November 22, 2003.
Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Box Score
Duke
got a firm wake-up call against a prepared, motivated group of players.
After dealing with some very good one-on-one scorers and some solid bigs in
the exhibition season, the Devils went up against a team with a solid game
plan. As most everyone knows, there are a few strategies one can use when
playing against Duke. If you have a lot of size, then you'll want to slow
the game down a bit and send all of your bigs to the boards on every
offensive possession. The fact that Duke spreads the defense and depends on
one or two posts to get most of its rebounds leaves them vulnerable to this
tactic, if you have the personnel to exploit it. Or you can choose to go
small and attack Duke off the dribble, if you have a team with multiple
ballhandlers and a lot of speed. In either case, you must have a solid point
guard who can penetrate, because too much passing on the perimeter will
result in turnovers and then Duke fast breaks. This approach virtually
guarantees that you will be punished on the boards, but it can help limit
turnovers.
To combat this approach but still play aggressive defense, Duke
must be able to switch off screens and recover in time to either stop
penetration or get a hand in the face of the shooter. Frequently, the quick
switch can disrupt passing angles and force turnovers. Detroit had several
capable decision-makers and so did a fine job of attacking Duke when they
were a step slow in switching. They were careful to either cut quickly to
the basket when that was available or make a short pass at a good angle to a
wide-open shooter, usually from mid-range. In fact, they did this so well
that they eventually forced Duke to abandon its switching schemes and play
straight-up defense, an approach that eventually worked but that limited the
team.
Defensively, Detroit overcame their height issues by playing a lot of
zone, effectively neutralizing Shelden Williams. Duke was so sloppy in the
early going that they tried to force things inside instead of getting a
proper read of the defense. Their guards were quick enough to stop Duke's
penetration and force jumpshots. What happened in the first seven minutes
of the game was Duke not adjusting to what Detroit was doing and looking for
gaps in the zone where they could penetrate and either shoot over the zone
or dish to a shooter spotting up in another zone "blindspot". Detroit
started the game on a 12-0 run and it could have been much worse if Duke's
defense didn't dig in right away. Offensively, Duke's players started
falling prey to the "I-must-score-this-basket-RIGHT-NOW!" syndrome, where
too much thought went into each individual shot.
Finally, Luol Deng had a shot goaltended (one that probably wasn't
going in anyway) and Duke relaxed a bit. Coach K's strategy became one of
shoving the ball down their throats (like Barkley) by attacking the Titans
off the dribble. The bigger Devils were able to get a whole lot of foul
shots, though they only converted 9 of 14 in the first half (64%). Deng,
whom Duke has gone to early in its first two exhibition games, scored Duke's
first 6 points. A turnaround jumper from 15' made it 15-6 Detroit with
under ten minutes to go. The Titans went on a 7-3 run to push their lead up
to 13, hitting a rare three in doing so.
Deng drove and dished back to Dan Ewing for a three, one of only 2
field goals in the game for Dan. JJ Redick was displaying that he was much
more than a spot-up shooter. He had hit a driving floater earlier in the
game, and then got fouled, hitting 2 freebies. A Detroit score made it
24-14, but a 9-0 Duke run made it a game again. Chris Duhon asserted
himself and had assists on back-to-back threes by Redick and Deng. He then
got the ball into Shelden Williams, who hit 3 of 4 from the foul line. Just
as it looked like Duke would take the lead, Detroit rallied, staying just
out of reach, despite a Deng drive late in the half. Duke's anemic 29%
shooting mark was actually a vast improvement over the early moments of the
game. Detroit was a solid 43%; if they had hit a few more, they would have
been in complete control. Turnovers hurt both teams, with the Titans
committing 5 offensive fouls but Duke countering with 10 turnovers. Whomever
held on to the ball would likely win the second half.
The
early part of the second half belonged to the post players. Williams tied up
the game with 2 free throws, but Detroit kept the pressure by scoring 11
points in the first seven minutes of the half. Duke stayed in range thanks
to Shav Randolph, who hit 3-4 from the line and scored on a high-low from
Shelden. Duke crept closer thanks to a stickback by Redick and 2 crucial
Duhon free throws, but the Titans went up 41-37 with under eleven minutes to
go. There was a sense that Duke had to make a move soon.
They would. Redick was fouled again and hit 2. Deng then drove
and was fouled, hitting both. After Duke just missed rotating over to stop
the cutter, Deng rebounded a Dockery miss and sank a 15' jumper to tie the
game at 43. Duke got a stop and pounded it into Williams, who was fouled
going up and hit both to give his team their first lead at 9:10 left. Duke
got another stop, and Deng hit a free throw and then a 15' baseline jumper.
Detroit scored to halt Duke's 7-0 run, but Redick came right back with a
drive and 10' jumper. With seven minutes to go, Duke led 50-45.
Detroit came right back with an Elijah Warren three to make it a
white-knuckler again. With time running down on the shot clock, Duhon
pulled up and canned a big-time trey, a shot that deflated Detroit and
pumped up his teammates. It sparked a 13-0 run that featured 4 Redick free
throws and back-to-back threes from Ewing and Deng. That gave Duke a 63-48
lead with under three minutes left. Detroit rallied with a 7-0 run,
trailing by only 8 with 1:07 left. Stranger things have happened, as all
Duke fans know. Duhon drove the lane and hit a tough layup, hurting his hip
as he did so. He aggravated a hip flexor from earlier in the game when he
dove into the crowd for a loose ball.
Duke didn't wind up shooting very well for the game, hitting just 36%
of their shots, but they were money at the foulline, sinking 29-36 for 81%.
Against an extremely tough defense, Duke had to find ways to manufacture
points, and did so without relying too much on the three. In the second
half, the Devils took only 8 threes and had 22 free throw attempts. Duke
also wound up with 11 offensive boards and forced 21 turnovers. It was that
latter stat--which included a crucial 5 second call forced by Duhon--that
proved to be the difference-maker. Duke only had 8 steals, but directly
forced the other turnovers with tremendous ball pressure. This is what I'd
call a learning experience win. The team overcame a big deficit, a
second-half deficit, and poor shooting to win against a team that wasn't
afraid of them. The Titans went out and smoked Central Michigan, a MAC
power, in their next game. This team will be seeing the postseason, either
as an NCAA team or a strong NIT squad.
** Negatives:
1. Passing. There were too many lazy crosscourt passes and
entry passes thrown at bad angles. To quote Parliament: "If it don't fit,
don't force it." Duke wanted to establish the inside game early but the
team wasn't patient enough to do so.
2. Help defense. Duke was forced to use smaller lineups to
guard a Detroit team that usually had four guards on the floor. As a
result, Duke's bigs were often a step slow in trying to stop cutters or get
a hand up in the face of shooters.
3. Shot selection. Early on, Deng, Ewing, Redick and Duhon were
putting too much pressure on themselves by taking tough shots instead of
finding ways to get easier shots for their teammates. Once Duhon took a
deep breath and set up a couple of threes, the team calmed down.
** Positives:
1. Ball pressure. Dockery's stat line is rather modest, but it
was his disruptive presence on defense that proved to be a big key. Later
on in the game, Duhon, Redick and Ewing also got into the act.
2. Getting to the foul line. This was the biggest key for
Duke. Detroit didn't have the size or strength to deal with blocking out
Williams, who got to the foul line that way. Redick did it with ball fakes
and surprisingly strong drives. JJ is now looking for contact instead of
trying to sell calls by throwing up his arms. Randolph used his ability to
taking smaller men off the dribble to get there, while Deng is simply a
matchup nightmare. He could make a living at the foul line.
3. Resiliency. As a team, they stopped worrying about
individual plays and concentrated on making the team win. The team absorbed
the "next play" concept and made it work for them.
Player-by-Player:
** Williams: Shelden only had 1 official field goal attempt,
but he found a lot of other ways to contribute. He was excellent on the
boards with 9 rebounds. Williams got to the foul line 10 times thanks to
going strong to the basket. He played solid defense and didn't back down,
blocking 3 shots and keeping them in play as well as drawing a charge. He
didn't post up quite strongly enough at times and make himself as available
as much as he could have, but that's due in part to Detroit's defensive
schemes. Like many of Duke's other players, the impression one gets of his
game on this night was "good, but with a lot of room for improvement."
** Deng: After some jitters in his early minutes, Luol settled
down and dominated the Titans with his tremendous inside-outside play.
There isn't much this kid can't do already on offense, and he only grows
more confident with each passing game. He has a strong mid-range game (two
from 15', one from 8'), can get in the lane, can hit the turnaround, shoots
the three with an improved release and gets to the line. Luol's help
defense was a bit late at times, but that's to be expected for a frosh. In
general, his long arms made him a nightmare and extra effective as a "power
wing", effectively playing in the post against a small Detroit lineup. One
can sense that the team will be run through him by the end of the year; only
good things can happen when he touches, especially since he's so unselfish.
** Ewing: Dan did not play very well at all, but he's struggling
with a foot injury and trying to adjust to an orthotic in his shoe. It's
just serious enough to be annoying and it clearly affected his quickness.
Dan lacked the usual burst of speed that defines his game and was shed
defensively a couple of times. He did hit a couple of big threes and didn't
make many mistakes, but Duke needs his firepower on a regular basis.
** Redick: JJ was a star tonight, and did it with a bad wheel
of his own. That's not to say that he was perfect: he had several ugly first
half turnovers and never got his three to drop. But the way he was able to
manufacture points by getting to the foul line and his use of the mid-range
game made him really tough to stop. And he was doing this against an
incredibly quick team. Furthermore, he played sound defense, always keeping
his man in front of him. Duke wisely put the ball in his hands late in the
game and he kept getting bumped and heading to the line. JJ has really
evolved as an offensive threat.
** Duhon: Chris looked asleep until late in the first half,
when he had 2 huge assists for threes that brought his team back. He
asserted himself at key moments in the second half as well, hitting that
huge three and making the shot that put Detroit away for good. On defense,
he took a charge and forced a 5-second call. The problem is that he needed
to assert himself sooner and more decisively. I'm not sure Chris has the
mean streak needed for leadership, in terms of being able to get in his
teammates' faces and tell them what to do, as well as take responsibility
for the game on his own shoulders. At the same time, he did come through
when the team needed him most, and that's not something that happened a lot
last year. The key is that asserting himself does not necessarily mean
taking more shots, but rather making sure everyone is doing what they're
supposed to do, and helping them become better. The one thing that Chris
didn't do was panic, and that meant that his team didn't panic either. I
think Chris can still develop into the kind of leader that the team needs.
** Randolph: Shav looked a bit sluggish at times at both ends of
the floor, but he came on in the second half with 5 crucial points. As
Coach K noted, they came at a time when Duke continued to struggle on
offense. Shav was able to keep Duke within arm's length until the offense
finally got going again. That said, much more will be needed from Shav,
especially in terms of his help defense. There's no question that he can
score against virtually anyone, thanks to his shooting & ballhandling. He
just needs to continue to get healthy and upgrade other aspects of his game.
** Melchionni: Melch has been battling injuries and it showed.
He looked a hair slow in his limited minutes, committing 2 fouls in just
seven minutes. More is expected of him.
** Dockery: As noted above, Dock's numbers might not look all
that impressive, but he raised the team's energy level and was quicker than
anyone on Detroit, which acted as a bit of shock treatment. While I don't
see him becoming an important scorer this year, his defense alone will get
him crucial minutes.
** Thompson: Big Mike was one of many players subbed in in the
first half, but the team needed offense more than defense, especially
against a team loaded with guards. His time will come.
** Horvath: Nick got in when Coach K was searching for any kind
of spark. He blocked a shot and fouled, but was clearly not built for this
kind of game.
** Borman: Andy got a brief cameo at the end of the game.
** Cameron Craziness: A very good crowd in Cameron that continued to
cheer throughout the long drought, and then went insane went Duke went on
runs. You could feel the energy in the building rising. Not a ton of great
cheers ("mercy/no mercy" pointing to Duke and Detroit's benches, reflecting
Detroit's status as Detroit Mercy) but a lot of noise. At halftime, the
football team brought in the Victory Bell from their football win over UNC,
and it got the crowd roaring.
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