January
31, 2004.
Alexander Mem. Coliseum.
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For some reason, many of the recent
Duke-Tech games have been rather chippy affairs marked by hard fouls and strained feelings
on both sides. In Tech's case, I think it's both a case of trying to earn respect against
a program they haven't beaten since the Stephon Marbury year, and a small but athletic
team trying to find ways to even things out against another athletic team. Duke has fought the label of being a soft or
finesse team for years, and will happily dish out punishment with the best of them if
challenged. The interesting thing about this
game is that Tech has a very confident squad that wasn't going to back down for an
instant, and it's one that's proven it can back up its confidence on the court.
Meanwhile,
a Duke team that had endured a grueling contest with Florida less than 48 hours earlier
had to go on the road, and that's with leading scorer JJ Redick battling illness. Duke had every excuse to lose this game, and it's
the sort of environment where they struggled last year. The Devils had trouble against
fired-up teams on the road who took it to them early and kept their fans involved; witness
the meltdowns against NC State, Maryland, FSU and UNC.
Worse than that was an overtime loss to Wake Forest where Duke simply got
out-toughed down the stretch; that was a game that went a long way for Wake in claiming
first place. Duke put that all aside,
brushed off a sizzling Tech start, and quite literally fought their way out of the
Thrilladome.
Tech opened up with a 15-4 lead as Duke was
turning the ball over. JJ Redick picked up a
couple of quick fouls in a game where Coach K had shuffled the starting lineup a bit. He rewarded Shavlik Randolph's effort against FSU
with a start over the somewhat struggling Luol Deng, and inserted Sean Dockery into the
starting lineup in order to combat Tech's three guard lineup. Duke fought back with 6 straight points, with an
newly-energized Deng providing some fireworks. He
first stole the ball and threw it to Dan Ewing for a layup, and then had a one-handed
stickback slam after Ewing missed a shot. Tech
went up 17-10 after multiple offensive rebounds on one possession, and then BJ Elder went
after JJ Redick and forced a turnover. After
the play was whistled dead, Elder, being a competitor was still leaning over and trying to
grab the ball away from Redick. Redick wasn't
about to give the ball up, and Elder shoved him. Ewing
stepped in and had some harsh words, and Tech reserve Robert Brooks came off the bench to
shove him. After the smoke had cleared,
Redick & Ewing were both T'd up (for language), as was Elder (shoving) and Brooks
(coming off the bench). Brooks was also
ejected.
It took a long time for the refs to sort
everything out, though the fans let everyone in TV land know that they thought "JJ
sucks!" That long delay gave an angry
Duke team some time to stew and cooled off the Jackets a bit, because Duke ripped off an
11-0 run to take the lead. They did it by
attacking the basket. Ewing found Shelden
Williams for a dunk, and Shelden also had a stickback and scored on a pass from. Deng drove, stepped through a double team by
twisting his body, scored and was fouled. It was a tremendously intelligent and athletic
move, the only one he could have made, and one that was impossible to stop. He topped that by going way upstairs to tap in a
Chris Duhon lob. With under nine minutes to
go in the half, Duke now led 21-17. Tech had
turned the ball over 4 teams and dunking machine Isma'il Muhammad missed the front end of
a one-and-one (and was 0-5 in the game!) during the run.
Tech fought back and the rest of the half was
quite close. Duke never trailed, but
couldn't open up a significant lead, either. The
highlights for Duke were a couple of Duhon drives, a pull-up three from Dan Ewing, and a
gorgeous, highly-contested turnaround jumper from Deng.
Tech stayed in the game with four three pointers during that period, with
Will Bynum, Jarrett Jack and Elder all hitting treys.
Duke kept pounding it inside down the stretch, with Duhon hitting Shav
Randolph inside and Williams getting another stickback.
He wound up with 14 points and 7 rebounds in the half as the Jackets were
helpless against him one-on-one. Shav had 4
crucial rebounds while Deng stepped up with 10 points and 4 rebounds. JJ missed most of the half and was held scoreless,
but Duke still managed to maintain a 5 point lead.
Duke stretched that to 10 right away with a
Deng dunk and a three by Ewing. Tech came
back to pull within 43-38, but Deng hit a tough 17' jumper to open up a bit more room. That didn't last long, as the Jackets scored 5
straight points. Redick hit Deng inside for
another difficult turnaround jumper, but the Jackets crept within 47-45 with over fifteen
minutes to go in the game. Duhon stepped up
like a senior captain should and had a driving three point play. After a Tech turnover, Ewing found Redick for his
first three of the game, and then he hit another a minute later. Those threes were like haymakers thrown by a tired
heavyweight champ, one who was having trouble with his jab and was trying to knock out his
opponent quickly. They were effective for a
time, giving Duke a 56-47 lead, but the Jackets kept on coming, pulling to within 56-53
with ten minutes to go.
Duhon found the now sure-handed Shav inside
for a crucial basket. After a Tech three,
Ewing drove and was fouled. Improbably,
gangly center Luke Schenscher had back-to-back three point plays that gave Tech a 62-61
lead with around seven minutes left. Last
year, this is the point of the game where Duke would have folded. Instead, Duhon passed to Deng, who confidently
swished a three. Jack tied the game at 64 and
then gave Tech a 2 point lead after Duhon missed a three.
Instead of sulking, Chris moved on to the next play, driving and finding
Shav for a dunk. Shav continued to step up,
blocking 2 shots from Jack and then hitting a turnaround jumper to give Duke a 68-66 lead. Tech tied the game again, and Deng was fouled. He hit his first free throw but missed his second.
Williams tapped it towards Randolph further up in the lane, and Shav immediately fired it
to a wide-open Redick who sank a gigantic three.
Tech didn't quit a Elder hit 2 free throws. Ewing then took a shot that took a lot of onions,
to borrow from Bill Raftery: a pull-up three on the wing.
He nailed it and gave Duke considerable momentum. With Shelden having fouled out with 2:52 left,
Shav continued to come up big. Duhon found
him for another dunk to give Duke a 77-70 lead. Duke
hit their free throws down the stretch (with Redick getting the coup de grace with 19
seconds left) and came out with an 82-74 win.
There was another altercation, this time a
tie-up between Dockery and Clarence Moore where the latter tried to kick the former after
Dock had taken him down. Dock missed both
shots, but Redick came right back to hit a three. JJ
scored all 11 of his points in the second half while Randolph had 8 of his 10. Duhon had another big assist day with 9 and Deng
was simply spectacular with 22 points, 10 rebounds and 3 blocks. Just another deathmatch in the ACC, where every
game this year crackles with electricity.
** Negatives:
1. Valuing the ball. Duke had an uncharacteristic 21 turnovers, many of
them early in the game.
2. Blocking out. Tech had 17 offensive rebounds, with the
not-exactly fleet of foot Schenscher somehow grabbing 5 of them and getting some huge
scores.
** Positives:
1. Perimeter defense. Elder was 2-11 and was pretty much a non-factor;
that's significant because he's the team's leading scorer.
Bynum was 4-16, with 3 of those baskets threes. Every time he ventured into the lane, Shel &
Shav made sure he wouldn't score. Marvin
Lewis was only 2-6. Only Jack had a good showing at 6-11, but Duke slowed down the
prolific Jacket perimeter game.
2. Toughness. Duke didn't back down at any time, and played
better the nastier things got. I liked that
Ewing stood up for his teammate, bellowing out, "You want a piece of me?"
3. Knowing how to win. Duke is a team that's won some close games and has
a knack for getting the big rebounds and big shots down the stretch. Having Redick around
to hit free throws is also a tremendous weapon.
Player-by-Player:
**
Williams: Shelden redeemed himself after a bad offensive showing against FSU with a
dominant first half. He was severely hampered
by foul trouble in the second half, but still managed to get a double double with 15 and
10. The best thing about his game was the way
he converted at the foul line: 7-9, at a time when the team really needed the points.
**
Randolph: Shav had a quiet first half, turning the ball over a couple of times. He had a key late basket and then took over in the
second half, coming up with 2 game-changing blocks and some huge finishes. He had 6 points in the last six minutes of the
game and that big rebound and assist to Redick. After
a fine game against FSU, one can see Shav gaining more and more confidence. Ironically, he's stepping up because he's staying
within his role and excelling within it, which can only serve to expand it further.
** Redick:
JJ struggled early on but made sure to contribute right away in the second half, with a
couple of assists to go along with 3-4 shooting from three.
He also had an important late rebound.
The only thing he didn't do was hit driving shots on the run--that's his
only real weakness right now.
** Dockery: Sean had an early score for Duke but struggled on
offense. Defensively, he did a great job on everyone he covered, and in particular
prevented Bynum from driving.
** Duhon: Chris had a couple of drives in the first
half and a big-time three point play in the second, but it was his ballhandling and
leadership that made his performance so crucial. He
piled on some fouls in the second half but worked his way through it, managing his team
well under pressure down the stretch.
** Deng: This was Luol's finest game as a
Blue Devil, dominating the game for long stretches.
In a five-minute stretch in the first half, he had 8 points, a steal and 2
assists that turned a 15-6 deficit into a 22-18 lead.
Deng had 6 early points in the second half, hit a clutch three after Tech
went on top again, and hit his free throws down the stretch. His defense was absolutely
tremendous and his rebounding showed how aggressive he was at both ends. He reminds me so much of a young Grant Hill, who
was supremely gifted but often reluctant to take over.
Coach K said to him, "No, Grant, we WANT you to be good. We WANT you to take over games and dominate. Everyone on the team wants this." Once Grant got the message late in the year, Duke
started to become a great team. If Deng gets
the message now, that will only help Duke. Luol
has to learn that you don't necessarily have to shoot every shot to dominate; you pick
your spots on offense but always exert your will on defense and on the boards. That's what
he did in this game, and hopefully that's what we'll see for the next couple of months
from him.
** Ewing: Another "quiet killer" of a game from
Duke's Mr. Clutch. He took and hit some
enormous shots, none bigger than his three late in the second half that really deflated
the Jackets. Dan shot well from the floor
(5-7), didn't turn the ball over once, and played fantastic defense on Elder. His ability to mesh with Redick is becoming
greater with each passing game. Dan loves to
take and make big shots, and seems to play better when the game is on the line.
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