Duke 96
Clemson 80

December 2, 2001.  
Cameron Indoor Stadium.

  Duke's somewhat ugly win over Clemson is illustrative of what happens when a team with great talent that plays uninspired basketball goes against a team with mediocre talent that plays inspired basketball.  The result is still a win for the team with great talent (due in no small part to being at home), but the mediocre team gets to hang around for much longer than anyone thinks.  Clemson came in with a very sound game plan and stuck to it no matter what.  They were aided by some weird bounces, shots rimming in and out, and some physical play--but the weird bounces always seem to go the way of the team that hustles more.  The Tigers sought to attack Duke off the dribble by spreading the floor and trying to drive by Jason Williams.  They also set some high screens to free up their shooters--who were awful behind the three point arc prior to this game.  But Clemson got some open attempts, made them, and took their next shots with greater confidence.  But most of all, they wanted to isolate their post men against Carlos Boozer and have them shoot before help arrived.  They were able to do this essentially whenever they wanted, because Duke did a terrible job of flooding the passing lanes.  Duke still came up with plenty of turnovers (22) and did play about ten minutes of great defense in the second half, but also went long periods of time making dumb mistakes on offense and giving the Tigers too many chances at second shots.

  The first three minutes of the game were very close.  After Dunleavy scored on a drop-step, Clemson responded with two baskets in the paint.       Jones then drove and drew the defense, allowing him to drop off a pass to Boozer.  Tony Stockman drove by Jason Williams for a layup, but Chris Duhon responded with a drive of his own.  But the Tigers took a 9-6 lead with 16:48 left in the half.  It was to be their last lead in the game, but it certainly didn't mean they were giving up.  Duke turned up the  defense and unleashed the running game to the tune of an 11-0 run.  As one might expect, Jason was the ringleader of the attack.  It began with him finding Dunleavy for a three that tied up the game.  As Duke turned up the pressure in the backcourt, Dan Ewing came in, disrupted the ballhandler, forced a steal and laid it in as the crowd went nuts.  Jason then followed up a Clemson turnover and miss with 2 consecutive drives to the basket.   The Devils led 17-9 and it looked like they were gearing up to settle the issue at that moment. 

  But Clemson's Chey Christie hit a three (he was 7-8 from the floor) to interrupt the run.  Duke kept the pressure up with a 7-0 run.  Duhon pulled up for a long three and then hit a couple of technical foul shots after Ed Scott was called for palming (and Larry Shyatt went berserk).  Duhon then stole the ball and passed it on ahead to Ewing.  Dan went baseline  and swooped under the basket for a pretty reverse layup that had the crowd ecstatic.  Duke was up 24-12 and was in firm control of the proceedings. But the Devils started missing some threes and Clemson took advantage, going on a 6-1 run.  Duhon scored on a drive and Williams had a steal & runout to boost Duke to a 29-18 lead with nine minutes left, but the Devils couldn't stop the Tigers.  Ewing stepped up again, nailing a three on a Duhon feed and tipping in his own miss after a steal.  The Devils had their biggest lead of the game at 36-22.

  But the rest of the half would belong to the Tigers, who would outscore Duke 19-11 to cut the lead to 47-41 at the half.  It started with Duke fouling the Tigers and letting them chip away at the foul line, disrupting Duke's offensive rhythm.  In less than two minutes, Clemson had cut the lead to 37-30.  Dunleavy responded with a clutch 15' jumper, but the relentless Tigers kept on coming, cutting it to 39-33.  Williams scored 3 in a row to give Duke a 9-point working margin, but the Tigers improbably responded with back-to-back threes from Ed Scott and Stockman.  The lead was only 3, and the Tigers were pumped up. 

  Boozer passed out of a double team to an open Horvath on the perimeter, who then banked in a 19' jumper--his foot was on the line.  After a crazy sequence of multiple misses and turnovers on both sides, Duhon hit a three to put Duke up 47-39.  Clemson ran down the clock and Chris Hobbs posted up for an easy shot to cut the lead once again to just 6.  Needless to say, Coach K wasn't happy.  And when Coach K isn't happy, his team does something about it.

  That they did, starting the second half on a 12-3 run that ended any realistic threat Clemson was mounting.  Jason was the spark here, finding Dunleavy and Boozer for baskets, scoring on a baseline drive and getting fouled on a three attempt and sinking all 3 free throws.  After the Tigers cut it to 12 at 60-48, Duke went on a 7-0 run, with Jason hitting a long two and Dunleavy stroking a three.  The Devils had their biggest lead at 67-49.  Clemson would chip at the lead once again, going on a 6-2 run, but a Jones dunk and Boozer rebound pushed it up to 19 again.  The two teams traded baskets for awhile, with Duke upping its lead ever so slightly. A Dunleavy three made it 82-59 with six minutes left, and Duke started thinking about the next game.

  This was a mistake.  Clemson was still attacking Duke, and the Devils were acting like they didn't want to be there anymore.  Duke was sloppy on defense and offense, with Williams inexplicably driving into traffic with no plan and Dunleavy simply throwing passes away.  Threes by Jones and Ewing helped keep Clemson at arm's length, but the Tigers actually managed to come within 92-80 with under a minute left.  Boozer closed them out with 4 straight free throws to end the game.  Shyatt did not yield an inch, fouling Duke despite being down by double figures and taking timeouts whenever they scored.  I can certainly understand why--Shyatt was hoping to bottle this effort against all future foes. 

  Duke played well in spurts, unleashing frightening runs with every player contributing.  But they also seemed distracted at times, with players in the wrong position for passes and big men woefully out of position in the post for rebounds.  It's one thing to miss shots, but a lack of hustle is quite another.  Luckily, Duke got a great all-around effort from Ewing, solid play from Duhon and moments of greatness from Williams. But the Devils should be glad that Clemson has very little quality depth, because that might have given the Tigers a real chance to compete.   

** Negatives:  

1. Blocking out.  The Tigers wound up with 15 offensive rebounds, and they did a great job of scoring when they had a second attempt.

2. Valuing the ball.  Just when it seemed like Duke was going to put Clemson away with a big run, the Devils started turning the ball over.  It quite literally seemed that Duke just stopped paying attention on offense and stopped communicating for easy baskets.  

3. Help defense.  Once again, no one rotated to stop the entry pass, and no one tried to help Boozer out with Hobbs.  Dunleavy was definitely no match for him.  

** Positives:  

1. Ball pressure.  Very solid, forcing lots of bad passes into the post. Jones made Stockman completely disappear.  

2. Post play.  Duke's commitment to getting the ball inside was important, and Boozer rewarded them by carrying the team in the second half.  

3. Penetration.  Duke did a nice job of not relying too much on the three and getting to the basket.  The Devils got 34 free throw attempts, about 19 of which came from the guards. 

** Player-by-Player:  

  ** Boozer: Started slow, but came on strong in the second half for yet another double-double.  Carlos simply wasn't getting a lot of touches early on, but he did score on his only first half attempts.  But Hobbs (whom one might say is nasty, brutish and tall) abused Boozer and Dunleavy to the tune of 14 points in the first half.  With none of Duke's other big men doing anything, Carlos had to come up big--and he did.  He did most of his work at the foul line, but he did also get a couple of putbacks. Carlos also posted up well and was the sole rebounding presence for the team.  His work on the boards in the second half was key to Duke's victory. For his efforts, Carlos was named ACC player of the week.   

  ** Dunleavy: Easily his worst game of the year.  Which is not to say that he was horrible, only that he wasn't great.  That's because his hustle stat cupboard was decidedly bare, with only 1 board, 1 steal and 3 turnovers. Mike did hit several key shots, including a three that tied the game, a short jumper that stalled Clemson's momentumm and another three that gave Duke its biggest lead.  But he was abused all night in the post, with the Tigers really trying to disrupt him with physical play.  As a result, he was kept off the boards and was abused inside for easy scores.  Mike can definitely take the punishment, but he made it too easy in the lane for Clemson's big men.  And while Hobbs is a very solid player, his looks at the basket were just too easy.    

  ** Jones: His defense is so exquisite that it makes up for his awkwardness on offense.  The good news is that Dahntay isn't forcing things as much and even picked up a couple of assists in the game.  He's learning, but it's a slow process.  It was good to see him nail a three on a Williams pass; it's obvious that he's a much better shooter when he's set than when he takes shots off the dribble.  His alley-oop jam was nice, but he was very close to drawing a technical for hanging on the rim.  'tay also scored on a drive, but dribble penetration is not his strong point.  The best thing about his performance was his 2 assists, one to Boozer and another to Dunleavy.  And of course, once K assigned him to guard Stockman, the Clemson guard's life became a nightmre: 3-15 from the field.  Jones is so fun to watch on defense because he's so sound: he keeps his eyes on his opponent at all times (watching their eyes, usually) while maintaining a nice springy defensive stance.  He moves his feet extremely well and is able to match his opponents step for step.  And he's strong enough to  avoid opponents trying to muscle by him for baskets.     

  ** Williams:  It's hard to call a game where someone scores 19 points, gets 4 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals mediocre, but it really was in Jason's case.  The worst part was his 5 awful turnovers.  They were careless forays into the lane that didn't seem to make much sense.  His 0-5 performance from three can be excused, because everyone goes through shooting slumps, but he really crossed the line between "daring" and "careless" in this  game.  The last five minutes he was out there were pretty annoying, as he simply gave up the ball again and again.  Then again, he did score 19 points, and they all came at important times.  In Duke's early 11-0 run, he had 4 points and an assist.  In Duke's early second half push, he had 5 points and an assist.  But as everyone seems to be talking about, Jason just looks a little "off", as though he's not enjoying himself out there. He has a lot of pressure on him and it may take him a while to adjust, but there's no question that he's Duke's most important player.  Remember that Shane Battier struggled from the field to start last year (with the exception of the first game--much like Jason!), but then started to turn it on when the ACC season rolled around.  

  ** Duhon: Not a bad little game, as Chris kept Duke ahead in the first half. He did mostly disappear in the second half in terms of point production, but kept the offense running smoothly.  His scores were on drives and threes, with 3 steals and a charge taken on the defensive end.  It's unusual for Chris to lead the team in scoring at the half, but they definitely needed it out of him.  Forced Ed Scott into 4-11 shooting and 4 turnovers.    

  ** Sanders: Not a good game at all for Casey.  It was the usual litany of problems: he brought the ball down after a rebound and had it stripped; he was out of position for a couple of rebounds and so got called for fouls; he left his feet for a block and was called for a foul.  The most galling thing is that he didn't even play very good defense, which is his specialty. Duke desperately needs him to be good this year, but he still seems very jumpy when he's in there.  

  ** Ewing: Dan really saved Duke's bacon in the first half, providing a  tremendous amount of energy, excitement and skill.  He replaced Williams early in the half and immediately forced a turnover and scored.  He later finished well on the break with a spectacular layup.  He later hit a big three and tipped in his own miss.  All told, he had 3 offensive rebounds. In the second half, Dan hit another three and a short jumper.  He also played solid all-around defense, matching up well on the Clemson guards. Coach K actually went with a three guard lineup at times to match up with Clemson's attack, which made Duke very quick and tough in the open court. Ewing has simply shown remarkable poise thus far and understands how to fit in with a talented team.  

  ** Horvath: Nick played just six minutes but made a number of impact plays. The biggest was a tremendous block on Stockman as he was taking a three. Nick also banked in (shades of DePaul!) a 19 footer after Clemson crept to within 3.  His biggest problem was being out of position for rebounds (much like the rest of the team), which led to fouls.    

  ** Christensen: Coach K brought Matt in when Duke was getting hammered  on the boards in the second half, essentially to bust some heads.  Matt provided a physical presence and deflected a ball, and also raised the energy level.  

  ** Cameron Craziness: Cameron was packed tonight, with a loud and  enthusiastic student body.  The Gorilla (bedecked in a flag headband and blue cape) and the Viking could be seen in the graduate section, while capes were also popular in the undergrad section.  There were no unusual cheers to report, other than a couple of foul-related ones.  When Ray Henderson fouled out with six minutes left, he refused to sit down. The Duke crowd kept up the "ahhhh..." and wave throughout, but taunted him further with "He's not worth it" and "He's got hemorrhoids" chants.  A profusely sweaty Tomas Nagys inspired "He needs Pampers" due to the amount of sweat that had collected in his shorts.  Of some amusement was the Blue Devil, who dressed up in an outfit similar to the one Jason Williams wore on the cover of Sports Illustrated--complete with hat and suitcase!  He opened the suitcase to reveal a sign that said "We love Jason."  Of greater concern was the mascot starting "the wave" in Cameron, a cheer that I thought had mercifully died out several years ago.  At halftime, nine former  Duke players were honored as the charter members of the Duke Basketball Hall of Honor.  This will consist of players who did not have their jerseys retired, but who were either National Player of the Year, National Defensive Player of the Year, multiple All-Conference or ACC Player of the Year, All-Americans or Olympic Gold Medalists.  The nine players present included Mark Alarie, Tate Armstrong, Mike Lewis, Randy Denton, Jack Marin, Steve Vacendak, Gene Banks, Ed Koffenberger, and nonogenerian Bill Werber, Duke's first All-America back in 1930.  Others included Elton Brand, Chris Carrawell, "Ceep" Youmans, Jim Spanarkel, Tommy Amaker, Billy King,  Steve Wojciechowski, Trajan Langdon, and Bob Verga.  Werber, who was using a walker to get around, got the most sustained applause.  Other notable events included four NYC firemen and policemen from Ground Zero who were visiting, one of whom ran to center court and kissed the floor.  Lastly, the Sixth Man had a chant for Duke legend Bobby Hurley, who was a guest commentator for Fox.  One last chant: "Calvin's Better" at Chris Hobbs.  

  ** Next Game: Wednesday, December 5th vs Temple in Cameron Indoor Stadium.    Duke fans should be very familiar with Temple after their two matchups last year.  Temple's matchup zone will determine how much Duke needs to work on their outside game, while Boozer will have to match up against the enormous Kevin Lyde.  Lynn Greer vs Chris Duhon should be a great battle at the point guard position.    

Reported by Rob Clough, tmc@duke.edu

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