NC A&T

DUKE 101

NC A&T 60

December 19, 1999

Casey has arrived!

Duke defeated NC A&T 101-60 on December 19th in Cameron. It was Duke's first game in over a week, and it definitely showed. Both the offense and defense were ragged, as Duke had problems figuring out A&T's sticky zone and had a number of turnovers lead to easy baskets for the Aggies. Coach K took several first half time-outs to lay into the team as he went to a number of different player combos.

A&T was coached by Curtis Hunter, the native Durhamite and former Tar Heel once considered to be the next Jordan (it didn't happen). Not surprisingly, they used a lot of trapping and pressing and tried a lot of backdoor cuts when Duke overplayed. As a result, they were only down by 4 with about seven minutes to play in the first half. Duke was concentrating on setting up down low but had trouble delivering clean passes. In addition, A&T managed to completely cut off Duke's ability to drive, which really hurt Carrawell, Battier and James. Lastly, Jason Williams took a nasty knock to his noggin which necessitated a brief trip to the locker room. Duke struggled with finding shots during this period as well as pressuring the ball.

The game started with Duke going on top 10-2, despite uninspired overall play and a feisty A&T defense. Duke was aided by the fact that A&T simply couldn't hit from the perimeter. Boozer was the man at this time, muscling in and picking up fouls. Williams got knocked out and the Aggies cut it to 4, but Duke went on a little run and led 19-9, thanks to more inspired play from Boozer and a Dunleavy three. Duke couldn't land a knockout punch, due in part to inspired play from A&T's Anthony Debro, who was killing Duke off the dribble. He scored 11 early points but was a non-factor for most of the second half. The Aggies closed to within 5 at 21-16 with about ten minutes to go in the half, thanks to some Carrawell turnovers. Duke went on a 7-0 run, with Carrawell, Boozer and James all scoring, the latter on a spectacular tip pass from Boozer. The confident Aggies responded with an 8-0 run, with threes and three point plays part of the action, and pulled to within 4 with just six minutes left. Coach K took a timeout and spoke of his displeasure with the team's effort in no uncertain terms.

The crowd picked up a bit and Duke responded with a knockout 17-0 run. It wasn't one with lots of spectacular plays, just a workmanlike series of possessions that featured 4 points from rebounded misses and 5 points from the youthful big man tandem of Sanders and Horvath. Duke slipped up a bit towards the end of the half, allowing the Aggies to score the last 4 points of the half. I'm sure the walls of the lockerroom are still ringing from Coach K's halftime tirade.

A 14-0 run early in the second half basically removed any suspense from the game. The Aggies managed to keep the margin at around 20 for the first few minutes as they were able to trade baskets but then Jason Williams scored 10 points in the next couple of minutes and dished for an assist. A&T had no answers for his explosion. The last ten minutes were basically a time to give the younger players some minutes. Putting Sanders back in, the Devils gave him a chance to do what he does best: run. He simply outran the A&T defense on a couple of breaks and stuffed home some spectacular alley-oop dunks from Jason. But he was happiest when he scored on a short turnaround and got fouled--it was Duke's 100th point of the game. Casey was grinning from ear-to-ear as the Duke fans chanted his name.

This game was a test to see how sharp Duke remained after a break, and it wasn't entirely successful. Missed shots are one thing, but poor ballhandling and missed defensive assignments are quite another, and I'm sure this is what Coach K was emphasizing. Still, Duke eventually got the message and played with passion in the second half. It's clear that this team needs constant practice and reinforcement, both of skills and attitudes, in order to be successful. And it's encouraging to see the younger players improve, becoming more confident and more fluid on the court. I'll be most interested to see how they're doing after the first four ACC games, a particularly grueling stretch for young players, particularly young players who are so important to the team.

** Negatives:

1. Shooting. Duke was forced into taking shots they didn't want at times, often taking threes instead of being able to drive. James pulled the trigger a bit too quickly at times, and even Battier and Carrawell put up some airballs.

2. Post play. Considering that this was a point of emphasis coming into the game, I was disappointed by the number of touches the big men got, and the quality of some of the shots they did take. It's difficult to establish a post game versus a zone, but the guards needed to do a better job finding a crease in the zone. Also, while Duke got a bunch (18) of offensive rebounds, many of them were from the perimeter players. Of course, one reason why this occurred was that there were so many perimeter shots launched, but there were a few times in the first half that the big men should have stepped up a bit more.

3. Valuing the ball/decision-making. Granted, A&T played solid defense, but Duke had a number of unforced turnovers. Most of them just seemed to be of the careless variety, or when the ballhandler dribbled into two defenders. Duke seemed unprepared to deal with the variety of zones and traps A&T threw at them.

** Positives:

1. Ball pressure. Except for the period when Williams was out, Duke did a great job forcing turnovers. Williams and Battier used their very quick hands to swipe balls on the perimeter and in the post. Battier in particular stymied A&T in the second half with his alertness down low. Williams also did his best work in the second half, getting one of his patented steals plus a layup. Carrawell forced a five second call.

2. Passing. Duke was trying to be very unselfish, and did a fine job. Perhaps my favorite play of the game came when Nate spotted up for a three, moved to get a better shot, and then passed over to Carrawell, who found Horvath open for a short hook. This was an instance of a mature player trying to find the best shot available instead of just trying to get his attempts in.

3. Foul shooting. With the exception of Casey Sanders, a near-flawless performance. Furthermore, Boozer did an excellent job of getting to the line in the first half, while Battier and C'well managed to create contact in the second. This is a subtle but important weapon in Duke's arsenal.

Player-by-player analysis:

** Boozer: Carlos didn't play as much as he had recently, since K was trying to develop Casey and to a lesser extent, Nick. He did all of his scoring in the first half, as Duke was consciously attacking A&T inside. In fact, all of his points came in the first ten minutes or so. Most of these were on free throws, as he was finding ways to bull his way into the lane. This was a good sign, because one of his early shots was grilled by the feisty A&T defense. He also bobbled a couple of passes, which led to turnovers. Carlos twice displayed his deft post passing touch. The first came when he was on the low block; he spotted an open Dunleavy who made a cut and slammed it home. The second was even more impressive: Carlos rebounded a miss and then quickly zipped it to a cutting Battier. His most impressive play was tipping the ball to Andre Buckner while falling out of bounds, who then had an easy assist. While he didn't score in the second half, he did own the boards, grabbing 6 and leading the team. On the down side, his defense was fairly mediocre and he didn't rotate quickly enough a few times, forcing him to foul.

** Battier: One obvious reason why Duke struggled in the first half was that Battier only attempted two shots. This is simply unacceptable, and put way too much pressure on James and Carrawell. Sure, he was playing good defense and setting up James & Dunleavy for open shots, but Shane can't afford to simply be a role player. In his defense, A&T was keying on him and denying him the drive. This all changed in the second half, as he hit a three on Duke's first attempt of the half and took four more shots and sank 4-4 from the foul line. He also went nuts on defense, smothering a shot attempt with a block and rebound, and robbing his man blind three times in the post. I think people tend to underestimate Shane's quickness and athleticism sometimes, and he makes them pay. One more complaint, though: I would love to see Shane drive and take fifteen footers more often, the way that Carrawell does. Hitting threes is great, but it's not always the best shot to take. Despite these complaints, Shane was the most active defender on the floor and made a lot happen with tips for steals and general hustle.

** Carrawell: Nice to see Chris back at full strength. While not a very good shooting game for him, he found ways to score as always. He was also dominant on the boards and ran the team pretty well in the first half, with the exception of back-to-back turnovers that led directly to 2 A&T baskets. Chris made up for this by driving and hitting a jumper, a very mature play. Chris was especially effective in finding players down low, hitting Horvath for a hook, Boozer for a dunk, and Sanders for another slam. He hit Battier on his first points of the game as well. He also found Williams on the break for a lob layup. He deferred a bit to Williams in the second half, but still managed to draw some fouls and continue to hit the boards hard. I really liked the way he tried to get the younger players involved, the mark of a true leader.

** James: A very solid first half, followed by a forgettable second frame. He hit a three from his favorite spot (the left corner) early in the game, had a transition bucket and a three late in the half. He also had an offensive rebound and a bucket in the second half. In the first half, he was making a lot of good decisions, like making the extra pass and finding Boozer in the lane for a basket. However, he started to rush his shots and threw up miss after miss. While I'm glad that he wasn't shy about his offense, it would have been nice to see him try and drive to the basket and take shorter attempts. He also had three ugly turnovers in the second half after playing error-free in the first. Still, even for a subpar performance he put up good numbers, a clear sign that Nate will be a contributor in every game.

** Williams: Jason was in the middle of a mediocre performance when he took that serious blow to his head. He was careless with the ball, turning it over three times, and had only scored on a transition basket. Duke's offense was really sufferring as a result, as they missed his creative ability. Carrawell was forced into a playmaking role, taking him away from his own offensive game. Then the second half opened, and it was a rather different experience. Jason simply went ga-ga, hitting 7-8 including 4 threes, grabbing 2 steals and notching three assists, including two spectacular lobs to Sanders. He had a role in 16 of the first 21 points scored in the opening minutes of the second half, with 14 points and an assist. This is when Duke turned the game into a complete rout, and it was his energy that was the primary catalyst. He still had a couple of more turnovers, but they were "good" turnovers, not simply throwaways or allowing his pocket to get picked. His whirling buzzsaw hands were at it again, popping free balls and harrassing the ballhandler. His pressure pretty much caused an A&T meltdown and helped kill their spirit.

** Dunleavy: An excellent game for the versatile Mike D. His play was consistent all game long, as he helped out with scoring, rebounding and passing. He scored in a variety of ways: a couple of threes, twice rebounding in misses, a dunk on a nice cut, a short jumper, and best of all, a nifty coast-to-coast layup after a steal. He also missed a couple of short shots that would have boosted his numbers even more. He fought very hard for rebounds the entire game, which is perhaps his most impressive quality. Another very nice play was a possession where he passed up two open jumpers to find Jason Williams for a better shot. This is just another example of Duke excelling when they are unselfish. About his only real error was a badly timed lob to Sanders that sailed out of bounds. Mike did have one charge taken.

** Horvath: A quiet game for Nick. He missed all of his threes but did hit a short shot in the lane. He did hit Dunleavy nicely for a basket, and was very impressive on the boards in the second half. He's still a bit gangly but he works very hard and his hands are definitely improving. The play I liked the most wasn't a play at all. Instead, when Casey Sanders took a charge in the lane, Nick helped him up and was pumping him up the entire time they walked back to the bench. It's great to see the players encouraging each other so demonstrably, especially when Nick himself wasn't having a spectacular performance. Nick will be the glue of this team when he's a senior.

** Sanders: In most respects, this was Casey's big breakout game. While he scored well against Army, he took a few steps back after that effort. Coach K said that he was playing better in practice, and he was able to show off his unique skills here. He came in at about the 15 minute mark, his earliest appearance in memory. Very quickly, he swatted away a shot attempt from behind. Carrawell then found him wide open for a dunk when A&T missed a switch, and you could see the relief on his face. He managed to get fouled on another possession and made one of two. Towards the end of the half, Williams found him slipping by the defense again for an easy layup. It's ridiculous how fast this kid is. Casey's real show came in the second half, with an alert steal, a block that led to a break, and running the court to hammer down two excellent alley-oop passes from Williams. Dunleavy tried to throw him one as well but it was poorly aimed. While these were his flashiest plays, they weren't his most impressive. Those came on a nice turnaround jumper in the lane that rattled in, plus the foul; and taking a charge on the defensive end. The rest of the team was very excited when this happened. It proved that he's learning how to absorb contact and play tougher. He did have one awful turnover in the first half, but in general he did a good job with the ball and making decisions quickly. Hopefully, his progress will continue. One thing Casey needs to stop doing is biting on fakes. He's tall and quick enough to simply wait for the ball. Another mental error occurred when he blew an alley oop but managed to catch it under the basket, but then forgot to move and was called for three seconds.

** Christensen: Buried deep on the bench, he only played three minutes in scrub time. He missed an easy layup and then had his follow-up negated by touching the ball in the cylinder. He did run the court well on one play, getting fouled and hitting two.

** Buckner: Played reasonably well in limited minutes. Came up with a rebound in the first half, then delivered two nice assists in the second. The second of these led to Duke's 100th point, to Casey Sanders.

** Simpson: Interestingly, he got in the game for a few seconds in the first half before his usual three minutes in the second half. K is clearly not afraid of giving him spot duty when necessary.

Cameron Craziness: As most of the students have already left for break, there wasn't much noise or energy. The house was nearly full, which is something at least. The noise picked up a bit when Duke was struggling in the first half, and Sanders' big dunks brought the house down. Curtis Hunter earned some "go to hell, carolina" chants towards the end of the game. When A&T player Jafar Taalib fouled out of the game, he pulled the old "I won't sit trick", which eventually earned him a "you're not worth it chant" before he finally sat down.

Next Game: Tuesday, December 21 vs Davidson. The Wildcats are a Southern Conference power and long-time opponent of Duke. They used to be a national power under Lefty Driesell. This year, they're 3-3 with losses to UNC-Charlotte, Elon and Siena. They go about ten deep, with 8 guys averaging 5 or more points a game. The leaders are Stephen Marshall with 13 ppg and 6 rpg & Landry Kosmalski, with 14 and 7. This should be a relatively easy win, although they've played Duke tough in the past.

Reported by Rob Clough, tmc@duke.edu