#2 Duke 98
Georgia Tech 77
January 20, 2001
Alexander Memorial Coliseum

     In the end, it all came down to star power, not determination.  Duke simply had too much of it and Tech had too little.  Tech was not intimidated by Duke and ran at them hard, went to the boards with authority, and attacked the ball handlers.  They simply had no antidote for Jason Williams in the  first half and Shane Battier in the second, and came unglued for just long enough for Duke to impose its will and then cruise.  46 fouls were called in the game and there were about another ten times that other fouls could have been called--things really got out of hand as Tech went after Duke hard but the Devils wouldn't back down.  There was a bit of ugliness after talent-challenged Tech big man Michael Isenhour threw an elbow in Mike Dunleavy's face on the free throw line when the refs weren't looking.  He later put JD Simpson in a headlock as the teams were scrambling for a loose ball.  Carlos Boozer retaliated by elbowing him after a Duke basket when the refs weren't looking, and Isenhour lost it and retaliated--picking up a foul, and the bench got a technical in protest.  Speaking of losing it, Tech center Alvin Jones, who had been doing a pretty good job on Boozer up to that point, got whistled for his third foul in the first half, mouthed off to the ref about it, and got a technical for his troubles.  He didn't come back til late in the second half when the game was out of control.  The good thing about all this is that the Duke players do a nice job of keeping their tempers when being pounded on, but show that they're not willing to keep taking abuse from other teams.
   Things started well for Tech, with Jones blocking a Boozer attempt and Akins swishing a three.  But Jason Williams scored 8 straight points, with Boozer making a nice pass to him as he was cutting and Battier and Boozer finding him for threes.  In fact, Tech stayed pretty close for the first ten minutes or so.  Duke did go up 15-5 when Battier blocked a shot, Williams rebounded and dished to a streaking Dunleavy for the layup.  This was followed by Boozer finding Williams on the wing for yet another three. Tech crawled to within 15-10, but a 15' baseline jumper from Boozer and a free throw brought it back up to 18-10.  Jones had an assist and a three point play to allow Tech to creep within 3.  Jason came right back and found Nate in the corner for three.  The two teams traded free throws for a bit and Duke held a slim lead, 23-19, with about ten minutes left.
   That's when Duke went on their first big run of the game.  Boozer roled in for a layup, and Isenhour missed an easy shot for Tech.  Jason capitalized by pulling up for a 15 footer.  A Tech turnover led to a Battier jumper. Another Tech turnover, and then a foul on key frosh Halston lane (who would pick up 4 in the half, gave Duke a 30-19 lead in the span of two minutes.   Duke and Tech then traded off baskets for a couple of minutes, with Chris  finding Mike in transition.  Then came the ugly parade of free throws.  Boozer hit 2, and was about to go to the line to take 2 more attempts when Jones  picked up his technical.  So Shane hit 2 tech shots, then Boozer nailed his 2  free throws and Duke led 38-24.  Of course, Duke was getting hammered by foul trouble as well.  James and Dunleavy had both picked up 3, and Jason had 2. So the last few minutes of the half saw noted stars JD Simpson and Andre Buckner out there, and they did a pretty nice job.
     Duke could start to smell blood, and back-to-back threes by Duhon and  James pushed the lead up to 44-28.  Tech rallied with some free throws (one of the only ways they could score in the half) and a Lane three to pull within 11, but the makeshift Duke lineup held Tech scoreless in the last three minutes of the half.  Meanwhile, Duke continued to score on free throws and spectacular plays like an alley-oop layup from Duhon to Williams, and an authoritative dunk by Boozer on a Duhon pass.  That came after an intentional foul on a break, another Tech mental error.  Tech had 2 chances at point-blank range in the final seconds of the half, but couldn't convert. Duke was in complete command at 52-33.
   Battier started the second half off strong with a drive, and then followed up with a couple of free throws.  Tech didn't let Duke get away from them, and actually cut into the lead after Fein finally got free for a three. After a Boozer baseline drive was answered by a free throw and Vines three, Shane Battier went absolutely wild.  Boozer found him for a three, then Boozer rebounded a miss and Williams found Shane for another three.  After hitting a free throw after a Tech technical foul, Shane then hit a soft fadeaway jumper and nailed another three after a Tech turnover.  Duke led 74-46, and the rout looked to be on.
   But just when it seemed Tech was going to lie down, they went on a 6-0 run with some free throws and a three.  But Dunleavy found Battier going to the basket, where he dunked over Jon Babul, fouling him out in the process. Battier hit his fourth three of the game a minute later, marking 20 straight points by the senior.  Jones came back in the game at around this time (the ten minute mark) and immediately drew Boozer's third foul.  Williams hit some free throws to counteract a small Tech run.  Dunleavy found Battier on a cut and Boozer got a rebound off a Williams miss to put Duke up 88-63 with six minutes left.
   Duke started to empty its bench a bit at this point, and Tech took advantage with a 12-2 run that cut Duke's lead to 15 with a couple of minutes left. The run was fueled by 3 Duke turnovers and some misses, and a very aggressive Tech defense.  Williams came back in the game and fed Boozer inside, and Duke had no problems from there.  Boozer and Battier scored some late baskets as Duke held Tech scoreless in the last minute.
     The win was Duke's 22nd consecutive on the road in the ACC, though there remain a number of stiff road tests remaining, include UNC, Wake, Virginia and Maryland. 

  ** Positives:

  1. Shooting.  Duke excelled from three (10-22) and from the foul line (28-35), making a number of difficult shots under pressure.  Their performance from the foul line was crucial, especially in the first half when Boozer went 10-12 and the team was 16-20.

  2. Pressure.  Duke harrassed backup point guard TJ Vines into 4 turnovers and starting guard Sean Fein into 2 of his own.  They made it very tough on the guards in general to get their own shots.

  3. Post defense.  Battier was everywhere with 5 blocks, and while Boozer wasn't officially credited with any, I had him down for at least 3 deflections. Duke frustrated Jones into another mental meltdown, which is the best defense of all against that flaky player.

  ** Negatives:

  1. Ballhandling.  Duke got a little careless with the ball in the second half, turning it over on inbounds plays and such.  This allowed Tech a bit of a run, though Duke righted itself and finished the game strong.

  2. Perimeter defense.  Duke occasionally had trouble dealing with TEch's screens to set up its shooters, arriving too late to prevent them from getting a good shot.  Tech hit a solid 41% from three as a result.

   Player-by-Player:

  ** Boozer: A very strong all-around effort.  Carlos went hard to the basket again and again, and was able to convert from the foul line.  Without Jones in there, he was able to get all sorts of good shots.  More importantly, he was very active on defense, nabbing 3 steals, and moved the ball around well.  Best of all, he owned the defensive boards in the second half, coming up with 7.  He had 2 assists in the early moments of the game, finding Williams twice, and also helped sparked Battier's insane second half run with a relocation pass.  While he scored a number of his points on easy dunks, he also hit a baseline jumper, scored on a drive and generally was aggressive and smart every time he had the ball.  Carlos had no turnovers in the game and didn't drop a single pass.  He played smart and he played tough, and is coming closer and closer to mastering Duke's defense. 

  ** Battier: As Shane said, "a tale of two halves".  Coach K thought he was trying too hard in the first half, where he was just 1-5.  Of course, he was doing other things well, picking up 3 assists, 3 blocks, 2 boards and a steal, but he also turned the ball over twice.  He simply didn't look comfortable on offense.  That all changed in the second half as he scored an amazing 20 straight points for Duke after starting the half strong. Shane missed a lot of easy shots in the first half, including a couple very near the basket.  But he found Jason for a three after a rebound and Boozer for a jumper in addition to playing his usual good defense, but his lack of production made Duke a bit easier to guard.  But he started the second half with a hard drive, and showed he was warming up by hitting a 15' jumper. Then the heavens opened, and Shane hit 3 threes in about a minute, and went on a personal 12-0 run.  He wasn't done, as he went inside for a dunk and then back outside for another three.  Tech was utterly bewildered and couldn't believe what Shane was doing to them, which allowed Duke to basically deliver a deathblow.  It was nice to see the Devils aggressively using a hot player to remove any chances their opponents had at coming back.  Shane got his 200th career blocked shot in this game, and is now very close to entering the top 20 scorers list at Duke as well. 

  ** Dunleavy: Mike had a very flaky game, especially in terms of shooting. Maybe it was the Tech fans shouting "airball" at him after he missed a three badly, but I think it was him losing his temper after Isenhour elbowed him. I had never seen Mike angry on the court before, and considering his normal icy-cool demeanor, I think it affected his play a bit.  His foul trouble didn't help things either, but the only 2 baskets he hit were in transition.  He did hit Duhon on a three and found Shane twice for baskets.  He also had a couple of very careless, uncharacteristic turnovers.  Hopefully he'll return to form against Wake.

  ** James: Nate took a few shots he probably shouldn't have, especially ones where he shot very quickly instead of getting set like he normally does. But in general, he was a bit quieter than usual, getting very few attempts and only getting 1 offensive rebound.  On the other hand, he did a great job smothering Fein, who was only 3-11 from the field.  He also came up with a couple of steals and hit a couple of his patented corner threes.  Not a bad game by any stretch, just not quite as dominant as he had been. 

  ** Williams: Jason was a scorching 6-7 from the field in the first half, when he sensed that the team needed him to carry the scoring load for a bit. He was more content to set the team up in the second half, feeding Shane early and often.  But he was unreal in the early going, hitting 3 threes in  the first  four minutes of the game and scoring on a beautiful cut.  Then he found Dunleavy in transition and locked up Tony Akins after he lost him on  the game's first possession for Tech.  He was part of a big Duke run that gave them an 11 point lead in the first half with a tough pull-up jumper, and found Nate James for threes twice in the half.  He scored 5 of Duke's last 7 points of the half with free throws and an alley-oop, finishing with a remarkable 18 points despite picking up 2 fouls.  While he couldn't get anything to drop in the second half other than free throws (going 0-5), he fed Battier for four baskets and Boozer for 1, cutting up the Tech defense.  About the only thing he did wrong down the stretch was sloppily turning it over twice against pressure.  But he righted himself and played smart down the stretch. 

  ** Duhon: A fairly typical game for Chris.  He didn't shoot much, but hit a three smoothly when he did shoot.  He ran the team well, notching 5 assists. He played solid defense throughout, and he made a couple of rookie mistakes. As always, he did a solid job of running the break, where he may well become Duke's best-ever player in transition.  He did a great job playing with Jason late in the first half, finding Boozer for a dunk and Williams on an alley-oop--a play they try to run at least once a game.  He also found Dunleavy in transition and sank a free throw.  Other than getting careless with the ball late in the game and fouling a bit too much, it was a fine  outing for Chris. 

  ** Christensen:  Matt wasn't really needed in this game as much as he has been in the last few games.  The first reason is because Carlos was playing so well, and managed to stay out of foul trouble in the first half.  The second is that without Jones, Tech was using a smaller, quicker lineup, one that Matt probably wouldn't have been much use against.  Along these lines, with Jones out of the game, Coach K wanted to attack Tech in the paint as much as possible.  Matt got 1 offensive rebound and also turned it over once.

  ** Love: When Dunleavy, James and Williams all had serious foul trouble in the first half, Reggie was one of the players Coach K inserted as a stopgap. He didn't end up doing anything.

  ** Simpson: JD came in for reasons similar to love, but he made some contributions.  He was on the receiving end of an Isenhour headlock, but at least it kept Isenhour from going for the ball.  More importantly, he got a defensive rebound down the stretch, and didn't foul anyone.  A solid performance from the senior, who proved to be ready when his team needed him.

  ** Buckner: Like Reggie and JD, Andre came in towards the end of the first half.  He also went up high for a rebound and played solid defense, and also didn't commit a foul.

  ** Sanders: Casey came into the game in the first half to help alleviate the foul trouble.  He got the ball in the post and immediately dished to Battier for a jumper.  He got 2 cracks at the basket late in the game, but couldn't put them down. 

  Next Game: Wednesday, January 24th vs Wake Forest in Cameron.  The Deacs squeaked out a win at home against Clemson on Sunday, but have been looking a bit rattled lately.  They gave Duke a great game in Cameron last year, as the Devils had trouble handling Songaila and Howard.  This means that Shane, Carlos and Mike will have to step up in a big way against Wake's inside group, and Nate will have to contain potentially explosive guard Robert O'Kelley.    

Reported by Rob Clough, tmc@duke.edu 

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