Duke 99
Maryland 78

January 17, 2002.  

Cameron Indoor Stadium.

   Duke-Maryland I was what I like to call a "blink" game.  Two great  teams making play after play, each waiting for the other to blink first. Both teams stuck to their game plans and executed them rather well, and both coaches made adjustments when foul trouble dictated it.  Duke won because they came out on top of a particular statistical battle: they had a greater turnover differential (+12) than Maryland had a rebound differential (+10).  Maryland's game revolved around pounding it inside, and while it was a successful strategy for much of the game, it made  their offense a bit predictable at times--so much so that Duke was able to either pick off entry passes or strip Maryland's big men as they went up.  Of course, a large part of that was due to Duke absolutely strangling the Terps on the perimeter.  Maryland had few open looks and pretty much abandoned that aspect of their game until it was too late.  On Duke's  side, it was clear that the Terps did not want Duke to have open threes, so they jammed every shooter and forced Duke to take them off the  dribble.  Jason Williams recognized this very early on and was emphatically aggressive in taking it to the hole every single time he had the ball and a sliver of daylight. 

   While Williams was Duke's biggest story offensively, one cannot ignore the contributions of Carlos Boozer.  While he was pretty much left alone to deal with Lonny Baxter and couldn't stop him from scoring, Carlos used his array of post moves to score at will as well.  And once Duke forced some mismatches for Mike Dunleavy, he came up huge as well.  Despite Jason's dominant performance, it was Duke's overall inside-outside  balance that carried the day for them on offense.  The defense was  another story, and was the reason why Duke was only down 1 at the half rather than in double-figures.

   Both teams came out with a startling amount of energy and focus.  Duke has sometimes let other teams dictate the tempo in the opening minutes  of a game, but the Devils knocked the Terps back by taking a 5-0 lead. But this mentally tough group simply went to their game plan and took a lead.  Older Terp teams might have folded right away, the way they did in 98 and 99, for example.  But this group is quite confident and very  old-school in the way they get things done, especially in the halfcourt. I really think that while this team can be spectacular in transition  (especially when Wilcox finishes), they're even better in halfcourt play. "Methodical" is perhaps the best way to describe them, though  "relentless" can be accurate as well.  One thing is clear to me though: they miss the defense of Terence Morris as much as Duke misses Shane Battier's.  They didn't have the shotblocking to counter Duke's drives to the basket, or at least, not on a consistent basis.

   The first five minutes were played at a ridiculously furious pace.  Much was made of the many lead changes in the first half, but it must be noted that there were eleven lead changes **in a row** in the game's first five minutes.  The game started with Williams laying in his own miss, and Dunleavy stealing an inbounds pass and dishing to Duhon for the slam and the foul. The crowd got amped beyond belief with that start, but the Terps pounded it inside twice in a row to Baxter (who got fouled and made 3-4) while Juan  Dixon followed with a step-away three.  It looked like another edition of "Dixon Indoor Stadium" with the elusive guard slipping through the cracks of Duke's defense, but he would instead wind up with only one more field goal.

   Then came The Flurry.  A Williams drive was matched by a Byron Mouton jumper.  A Dahntay Jones floater was met by a vicious Chris Wilcox slam in transition.  A Boozer postup was countered by a Baxter power move.  A Williams drive was trumped by a Steve Blake three.  J-Will then came back with an old-fashioned three point play, only to be stymied by another Mouton basket. Finally, a couple of Duke misses led to a break where Blake fed Baxter for a dunk.  The Terps led 19-16 with 14:39 left in the half, but not-so- surprisingly, it didn't last long.  But The Flurry resembled a tennis match more than a basketball game as the two teams volleyed back and forth.

   Dunleavy hit a tough 15' jumper and Blake missed an ill-advised three. Boozer got fouled and hit 2 to put Duke on top again.  Mouton hit his last jumper of the game to Maryland on top again before Duke began their first sustained run.  It started with Jones hitting an open jumper and continued with a nifty bank shot drive from Williams.  Duhon then stole an errant pass and dunked it.  After a Baxter shot went awry, Jason snagged the rebound, drove downcourt and into the teeth of the defense, and passed out to a  wide-open Dan Ewing for a three.  That put the Devils up 29-22 with over eleven minutes left, but everyone knew the Terps weren't about to fold.

   But the Terps could do no better than staying even for the next couple of minutes.  Jason drove and miss, but once again rebounded his own shot.  Boozer set up down low and used a Mikan-like sweeping hook to avoid having his shot blocked.  And Jason pulled up and hit a jumper in traffic to put Duke up 35-27.  That's when the Terps made their move.  A Drew Nicholas jumper, a Wilcox offensive board, a Dixon three point play (drawing a foul on  Boozer) and a short Wilcox jumper put them back on top at 36-35 with six minutes to go.  Duke and their crowd stayed intense, however.  A couple of free throws put Duke back on top, but a suddenly active Nicholas held Duke off with a jumper and some free throws, despite Jason connecting with Casey Sanders.  At this point, Duke was trying to hold on til halftime because both Boozer, Williams and Dunleavy all had 2 fouls.  That's why Duke was briefly putting in Sanders and Andre Buckner.

   Duke did bring Boozer back in on offense, a plan that worked well as he hit 4 consecutive foul shots to put Duke up 43-42 with two minutes to go. But newcomer Ryan Randle had a big three point play in a mismatch against Ewing.  Jason drove and dished to a spotted-up Jones, who did not hesitate to swish a three.  Randle scored 4 straight points on a stickback and a post-up move and Maryland led with seconds remaining in the half.  Jones zoomed down the court in time to get off an off-balance fling, which banked in at the buzzer.  That little momentum-turner got Duke to within 49-48 in one of the best halves of college basketball I've ever seen.  But teams started to look a little weary towards the end of the half as physical and emotional fatigue started to set in.  I sensed that one team would go on a significant run at some point in the second half, if for no other reason that one team would blink.  And that run could prove decisive.

   The second half began with a quick Baxter score that was promptly answered by Boozer.  Blake delivered a pass to Wilcox to keep the lead at 3.   Dunleavy hit a 10 footer and Jones forced a bad shot by Dixon.  Dunleavy dumped it down to Boozer for another power basket, and the last flurry of the game began.  It was Baxter vs. Williams this time around, as Baxter posted up twice and Williams hit a 17' jumper and abused Blake with another drive to put Duke up 58-57 with seventeen minutes left.  That kick-started a 9-0 run, where Jason had another drive off a Blake steal, and a Baxter offensive foul let Jones find Jason for a three off a screen.  Maryland missed a couple of chippies, which set up Dunleavy to drive and dish to Jones, who hit a short jumper.  Duke was now up by 8 with fifteen minutes left--still a long way to go.

   Duke wouldn't score again for a couple of minutes, but both teams missed several easy baskets.  Maryland finally crawled back into it at 65-61 on some Dixon foul shots, but Mike D had a mismatch on the baseline over  much shorter Nicholas and turned and shot for a three point play.  Nicholas struck back for a quick jumper in the lane, but Jason countered with a  drive "and one."  Then came a frustrating series of plays for Maryland.   They missed three straight shots at the basket and had the ball stolen away, partially thanks to Christensen clogging things up.  Duhon raced downcourt and dished to Ewing, who missed but was aided by Matt, who grabbed the board and laid it in.  That put Duke up 73-63 with twelve minutes left. The Terps would have one last run in them.

   Over the next two minutes, Jason would miss 3 shots and Mike 4 as the Terps went on a 7-0 run.  It was aided by Boozer and Dunleavy picking up their fourth fouls.  The run ended when Williams inbounded to Dunleavy, who posted up once again and hit a turnaround.  That powered a 7-0 run for Duke sparked by back-to-back steals by Williams.  The first resulted in Jason using a nice bounce pass to Dunleavy on the perimeter for a three, and the second was a clean steal in the open court for a one-handed stuff. Christensen then fouled Wilcox for a three point play, but Duke was in control.  Williams and Dunleavy had scored 23 of Duke's 29 second half points at that moment, and Duke kept going to their hot hands.  Dunleavy drove and hit 2 free throws and Jason came back with 1 foul shot.  Maryland managed to get to the line to keep the game at around 10 with seven minutes left.

   Duke went to their 2-3 motion delay game, which had a number of beneficial effects.  First off, it ran time off the clock.  Second, it made Maryland chose to either go after them on defense for 30 seconds or let Duke run it down--either way, it made Duke fresher and Maryland more tired.  Energized on defense, the Devils stopped Maryland on possession after possession, with the Terps practically conceding when Baxter fouled out with 3:46 left. Duke looked crisper on each offensive possession after every stop, with Williams driving and dishing to Boozer, Dunleavy posting up yet again or hitting free throws, and Boozer getting loose a couple of more times down the stretch. 

   Dunleavy noted after the game that Duke was able to predict Maryland's sets fairly easily, knowing exactly where to go to pick off passes coming into the post and when to strip them.  This was certainly shades of Shane Battier, the world's most prepared defender.  Whenever Blake would make a hand gesture (like patting the top of his head), Dunleavy would gesture to the bench the same way to find out what the play was.  Maryland's guards simply didn't do a good job in adjusting. 

   So what does this game really mean?  It means that Duke is now tied for first place and in control of their own destiny.  It means they can beat the top teams in the country.  Beyond that, it doesn't mean much more than a precious ACC win--and there are 12 more regular season games to go. With Wake and Virginia looming, the Devils have very little team to enjoy this game.  But the best thing about the game was the total team effort and the amount of intensity that went into each possession.  If Duke had played like this against Kentucky, they likely would have won that game by 20 as well.  Conversely, if Duke had started slowly against the Terps in this game, they might well have been down by a dozen or more at halftime. This team has finally found out what it takes to play hard for an entire game--hopefully they'll find a way to sustain it.  Luckily, their upcoming foes will demand respect; the Devils have no time for complacency.        

      ** Negatives:  

1. Fouling.  Boozer and Dunleavy both had some absolutely silly fouls, mostly after they were beaten on defense.  They simply needed to let them go.  

2. Blocking out.  As expected, Duke conceded the offensive boards to the Terps, though it got ridiculous in the first half.  Baxter in particular hurt Duke here, because he was able to score or get fouled every time.   

    ** Positives:  

1. On-ball defense.  As good as I've ever seen it at Duke.  Jones was magnificent, using his superior size and strength to throw Dixon off his game.  Duhon took Blake out of the game completely.  Williams  neutralized Mouton.    

2. Playing with fouls.  While Coach K carefully massaged Duke's foul situation by substituting offense for defense (Boozer/Sanders-Christensen), Dunleavy and Boozer both did a magnificent job of avoiding their fifth fouls while playing good defense.  

3. Valuing the ball.  Maryland was not using a lot of pressure and  didn't elect to go to their 1-2-2 or 2-1-2 presses, but Duke still did  a superb job against Maryland's rugged halfcourt defense.  Special mention goes to Williams, who only turned it over 3 times despite attacking the middle repeatedly; and to Boozer, who didn't turn it over once.   

Player-by-Player:  

  ** Boozer: Everyone is talking about Williams' and Dunleavy's play, and with good reason, but Boozer's remarkable consistency on offense in each half (10 points in each) must be commended.  In particular, his ability to get to the foul line put a lot of pressure on Maryland and gave Duke a crucial outlet when Maryland started to jam Williams.  Baxter dominated him on the boards in the first half but Boozer stepped up in  the second, especially down the stretch.  When Duke was running 2-3 motion, he was the perfect target because Maryland was overplaying Duke's guards. He simply rolled to the basket and made himself available.  He did miss a couple of chippies, but was otherwise quite accurate.    

  ** Dunleavy: Very quiet first half, which allowed Wilcox to be fairly effective.  But he immediately became more active in the second half, dishing to Boozer for two buckets and hitting a short jumper.  Once again, the amazing thing about his 19-point second half was the variety of ways he found to score.  From a couple of long-range threes to baseline turnaround jumpers to drives to short jumpers, he was everywhere on the court.  His defense also picked up, though he had trouble dealing with Wilcox at times.  But Maryland had far more trouble dealing with him-- those were the biggest respective matchup problems for the two teams, and Duke utilized Dunleavy a bit better than Maryland used Wilcox.  Mike did take a big charge, and his 7 steals were simply remarkable.  He had a Battier-approved "strip as the man goes up with the ball" on one play, but mostly just knew where to be when the ball came into the post.  This was a combination of great preparation meeting great execution.   

  ** Jones: Maryland was conceding the jumper to him, a wise strategy until he actually hit one.  But everyone knew that any offense he had in this game would be gravy--his job was to stop Duke-tormentor Dixon from scoring, and he was magnificent in this endeavor.  To that end, he shadowed him virtually every minute he was out there, making sure that Dixon could  get off no good shots.  Dahntay's quickness meant that Dixon couldn't drive around him and his size and strength meant that Dixon couldn't shoot over him, either.  But 'tay's most impressive play may have been rising up to block an attempted dunk by Baxter.  Jones had a Ro McCleod "Mean Scowl" on his face after that block, and it was quite well-deserved.  On offense, Jones did just enough to be useful, hitting that big shot before the half and a three, as well as capping off an 11-2 run by nailing an open baseline jumper on a Dunleavy feed.  Jones contributed because he stuck to the game plan, made plays on offense when he had to, and had the luxury of being able to focus most of his energy on defense.  Among his other great defensive plays, Dahntay also took a charge.     

  ** Williams: I have never seen Jason as focused as he was in this  particular contest.  Combining his skills, strength and emotion with the will to absolutely dominate his opponent made for one of the finest performances of his career.  Maryland gambled that Jason was so in love with his jumper that he'd force it instead of going for the drive, and that even if he did drive, they could stop it more often than not.  Jason sent that strategy to the wastebin.  When he wasn't blowing past Blake as though he was a mannikin, through Baxter like a ghost and over Wilcox, he was pulling up for the short jumper.  His defense overall was at a  very high level, and his focus on every play was magnificent.  The stats are mind-boggling: 3 steals, a block and 7 rebounds reflect his commitment to using his physical abilities on defense.  The amazing thing about his offensive play is not that he scored 34 points, but rather that he had 8 assists.  And he spread 'em out, too--he had assists to Dunleavy, Boozer, Jones, Sanders and Ewing.  Also worth mentioning is his 70% mark from the line in this game--he looked very smooth and confident there.  

  ** Duhon: A very quiet game overall for Chris, who was being covered very tightly on the perimeter.  He barely touched the ball on offense, but when he did he sought to drive on Maryland.  The results were a three point play off a steal that really helped set the tone for Duke at the beginning of the game, and a drawn foul.  Where Chris made his mark was on defense, forcing the normally reliable Blake into a bad game.  Blake had exactly one open drive and hit one off-balance three with Duhon in his face--and that's it on offense.  Moreover, he forced the normally careful and deliberate Blake into 6 turnovers.  Chris does need to think about asserting himself on offense a bit more when the time comes, or else teams are going to start keying on him.  

  ** Ewing: Dan performed his job perfectly in spot duty.  He was there  to provide intensity off the bench, keeping up the defensive pressure, and he did that well.  He nailed two huge shots, putting Duke ahead with a spot-up jumper and capping a big run with a three in transition.  Most impressive were his 3 rebounds at a time when Duke needed someone to step up on the boards.  More and more, he reminds me of Thomas Hill as a frosh--not a player who necessarily scored a lot or had a consistent impact, but whose intensity and fire always helped the team.    

  ** Christensen: Uncle Matty did his job as well--play hard, play tough and inject some intensity into the proceedings.  But he did more than just that--he helped sustain Duke's defensive pressure inside when Boozer had to sit down with four fouls with eleven minutes left.  First he started pushing Terps around, picking up fouls to foil breaks.  Then he trailed Ewing as he was pushing the ball to the rack by himself, and grabbed his miss and stuck it back.  On the next possession, he stopped a Maryland guard's penetration and forced a bad decision.  Then he got a big steal, or rather, a pass was thrown right to him by Maryland--Matt seemed stunned that it ended up in his hands.  But he quickly started a break that produced a score.  Most of all, he helped make up for Boozer's absence with some toughness and physical play--which was precisely what Maryland wasn't ready for at that particular moment.     

  ** Sanders:  Casey bobbled 2 passes and couldn't hold on to a rebound, but did nicely finish a dish from Jason for a contested layup. He did set some nice high picks on the break, but he was really most in there to buy time for Boozer.  Casey simply doesn't play that well coming off the bench and there's no real reason to start him at this point either.  Hopefully he'll step up at some point this year.  

  ** Buckner: Andre came in late in the first half, right before a TV timeout.  That way, Jason could avoid picking up a foul on defense and get another couple of minutes of rest.  Andre was also in late in the game.  

  ** Love: Reggie just got a spot minute at the end of the game, though I still think he's capable of getting quality playing time.   

  ** Cameron Craziness:  One of the Sixth Man's best stands ever, in my opinion.  It was a great combination of creativity, intensity and just plain noise.  It was about as loud as it's been in Cameron since the second half of the '98 UNC game.  The biggest innovation was the well-planned and financed use of referee t-shirts with fake money pinned at the top. This was to mock the Maryland paranoia regarding reffing conspiracies. Throughout the game, a chant of "Sweat, Gary, Sweat!" could be heard, and one sign had a photo of Coach K on one side that read "Inspiration" and a photo of Williams on the other that was labeled "Perspiration."  Along those lines, a cheer of "Gary needs a shower" could be heard.  A funny side that read "Carolina Sucks, But Maryland Blows....Big Leads!" was one of the more clever entries.  Also amusing was a "recreation" of the "Miracle Minute" game, with the Blue Devil as J-Will and 5 members of the band  running around in red jerseys.     

  ** Next Game: No rest for the weary: Duke plays a tough Wake team in  Cameron at 1:00pm on Saturday.  Darius Songaila and Josh Howard are no doubt eager to attack Duke's interior.   

  Reported by Rob Clough, tmc@duke.edu

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