WRAL Sports Fan

College Basketball

Duke Plays Rocks Virginia 87-65 In Most Complete Game Of Year

By Jake Lloyd

Jan 14, 2008

DURHAM, N.C. — From the time 6-foot-4 Gerald Henderson out-jumped 6-8 Mike Scott, tapping the opening tip to Kyle Singler, to Jon Scheyer's contested 3-pointer with the shot clock winding down in the final two minutes, Duke never let up.

The result? The Blue Devils' best team effort of the season in their 87-65 ACC-opening win over Virginia.

After the victory, all the players echoed the same sentiment, and even coach Mike Krzyzewski chipped in: The 13-1 Blue Devils played good defense, were efficient on offense, got good crowd support — basically, everything went right.

And when freshman Nolan Smith went crashing into the scorer's table in the second half, hushing the sellout crowd as he crumbled to the floor, it only took him a couple minutes to right himself and a few more to get back into the action.

There was not much for the ninth-ranked Blue Devils to complain about afterward.

"I thought we didn't have one guy who didn't play hard pretty well," Krzyzewski said. "And that's really kind of the first game that's happened."

A week ago, just removed from a 16-day holiday break, the Blue Devils were off in an ugly win over Cornell. The players didn't communicate well and weren't able to put the Ivy League's Big Red away until the final minutes. Duke looked better in its win over Temple Wednesday, but still not in peak form.

Scheyer said the Blue Devils really came together as a team in days leading up to Sunday night's win.

"I think yesterday we had a really good day of practice," Scheyer said. "We were really sharp, and having Lance (Thomas) back I think was very big as far as energy-wise and he brings a lot to our team having another big body.

"And I think it carried over in our game today."

The presence of the 6-8 Thomas, who missed the Temple game because of an upper respiratory condition, was key. Virginia entered the game the leading rebounding team in the nation, but the Blue Devils out-rebounded the Cavaliers 35-34.

Duke, especially without 7-1 Brian Zoubek, is only effective on the boards when everyone contributes, and that was the case as five players grabbed at least four boards.

"Just crashing them, going at the boards like wild psychos," Thomas said of the rebounding effort. "You know, not hesitating with contact. You know, they have big guys and physical guards — (we were) just going at them and not backing down."

Duke not only crashed the defensive boards, it was all over the offensive glass as well. David McClure grabbed an early offensive rebound in traffic and kicked the ball out to Singler for a 3. The freshman swished it to give Duke a 5-0 lead in a game it never trailed.

Duke turned 12 offensive rebounds into 15 second-chance points — a statistic more tied to effort than anything else.

"I think for us rebounding's a huge key because we don't have really big guys," Scheyer said. "We might have quickness and athleticism one through five, but we know we need to just gang rebound and everybody needs to crash the boards and scrap for everything. I think we did that tonight."

On the defensive end, the Blue Devils harassed Sean Singletary, the ACC's third-leading scorer, while not allowing his teammates to get into any kind of rhythm. Duke forced Singletary into nearly as many first-half turnovers (seven) as points (eight). That was a big reason for the Blue Devils' 43-31 halftime advantage that never dipped below double digits in the second half.

"He was pressing, and the defense was good," Virginia coach Dave Leitao said.

Singletary had a hot stretch in the second half and finished with a team-high 18 points, but he never dominated the game enough to get his team back into it and he finished with just four assists.

"When you're guarding him, you just have to try to make him take tough shots," said DeMarcus Nelson, who switched off guarding Singletary with Smith. "He's really quick, he's strong, he can get his shot off, and he's really aggressive going to the basket with his right hand."

While Singletary was able to shoot 50 percent from the field — six of 12 — the Blue Devils often forced him off the 3-point line into difficult step-back long field goals inside the arc. And when he was able to penetrate, Duke helped off Virginia's big guys instead of leaving open capable 3-point shooters such as Mamadi Diane and Adrian Joseph.

Virginia, which entered the game leading the ACC by averaging 9.69 3-pointers per game, finished just 4-of-14 from behind the arc. Duke, meanwhile, made 11 from downtown — the seventh time this season the Blue Devils have connected on 10 or more 3-pointers.

While Duke's defense played a smothering man-to-man from start to finish, its offense was a balanced attack. Nelson led four Devils in double figures with 20 points.

The Blue Devils ran when they could, converting 19 turnovers into 22 points. Henderson said being able to defensively rebound well against a good rebounding team like Virginia and still scoring in transition is all about recognition.

"I think that's also about recognizing when your team has the ball," he said. "You see your teammate's got the ball, you have to be out (running), because that's the type of style we want to play.

"You've got to jet out of there and put pressure on the defense."

Duke's 17-4 run midway through the second half, which gave it a commanding 81-55 advantage, was sparked by a Smith jumper in transition, a 3 by Nelson and an alley-oop from Greg Paulus to Singler. That spurt officially stamped and sealed Duke's first conference win.

And what the players and coach called Duke's best effort of the season. The players know there will be no more long breaks from here on out, and they feel they have regained their rhythm and form after December's loss to Pittsburgh followed by the protracted recess and rusty efforts of the last week.

"I think our team, collectively as a whole, as a unit, played its best game tonight," Nelson said. "We had everyone (playing well) — our bench was great when they came in. They gave us a spark. Everyone really contributed to our win tonight.

"It was very emotional. There was a lot of energy in the building. It was the first ACC home game, and I think our crowd really did a great job with that. Our crowd was tremendous from start to finish and really gave us a big lift."