Game Blog: Devils hold on 84-81
Mar 4, 2009
Final Score - Duke 84, FSU 81
Uche Echefu and Toney Douglas were great tonight, but Kyle Singler and Gerald Henderson were better in the 2nd half .
Douglas finished with 27 points, Echefu with 18. But Singler scored 16 points after the break and Henderson pitched in 14 in the 2nd half to lift Duke past Florida State. It was another big Blue Devils 2nd half, like we've seen many times this season. A great game, with two clutch performances from a couple of guys that have been the Duke MVP's all year.
1:36 to play - Gerald Henderson's three just gave Duke a one point lead, 77-76. I (along with a couple of fellow media members) had the best seat in the house, as it was right in front of me. I thought his foot was on the line. No check of the replay by the officials. I'm going to check that one out on the DVR when I get to the house, I think it should have been a two-point basket. Regardless, that's a clutch shot by a clutch player. Wow.
3:39 to play - A jumper by Alabi and a Douglas three-pointer have quieted the Cameron crowd slightly, and trimmed the Duke lead to only one point at the media timeout. Henderson, Singler, Zoubek, Williams and Scheyer in the game for Duke. Alabi, Echefu, Kitchen, Douglas and Singleton in for FSU. This is the most minutes I've seen Zoubek get in a long time. I guess it pays to be big when you're facing a 7-1 center. Coach K is now shouting the "defense" cheer toward the student section.
Duke 72, FSU 71
4:56 to play - Coach K is shouting at the officials, then shouting at the student section. With a big three pointer from Elliot Williams and a massive throw-down dunk from Kyle Singler, the Duke lead is now six points. Duke's 38 2nd half points are already four better than their 34 in the 1st half. The Devils are playing more aggressive defense, but I'm still not sure their ball movement is what they're looking for on the offensive end. But hey, the three's are falling. Who am I to tell a legend how to run his offense?
One thing is certain, this building has a different feel in the 2nd half. The students are louder, Coach K has removed his jacket and is often gesturing to the students to get involved.
Duke 72, FSU 66
7:21 to play - Singler has 12 second half points, Henderson and Elliot Williams both have 5. This Duke team is a resilient one, this seems very similar to the Miami/Duke game in Cameron a few weeks ago. Duke comes out strong in the 2nd half and erases the halftime deficit with 3-point shooting, Henderson and Singler are the catalysts.
Tonight it's more of Singler, where as the Miami game it was more of Henderson. Duke is 10-of-27 from the field in the 2nd half, a good improvement on their first half 10-of-32 performance, but still leaving something to be desired. Duke works the ball inside-out better than just about any team in the country. Open three's are one thing, but these Devils are taking a lot of contested deep range shots without the necessary work in advance to make sure they're getting good looks.
FSU 62, Duke 61
11:39 to play - Kyle Singler, Gerald Henderson and John Scheyer have all nailed big three's in the last stretch for Duke that have seeminly made a less-than-rowdy Cameron crowd wake up a bit. The Devils appear to be playing at a pace that's more to their liking in the 2nd half. The energy level is definitely there for the Devils. Duke is still taking too many three's I think. 3-of-9 from deep range after the break.
Duke 55, FSU 52
15:29 to play - Suddenly no one can hit a shot - The last couple of minutes have seen only two points from each side. I have counted seven missed shots in the span since the last post, including two each from Paulus and Henderson. It almost seems like Duke's team is waiting for #15 to start carrying them. Will it happen? We shall see.
FSU 44, Duke 42
17:42 to play - Brian Zoubek is on the floor to start the 2nd half, as is Elliot Williams. Both have scored, along with two Kyle Singler free throws to cut the FSU lead to two points. Zoubek has been impressive here early in the 2nd. His head shake before a no-look pass attempt almost made me fall out of my chair. Who knew he had it in him? It appears Coach K wants Zoubek in the line-up to try and stymie the FSU bigs.
FSU 42, Duke 40
As we await the start of the 2nd half a couple of items jump off the stat sheet at me. Rebounding is pretty close (23 to 20 FSU), as are turnovers (7 to 6 FSU) and neither team is shooting well from three point range. The things that stick out are bench points and fast break points.
FSU has scored 14 of their 40 in transition. Duke has no fast break points. 14-0 FSU in transition. Think Coach K wants to change that?
FSU has just 5 points off the bench while Duke has 15. While you may think this is "advantage Duke" I look at it the other way. Duke's bench is even with Paulus, McClure and Henderson combined. Now, the starters didn't include Singler tonight because of the seniors getting the nod, but he only has four of the 15 bench points. What do I take from this? Duke needs more from their stars in the 2nd half.
Henderson - 2 of 7 from the field
Singler - 2 of 6 from the field
Scheyer - 2 of 5 from the field
Halftime - Echefu and Douglas have combined for 26 of the FSU 40 points. The poor Duke shooting has continued, as the Devils are unofficially 10-of-31 from the field at the break, including just 4-of-14 from behind the arc.
I'm off to the media room for the official stats. Back in a few moments.
FSU 40, Duke 34
3:43 to play in the 1st half - Duke is getting frustrated by the officiating. Clearly there's nothing Coach K or the players can do about it, but it's taking it's toll on the team. Krzyzewski is working the refs to the best of his abilities, but Leonard Hamilton is the one with the technical foul.
This has been a pretty physical game in the paint at both ends of the floor. The FSU front court is clearly having their way in the blocks, banging for rebounds and getting the Duke bigs to commit fouls. Brian Zoubek has two fouls, David McClure also has two. A couple of open looks have fallen for the Devils of late, but Gerald Henderson and Kyle Singler have only combined for ten points thus far.
FSU 32, Duke 26
6:02 to play in the 1st half - Duke is shooting less than 30% from the field, including a miserable 1-of-7 from thre point range. Uche Echefu is owning the Devils' front court. His ten points and four rebounds lead a fairly efficient FSU offense. Toney Douglas sat for a solid stretch that was nearly 5 minutes in the first half, and he's right behind Echefu with seven points.
Duke is getting open looks, but the shots just aren't falling. After a small lead was built by the Noles, it seemed that's when the Devils began to force their shots a bit.
FSU 28, Duke 20 - My apologies for the long span with no update. I'll forward your complaints to the Wi-fi master at Cameron Indoor...
7:55 p.m. - Pocius, McClure and (of course) Paulus were honored in first-class fashion. Nothing too showy, just a nice presentation by the PA announcer listing career stats while a video montage of highlights plays on the jumbo-tron. Paulus was greeted with (BY FAR) the loudest cheers from the Cameron crowd. The three seniors huddled at center court, and were then joined by the rest of their Blue Devils teammates for a full-on royal blue embrace.
After the seniors were introduced, the parents were also honored. The Florida State team came out onto the court for their final warm-ups during the parents' introductions and were welcomed with a Bronx cheer from the Cameron Crazies. I have to say the coolest part of the whole thing was all of the Lithuanian flags waving in the student section, along with a solid showing of Lithuanian national team basketball jerseys in honor of Martynas Pocius.
We're now only a few moments from the scheduled 8:05 p.m. tip-off. With the formalities out of the way, this should be a good ACC basketball game. Duke needs this one to keep their hopes alive of a regular season ACC crown that would give them the #1 seed in the conference tournament next week.
7:46 p.m. - I'm back on press row after surprsingly tasty fried shrimp. While violating the rule of "Never eat seafood on a buffet that's not at a seafood restaurant" I hope I'm able to continue the blog without any repurcussions.
Back to work - We're expecting the senior night activities to begin any moment. I'll update you on any tears or other notable factoids.
7 p.m. - It's an hour before tip-off here in Durham. Duke's seniors are in for an emotional night; Greg Paulus & David McClure will look for one last victorious memory at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
A couple of concerns for Duke:
1) The PG play - Toney Douglas is another fast & athletic ACC point guard that the Blue Devils will likely have issues defending. He's also among the best defensive guards in the league, so expect him to give the Duke back court some trouble as Paulus, Gerald Henderson and Elliot Williams bring the ball up the floor. Nolan Smith (recovering from a concussion) will be missed, as he has been the Devils' most effective on-ball defender for most of the season.
2) The Seminoles' bigs - Uche Echefu & Solomon Alabi bring size and athleticism for the Seminoles; something else that Duke has struggled when facing this year. Both of these guys create match-up issues for the Blue Devils in the post. At 7-1, Alabi is a huge presence. Echefu is 6-9 and moves well. Throw in freshman FSU sensation Chris Singleton and it's a pretty potent front court for the Dukies to deal with tonight.
Duke has obviously beaten better teams than Florida State this season, I'm sure that Coach K and his staff have prepared their team for these potential issues. If senior night is a happy one for Paulus & Co., the Blue Devils have a shot to play for the #1 seed in the ACC tournament on Sunday when they travel to Chapel Hill.
If FSU wins tonight they'll improve to 10-5 in the ACC this season. I'm already predicting Leonard Hamilton will win Coach of the Year in the ACC, ten conference wins would officially clinch it for Hamilton as far as I'm concerned.
I'll be here all night, check back often for updates and insight from Devils vs. Noles... Right now, it's dinner time as I head to the Yoh Center and check out what's on the media menu tonight.
