Duke 80
Florida State 49

February 7, 2002.  Cameron Indoor Stadium.

  I thought the game against Clemson was a weird one, but the FSU rematch really took the cake.  Two points in the first six minutes?  14 first-half turnovers?  Duke's starting backcourt shooting 2-15?  Yikes!  Despite all that, I was actually fairly pleased with Duke's play because they played perhaps their best defense all year.  The truth is that shots just weren't falling for anyone on the team, and even when Duke switched tactics by driving to the basket, FSU adjusted well and took 4 first-half charges.  The 'noles were playing excellent defense themselves, blocking what seemed like 3 sure baskets and altering others.  But Duke took things a step further by absolutely erasing leading scorer Monte Cummings from the game--0-9 from the field.  As one might guess, that was Dahntay Jones' handiwork.  Star point guard Delvon Arrington was 3-7 from the field with 7 turnovers.  Highly- regarded frosh Anthony Richardson was 0-5 with 1 point and 2 turnovers. Athletic wing Antwuan Dixon was just 2-7.  The 'noles didn't even crack 50  points and had only one player in double figures.

  Generally speaking, Duke makes up for its usual deficit on the boards by forcing more turnovers than their opponent.  Well, tonight it was 24 turnovers for FSU (which really hurt their first-half rhythm) but 21 for Duke.  How did the Devils compensate?  By going to the boards: the Devils had an astonishing 52-34 edge over FSU on the boards, thanks to double-doubles by both Carlos Boozer and Mike Dunleavy.  The bench came up with 14 rebounds alone.  In the second half, Duke utterly dominated in rebounding, holding FSU to a single possession nearly every time.  Duke kept FSU out of any semblance of an offensive rhythm for the entire game, with their biggest run only 6-0 in the first half. 

  One could sense that FSU had no answers for Duke's defense and was  desperately trying to hold on by playing tenacious defense themselves.  That worked throughout the first half, but when Duke started the second half on a 7-2 run, it got much more difficult.  It looked like FSU was going to crack with about 14 minutes left having fallen behindby 11, but they had one last tiny run, shaving 5 points off that lead.  But Duke's perimeter shots finally started to fall, and when the 'noles went down by 18 points, they completely collaposed.  They scored 11 points in the last thirteen minutes of the game, 6 in the last eight minutes, and 0 in the last four. The team pretty much abandoned its offensive plans as Duke became more confident, forcing a number of steals even late in the game with its reserves.

  Well, those who saw the first six minutes of the game know that there were few highlights for either team, though FSU did hold a 6-2 lead.  Duke was 1-8 from the field and had 5 turnovers, including a charge by Dunleavy. The only make was a tough 15' jumper by Williams.  Of course, FSU was only 3-10 from the field with 5 turnovers of their own.  Casey Sanders had an awkward stickback of a Williams miss to break a five minute drought for Duke, and the Devils tied the score when Dunleavy found Boozer inside. This came after Carlos missed his first two shots of the game, both easy jumpers.  FSU took the lead at 8-6 when Duke was a bit late getting back on defense and Trevor Harvey dunked, but Boozer got a rebound basket on the next play. 

  Duke took their first lead of the game with over ten minutes to go when Williams fed the ball into Boozer inside, who used a quick drop-step to score.  Then came a couple of more minutes of ugly basketball for both squads.  Duke missed three shots and turned the ball over twice (including a charge), while Florida State missed twice and had three turnovers. Finally, Duhon found Dunleavy for a pretty reverse.  Delvgon Arrington used his quickness to get to the basket, but Jones did the same thing and got a three point play.  With nine minutes left, Duke somehow had a 15-10 lead as FSU had scored 4 points in four minutes.

  An FSU score was followed by 2 Duhon free throws, but Duke again went cold for a couple of minutes, during which time the Seminoles mounted a 6-0 run to take the lead back.  The Devils countered with an 8-2 run of their own, sparked by Dunleavy.  Williams found him for Duke's first three of the game and then Mike D tipped in a Dahntay miss.  After a Dan Ewing foul shot, Duhon drove and got off his "giant-killer" high-banking floater.  Duke had a 5-point lead with four minutes to go.  But Duke would only score once more in the last four minutes of the half, a Nick Horvath bucket on a nice lead from Ewing.  Duke missed 5 shots in that time, from both inside and outside.  Worst of all, they had a shot clock violation trying to get the  last shot of the half.

  Missed shots were one thing, but 14 first half turnovers were completely unacceptable.  It's not like FSU was running a full-court press.  Duke went to an increasingly-vital part of their offensive machine, Dahntay Jones, early in the second half.  He was nothing short of amazing, shooting 7-7 from the field and continuing to dominate Cummings to the point of  frustrating him into a little head butt.  Dahntay started the half with a pull-up 15' jumper, a transition basket on a Duhon feed, and a spot-up three from a Williams pass.  That last basket gave Duke a 34-25 lead and a bit of separation with eighteen minutes left, but the Seminoles continued to hang around for the next five minutes.

  In fact, FSU outscored Duke 13-10 during this period.  Duke scored on a Dunleavy three, a Ewing jumper, a Boozer dunk on a nice Duhon dish, and a rebound basket from Carlos.  But when Duke took an 11 point lead with  fourteen minutes to go, FSU countered by Michael Joiner's second consecutive three and a short jumper from JD Bracy.  Now that the Seminoles were actually making shots, the 44-38 margin that Duke held looked far from secure.  That's when Duke finally slammed the door.

  The Devils went on a 12-0 run over the next three minutes that featured a series of spectacular plays.  Ewing answered Bracy's jumper with a three, and Duke started to own the defensive boards, with Dunleavy grabbing 3 and Williams snagging 2.  Dunleavy followed Ewing's shot with a drive and pull-up jumper from 15', one of his more consistent weapons.  Starting to feel it, he pulled up from long range as Duhon found him for a three.  Williams dished to Jones on the next possession, and then came a dunk from Dunleavy so memorable, it begged for a Daryl Dawkins-like name for it.  He pulled up for three and faked it, drove past his man and pulled up again, faking a short jumper.  Then he simply rose up and threw down a tomahawk jam on Antwuan Dixon.  That ignited the crowd and deflated the Seminoles, who  would only score 11 points in the last ten minutes.

  Jason Williams had not had a field goal since the first half, and even badly missed a dunk attempt.  But he made his presence felt in the next few minutes.  After Chris Duhon hit a three, Jason got a steal and layin that had everyone in the building a bit more relaxed.  Then he started relentlessly driving to the basket, finding Jones for a dunk, Duhon for a three on a pitch-out, and pulling up himself from 10'.  Duke had a 70-44 lead at that point as FSU was waving the white flag.  Duke called off the dogs and only scored 10 points in the last six minutes of the game, running 2-3 motion.  Dunleavy would pick up another three while Jones scored 4 more points, including another nasty dunk.  Dan Ewing concluded the  festivities with a steal and dunk as FSU missed their last 6 shots.

  This game was proof of the old adage that sometimes your shots won't go down, but you can always play defense.  I had maintained all along that even though Duke missed a ton of free throws against FSU in their first game, it was Duke's defense that cost them the game.  In this contest, Duke stuck around and took control of the game despite an offensive performance that was far worse than that of the first game.  This game also goes to show that thinking about revenge is less important than thinking about  dominating your opponents in general.  As coach K has noted, a team with revenge on their minds is a team that has lost and is focusing on that loss.   

  ** Negatives:  

1. Valuing the ball.  Duke's turnovers came in three varieties: 1) those attributable to great FSU defense, 2) those that came from charging and 3) those that were just bad mistakes.  FSU had 7 steals for the first variety, Duke had 4 charges, and the other 10 were just bad passes, players stepping out of bounds, bobbled balls, etc.    

2. Decision-making.  In addition to making bad passes, Duke took some bad shots and didn't adjust well to how the game was being called.  The charges could have been avoided if players had been more careful with the ball, while too many players tried to force things that weren't there.    

3. Individual play.  It's been a flaw of this team that they occasionally try to do too much as individuals, especially when facing a deficit.  The mindset becomes **I've** got to win this game rather than **we've** got to win this game.  It's not that Duke missed a lot of shots in the first half, it's that there were too few passes to find the open man.  Once Duke relaxed and got its transition game going, such concerns were alleviated.     

  ** Positives:  

1. Ball pressure.  Duhon, Williams, and Jones did a fine job in pressuring the ball.  FSU point guard Delvon Arrington was forced into 7 turnovers and only had 4 assists.  Mike Dunleavy also had 4 steals, getting those on Battier-like anticipation of where the pass is going to go.  While never a great one-on-one defender, his off-ball work and improved commitment to shot-blocking (he had 2 in this game) is helping to fill a missing niche in the Duke defense.  

2. Rebounding.  The 'noles outrebounded Duke in their first meeting, and this was obviously a point of emphasis for this game.  Duke's commitment to rebounding did not wane for the entire game, and perfectly complemented their tough defense.  Duke had 4 rebound baskets from their 17 offensive rebounds, 3 in the first half when points were hard to come by.    

3. Toughing it out.  Duke was so jacked up to play Florida State that they were a bit tight in the first half.  Basketball is a game of flow and rhythm, and when it's off one bad shot can lead to another.  But Duke kept fighting hard on defense until some shots went down, and the Devils have so many ways to score that once they got on a roll, they couldn't be stopped.  This isn't the 97 team, which could really only score through the jumper.  Duke has tremendous balance and tonight showed great maturity in riding out the storm.

   Player-by-Player:  

  ** Boozer:  Offensively, Carlos was just OK.  He missed his first two shots and uncharacteristically had 4 turnovers.  And they were things like bobbled balls and bad passes, errors that Carlos simply doesn't commit much these days.  Of course, Carlos was far from the only Duke player who was out of synch on offense.  On the other hand, Carlos simply didn't disappear from the game.  He was extremely effective on defense, helping to hold FSU's big men to a collective 5-14 from the floor.  Most importantly, he led Duke's charge on the boards, racking up 12, including a sensational 6 offensive rebounds.  Two of his o-boards led directly to scores.  It should also be noted that while he didn't have a huge offensive game, he did score 6 of Duke's first 10 points at a time in the game when scoring was at a  premium for Duke.  It winds up in the books as a double-double for the Great Bear, even on a day when he wasn't his best in all facets of the game.    

  ** Dunleavy:  Mike D was just 3-8 from the field in the first half with 2 fouls.  He did hit Duke's only three of the half as well as a pretty reverse and rebound basket, but he was struggling as much as anyone.  In the second half, he exploded for 13 points, including that highlight-reel dunk and 3 threes.  Beyond his offensive output was a sublime defensive performance that included dominance on the boards (10 of them), 4 steals, 2 blocks and 1 charge taken.  Mike is the perfect example of a Duke player under Coach K,  because K has consistently been able to come up with ways to spotlight his  players' strengths and hide their weaknesses.  Mike is not a great one-on-one  defender against quicker players, nor is he a physical powerhouse (despite his  improved strength).  Coach K relies on Jones and Duhon for most of the  on-ball work, Boozer for post defense and lets Mike rove the court ala Battier and lets him anticipate plays.  As Mike gets more used to this role, we will see him get even more steals and blocks as his hands and timing are both quite quick.   

  ** Jones:  Another excellent game from a player who deserves national defensive player of the year consideration.  But it was his offense that really helped set the pace for Duke's second-half dominance.  What I liked best about his outburst was that he had been fairly cold in the first half, missing a layup and some short jumpers.  Hitting his first jumper in the second half gave him confidence and gave him the confidence to hit a three a couple of plays later.  Most of his later baskets were run out of Duke's 2-3 motion delay set, and he's proven to be a great finisher in that offense. Dahntay's other important basket was his three point play drive in the first half that was Duke's first basket off the dribble.  All of that aside, the way that Cummings was made into a non-factor was truly remarkable, especially since Cummings is a strong and physical guard.  Jones didn't have a significant height or strength advantage over Cummings (as he does over some of the players he guards), but simply used a relentless effort to contain him.     

  ** Williams:  Jason noted after the game that he was happy with his performance despite only shooting 3-13 because he was playing hard and making things happen.  His frustration on offense led to some bad decisions, forcing several passes into the post that had no chance of arriving safely. His nadir came when he drove baseline and simply ran out of bounds.  He only took 4 shots in the second half, but hit half of them and had no turnovers. He used his strength and quickness off the dribble to dominate the Seminoles, creating easy scoring opportunities for Jones, Ewing and Duhon.  Even some of his misses were spectacular, like his blown dunk that sailed off the shot clock.  It was important that he stayed aggressive on offense, because  as the engine that makes Duke run, he would have really hurt Duke's flow if he had become passive.  Jason is an emotional player, which worked to his advantage in the second half as he was angry at his own inefficiency. Jason also took turns guarding Arrington and did quite well, continuing his recent solid defensive play.  

  ** Duhon: Chris was also forcing too many passes into the post, leading the team with 5 turnovers.  But he recovered with a 7 assist, 2 turnover second half where he also hit two long threes.  Chris also took a charge and grabbed a steal as he dominated Arrington.  Earlier in the year, quick point guards took advantage of Duke by driving right at Duhon, because he was getting very little help from the frontcourt.  Now that Dunleavy, Boozer and Jones are doing a better job switching, Chris is "suddenly" shutting down other point guards.  He is taking fewer risks on defense to get steals, but is applying more consistent pressure.  Chris also  smoothly hit both free throws--it looked like he's been working on his form a bit.  Also of note are his 5 rebounds, which is impressive for a  6-2 guard.  His 10 points and 10 assists gave him his first career double-double.     

  ** Horvath: Nick is pretty much the designated Dunleavy-substitute now.  He's moving pretty well on defense and doing a strong job on the boards, but he looks stiff and awkward on offense.  In particular, he has little confidence in his shot even as he continues to take it.  The good news is that he's become much more of a defensive playmaker.  He blocked a couple of shots, took a charge and came up with a steal and had 4 rebounds in ten minutes of  play.  He only picked up 1 foul, showing that he was moving his feet well.   Nick has had a lot of weird injury issues and I think this has held back his  development.  Another issue is that I'm not sure that he or the staff knows  exactly where to play him.  Nick has perimeter instincts but would serve Duke  better in the post.  But Nick's offensive repetoire around the basket is quite limited.  Adding a better head fake or drop-step would be a good move, or  perhaps trying to perfect a shorter jumper.  Continuing to get stronger should also be a goal.  I see the potential for him to become a very good player at Duke and I suspect he'll be needed next year.  It certainly won't hurt for him to focus on becoming a great defender.        

  ** Ewing: Dan had a good first half and a terrific second half.  He grabbed a couple of rebounds in the first half and continued to apply a lot of pressure on defense.  He had a nice assist to Horvath inside but was called for a charge on a drive.  In the second half, he made an immediate impact when he came into the game.  He passed to Dunleavy for a three, pulled up for a 15' jumper, and sank a three in the corner when FSU had gone on a 5-0 run.  Late in the game, he had a spectacular steal and dunk that ended the game's scoring.  I was happy to see him get a lot of minutes today, because he may be needed to play a lot in the ACC tournament if Duke's guards get in foul trouble.  He's certainly proven that he can play under pressure.   

  ** Sanders: One reason why Casey and Nick haven't played a lot of minutes this year is that Boozer and Dunleavy have been playing so well and have especially improved on defense.  K likes to have his best players in the game as much as possible, and the separation between the top six and Casey & Nick has been vast, for a variety of reasons.  That said, this game was the perfect opportunity to see what Casey could do because even Carlos was missing some shots.  Casey got a big rebound basket after Duke had only  scored 2 points in the first seven minutes of the game, which seemed to loosen Duke up quite a bit.  He wound up with an impressive 3 offensive rebounds, using his speed to get to the ball.  He also only had 1 foul, but did have a ball go right through his hands.  Overall, these were the best minutes he's had in awhile, and he's slowly starting to improve again.  He's not going to be an impact player this year but there are certain roles that he can fill (defense, shot-blocking, rebounding) that are there for the taking.  Let's see if he can do it in the last month of the season.  

  ** Christensen: Matt got a spot minute in the first half and grabbed a rebound in his second-half stint.    

  ** Love: Reggie came in and kept up Duke's intensity on the boards, grabbing 3 in just 3 minutes of play.  He also missed a lay-up, but he was ferocious out there.  

  ** Buckner:  Andre had a pretty drive that just missed going down, and  charged on another play.   

  ** Cameron Craziness: Not a whole lot to report, as the crowd was a bit stunned in the first half.  They did pick up the cheers on offense at various times to urge the team on, but it wasn't consistent.  I saw a lot of "Gator Bite" motions when FSU players were at the foul line.     

      Reported by Rob Clough, tmc@duke.edu

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