Lamar

DUKE 82
LAMAR 55

Midnight Special

Duke beat Lamar 82-55 in the first round of the NCAA tournament on March 17th in a rather sluggish performance. Duke eventually managed to win thanks to pounding the ball inside and getting to the free throw line. Duke got three of Lamar's starters in foul trouble, which enabled Duke to attack a bit more easily. But Duke's shooting was way off and their defense was inconsistent, to say the least. The other factor which led to the eventual large margin was rebounding, believe it or not. This season-long albatross has suddenly become a strength of sorts for Duke, as the Devils held a 42-28 advantage and kept Lamar away from the offensive boards. Duke's ability to play well in close games also helped them in the first half, when Lamar suddenly cut Duke's lead to 2. The mentally tough Devils simply refocused and came up with a 16-7 half-ending run that included a spectacular defensive play from Dunleavy and some timely shooting from everyone's favorite badass, Nate James.

Lamar won the tip and scored first, but Duke quickly struck with a Boozer dunk and Battier jumper after a steal. But Lamar took back the lead with the first of their 11 three pointers, and then staked out a 7-4 lead. Duke stuck them with a 12-0 run that featured a number of players stepping up. Battier got a rebound and the foul. Williams hit a 15' jumper, and then C-well found Horvath for a three. On the next possession, Williams found Horvath for a dunk. The run ended with Chris nailing a baseline jumper. Lamar was stubborn, and came back with 5 straight points, including another three. Duke got the lead up to 9 again with some Boozer free throws and a big three from James in the corner. Lamar hit a deep three to keep the pressure on Duke, but the Devils turned the tables by turning up the defensive heat. They threw on a vicious full-court press that had Williams get a steal and pass it to C-well for a dunk, and then Chris himself stole an inbounds pass and laid it in. Duke was up 11 and it looked like the Cardinals were ready to pack it in.

Not so. Lamar coach Mike Deane called a timeout and rallied his troops, as they went on an 11-2 run to close the gap to 28-26. By this time, the Kansas and DePaul fans were fully behind Lamar and Joel Coliseum was shaking with the possibility of a one seed falling to a sixteen seed. Williams calmed things down with a huge three, but Lamar cut the lead to 3 and got the ball back. Dunleavy then had an amazing play that seemed to stun Lamar a bit: a Cardinal was taking a three, but had it blocked by Mike, who grabbed the rebound, ran the floor, glided in for a finger roll and got fouled. Duke led 34-28. To their credit, the Cardinals didn't give up, cutting the lead to 34-31. But Duke closed the half strongly, going on a 10-2 run that saw Williams find James twice for threes and Williams himself hitting a 19'. The last James three came with only five seconds left in the half and gave Duke an 11 point lead as well as an emotional edge.

While Lamar was able to cut the lead to 10 in the first couple of minutes in the second half, Duke went on an 8-0 run that put them in full control. Battier finally hit a three and a couple of foul shots, and Williams cruised in for a runner. The scoring went back and forth for the next few minutes, with Lamar managing another three and Duke countering with Battier, Boozer and Williams scoring. Boozer was fresh after Sanders had subbed for him and went to work, scoring first in transition, off a Battier pass and then on an offensive rebound. He then found Battier for a layup as Duke enjoyed a 69-51 lead. Lamar's last 5 field goals were all threes, which prevented Duke from really piling on until the last six minutes, which were mostly a parade of foul shots. Duke went 11-12 in the half and admirably attacked the basket when their perimeter shots weren't falling. Boozer scored 10 of his 16 points in the second half on 5-6 shooting. All of the starters had at least 4 rebounds. The bench contributed an impressive 17 points and 14 rebounds.

This game was a bit of a wake up call, albeit one where Duke was able to hit the snooze button a lot towards the end. Veterans like Carrawell and Battier did not have their best games, and this will hopefully inspire them to step up. Duke had to work very hard to shake Lamar, coming up with some big-time defensive plays to halt them and some clutch shooting to create some space. Lamar played hard for about 35 minutes, and then the reality of their impending loss hit them and they finally folded. It was nice to see Duke combat their poor shooting with finding other ways to win.

** Negatives:

1. Perimeter defense. Lamar did a great job in getting open shots, and Duke did not rotate properly to cut them off. While the Cardinals did take some ridiculous shots that went in, Duke was guilty of simply standing around and watching. Note that Lamar was 11-21 from three and 9-37 otherwise!

2. Shooting. Other than a sharp Williams, Duke was clanking shot after shot. Worse, they looked tentative while shooting them.

3. Lack of intensity. Duke turned on the pressure here and there, but didn't consistently attack Lamar on defense and took too many bad shots to stun them on offense.

** Positives:

1. Valuing the ball. Duke made very few mistakes, which was important because it meant Lamar wasn't going to get anything the easy way.

2. Rebounding. A fairly dominant performance, actually, continuing a recent string of solid performances.

3. Getting to the line. When the chips are down, all good Duke teams attack the basket. Good things usually result. Kudos to Boozer and Sanders, who combined for a 9-10 performance from the line.

Player-by-Player Analysis:

** Boozer: A solid game overall. While his early contributions were limited to a dunk, some free throws and a couple of boards, he really turned it on in the second half. He had 10 straight points starting at around the twelve minute mark, scoring by bulling his way to the basket and zooming by folks in transition. He's showing quicker and quicker hands on defense, stepping in front of more passes and anticipating plays much better than he used to. I think he's finally absorbed all the nuances of defense and he's much hungrier a defender than he was earlier, even as late as January. I love the way that Williams is looking for him down low, because he adds a physical presence to Duke's offense, as well as someone who is remarkably quick and nimble. When he masters post defense, he'll be a complete player.

** Battier: An awful shooting night was mollified by his solid play in other areas. Most notably, Shane had 5 assists, finding players open for jumpers on relocation passes as well as going to the post. He still wound up with 12 points, with a more efficient second half getting 7 of them. More importantly, he matched up well with Lamar star Landon Rowe, limiting him to 10 points on 3-13 shooting and just 2 boards. While Marcus Spears lit up Duke for 19 points, Rowe was their true star and Duke wouldn't let him become a factor, and much of this was due to Shane.

** Carrawell: Chris had a great first half and then disappeared in the second. He led Duke's defense and scored 5 in a row at one point, and also hit a long jumper. He also found Horvath for a three. He had 3 steals and a block, but wasn't that pleased with his overall performance. While he did manage to pick up 2 of his game-high 8 boards in the second half, he wasn't much of an offensive presence, content to take a couple of jumpers. Chris did too many of the little things to say that he had a bad game, but he didn't dominate the way he did earlier in the year. At some point during the tournament, he will be needed to step up.

** James: The Glue struck again, nailing 3-3 threes in the first half, with two coming in the last two minutes. His baskets were the ones that turned a tenuous 5 point lead into an 11 point bulge. He didn't do much offensively in the second half, but he did come up with a couple of steals. He also found Williams for a three after an offensive rebound. Just another day at the office for this steadily productive player, one who fills his role perfectly. He's ready to take big shots when needed but is also content to let others get more touches, and instead will concentrate on defense, rebounding and manic hustle.

** Williams: A sparkling all-around effort. 7 assists and 0 turnovers alone would be a successful performance, not to mention 2 steals and 4 boards. But what makes Jason a budding superstar was his 7-11 shooting performance. When Battier was only 2-8 in the first half, Jason was 3-4, hitting three long jumpers. He found a variety of targets for his assists: Horvath for a dunk, James for 3 threes, and Carrawell for a dunk. About his only fault was less-than-stellar perimeter defense, allowing too many open threes. He continued his great offensive showing in the second half, this time hitting a couple of nice runners as well as a couple of threes on relocation passes. He also found Boozer in transition and got a determined Battier his only three of the game. More than anything, Jason was smooth and in control. Duke will need for him to continue to step up as a leader, because other teams will be attacking him relentlessly.

** Dunleavy: Mike actually had a pretty mediocre offensive game, other than his one spectacular move. He hit a runner late in the game but missed both of his threes as well as the front end of a one-and-one. On the other hand, he did have 8 boards and played good defense. And that block that started the break was play-of-the-year material, yet another play in his growing highlight film.

** Horvath: Nick had a very solid game and was aggressive on offense at a time when everyone else was sleepwalking a bit. He hit Duke's first three and then followed that up with a nice dunk after the defense got confused. He moved past a screen and rolled to the basket, caught a perfect pass from Williams in stride and flew in for the jam. He also piled up 4 boards, most in the second half when he was the main inside force for Duke.

** Sanders: Casey made a surprising and effective appearance for Duke at a time when he was really needed, with Christensen out. Casey's main job was to play solid defense in order to buy Boozer some more minutes of rest. But his aggressive play earned him a couple of offensive rebounds and three trips to the foul line. He also came up with a block. He looked very smooth and mature out there, far less jittery than I've seen him at other times. Duke will be playing a number of deep teams in the tournament, and he may well be needed to combat the depth of Duke's foes.

** Buckner: Andre hit a couple of free throws, but not much else.

** Simpson: Nothing of note.

Reported by Rob Clough, tmc@duke.edu