williams found Boozer down low for a nice turnaround jumper, his first score in a while.  Then came a highlight reel play:  Jason got a steal and zoomed toward the FSU basket, with only Matt Chlebek back to guard it.  Driving right towards him, he used the old show-the-ball fake pass trick to absolutely freeze Chlebek in his tracks and he drove right by for a layup, driving the crowd nuts.  Another thing Jason is learning is getting the ball to the player who's hot.  He did this at the beginning of the second half, finding a scorching James for 2 threes in thirty seconds. He continued to run the show by calling his own number for nice 12' jumper off a drive and then got the favor returned by Nate, who found Williams open for a three.  He wasn't through playing defense yet, because he took a second half charge, and while Duke's press was called off, he continued to do a nice job.  There were more pyrotechnics to come on offense, though: James ran the break and threw a nice forward bounce pass to Jason, who cut to the basket.  He was blocked by a defender and so spun around and laid in a gorgeous reverse layup.  While FSU did not play great defense and rarely challenged him, it was still nice to see him dominate an opponent, stay under control, and have a lot of fun.

 ** Dunleavy:  A bad shooting game for Icy Mike, but he did so many other things so very well--especially pass.  More importantly, Mike played good defense.  He was assigned to Hale for stretches of the game, and did quite well.  He played him for the jumper, and his height and long arms clearly bothered Hale.  Mike really is a "sixth starter" when you consider that he came into the game with fewer than three minutes gone by.  He got his game off with a bang when Boozer missed a foul shot, but the rebound was tipped out to Mike, who nailed a three.  Although his shots weren't falling, he did a pretty nice job on the boards, and in the first half threw an alley-oop to C'well, who laid it in.  After snagging some steals and getting a  block in a brief lane foray, he did what he does best: run the transition game.  I'm more impressed by his passing game by game, and I'm now convinced that his court vision is at least as good as Jason's, and maybe better. He set Boozer up on a beautiful pass in transition, and then participated in one of the flashiest plays in Cameron history.  With five frosh on the floor, Williams was running a 3 on 2 break.  He whipped a pass to Dunleavy, who was streaking towards the basket.  About two feet away from the hoop and an FSU defender in front of him, he unleashed the subtlest yet most sublime of touch passes to Boozer, who threw it down.  While I'd like Mike to put up bigger overall numbers and think he has a ways to go in some areas (including shooting), it's nice to have a guy who's so fundamentally sound yet with such a flair for the dramatic.

 ** Christensen:  Matt got in some quick foul trouble in the first half, and only had a rebound to show for his brief efforts.  He got a bit more time in the second half, sinking a foul shot and muscling in for a basket late in the game.  Matt didn't play quite as well as he has recently, but considering how small and quick FSU is, it wasn't a bad idea to give the quicker post players some more time.  I'd like to see him get a few early minutes against Thornton of NC State, because I think he could get him into foul trouble.

 ** Sanders:  When Boozer and Christensen picked up their second fouls, in came Casey Sanders, only eight minutes into the game.  He was a little nervous, but he was given some nice encouragement by his teammates, and he acquitted himself well.  He was paired off against massive Dixon (perhaps the two could help each other out and redistribute their weights a little), and responded by blocking a shot in the lane.  While he was pushed around in the paint a bit, he didn't back down and looked quite a bit stronger.   He's still not as strong as he needs to be, but his improvement is noticeable. Casey's quickness allowed him to get to the foul line, but he only hit 2-4 attempts.  He did keep up his effort, and got a nice rebound basket towards the end of the game.  He had more minutes (13) than either Christensen (10) or Horvath (11).  Foul trouble had something to do with this, but his more confident play was also important.  The question is whether he will be able to do this in tighter games--if he gets in.  It's unusual for Coach K to actually stretch the lineup at this time of the year, but getting a break for the Iron Six isn't a bad idea, especially against a team with inferior talent.  Casey also took a good looking jumper that missed, and also missed a couple of close-in shots.

 ** Horvath:  Nick got some quality minutes.  He briefly appeared in the first half but did nothing of note.  In the second half, he had three nice boards and swished a couple of threes.  He also played solid defense and had excellent hustle.  I wouldn't be surprised if his play earned a few minutes against State in the first half.

 ** Buckner:  As is his wont, Andre came in and got a rebound.  He took one jumper under pressure and missed.  

 ** Simpson:  JD hit free throws to send Duke over the 100 mark, earning a big ovation, even as a heckler screamed "No pressure!".  He also had a board. 

 ** Borman:  Nothing of note, other than picking up a foul.

 ** Caldbeck: Nothing of note; he was the last man off the bench.

 Cameron Craziness:

  While there were still a number of empty spots in the student section, it was nowhere near as bad as last year, and even filled up a bit as the game went on (although part of this may have just been folks shifting over).  However, the upstairs was just as bad, with plenty of good seats still available.  The folks who were in attendance did a great job; in fact, this is one of the funniest performances by the Crazies in quite a long time.  As you might imagine, many of the barbs were aimed at 400-pound behemoth Nigel Dixon, but the jokes tended to be clever rather than cruel and crude.  Whenver Dixon entered the game, the Crazies would jump up and down and shout "boom!" repeatedly, which was an amazingly effective cheer, especially during free throws.  The first time Dixon went to the line, a chant of "Hey Hey Hey" (as in Fat Albert) went up, which was amusing but was topped by "Please don't eat me", which was so funny that I'm sure it got to his concentration, because he missed the foul shot badly.  When he and Antuwain Dixon were both on the line, a chant of "big Dixon/little Dixon" went up which was also pretty funny.  The last chant of "Eric Cartman" was also pretty good.  It's nights like this that build Cameron's reputation.

  When Hale went to the line, a cry of "Hale, no!" went up, in reference to Duke's dominance over him.  When Arrington went to the line, a number of students started singing the theme from The Smurfs.  When Robinson yanked his starters from the game after a poor sequence, the fans chanted, "Bad team, bad team!"  When they came back in several minutes later with the game well in hand, you could hear "Oh no, not starters!" 

  There were the usual standards: "need three touchdowns", the Gator chomp, and a mockery of the tomahawk chop.  There was also constant support of the players: the now-classic "We want more Booze"!, name sing-along chants for Jason Williams and Casey Sanders (before he even did anything!); "Nate's a bad-ass"; "Player of the year" for C-well) and even signs in the crowd for Nick Horvath and JD Simpson.  They also chanted "Let's go freshmen!" when an energetic all-frosh team was out there.  I'd like to urge any students reading this to continue to bow down to Chris Carrawell when he's introduced--he's earned the "Alaa" treatment just like Trajan, Grant, Bobby, and Christian.

 ** Next Game:

  February 19th vs NC State in the ESA in Raleigh.  This matchup was a lot sexier a few games ago, before the Pack lost to Clemson and then UNC, Maryland, Virginia and Wake.  With a 5-7 record, the Pack desperately needs any kind of win, and a victory against a top-ten would greatly bolster their RPI, especially if it triggered a win streak that let them finish 9-7 in the conference.  This is not a far-fetched scenario, since they have road games against bottom-rung teams Georgia Tech and Florida State, and a home affair with an awful road team in Clemson.  8-8 would likely mean needing to win one or two games in the ACC tournament.  State's RPI is pretty low (52) because of their weak out-of-conference schedule and the number of losses the ACC itself has suffered. 

  State has a great homecourt advantage with their rowdy student section. Their only loss thus far has been to UNC, a game where they had a lead but gave it up.  The Pack gave Duke a ton of trouble in a Cameron classic back in January and nearly pulled out a miracle win.  They're down two players who made a number of significant contributions in the last game: Ron Kelley, who torched the Duke post defenders with his array of inside hook shots; and Marshall Williams, a hustle player who got some big rebounds for the Pack, including one that sent the game into overtime.  Look for Duke to try to establish their inside game early in order to get Damon Thornton into foul trouble.  Carrawell may also try to drive to the basket to accomplish this goal as well.  State must get a good game out of Anthony Grundy, whom Carrawell controlled in the previous contest.  Another interesting matchup will be at point; Jason Williams must control the mighty-mite PG combo of Justin Gainey and Archie Miller.  While neither is a big threat to drive, but are good shooters and Jason must watch out for high picks.  Two State wildcards are Kenny Inge and Damien Wilkins.  Inge usually plays well at home and had a big game against Duke in Reynolds last year.  Wilkins is still more of a blend player who does the little things (not unlike a young Carrawell, in fact), but he can also explode offensively.  If Duke wins, they clinch a tie for first place in the ACC.

 Reported by Rob Clough, tmc@duke.edu