Duke's Smith, now on bench, eager to face high school teammate Lawson

Duke

Duke's Smith, now on bench, eager to face high school teammate Lawson

By Jake Lloyd

Feb 9, 2009

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Durham, N.C. — During his high school career at Oak Hill Academy in Virginia, Nolan Smith often played alongside Ty Lawson.

The pair of guards formed a formidable combo for one of the nation's most successful high school programs.

Now, however, Smith will face off against Lawson when sixth-ranked Duke (20-3, 7-2 ACC) hosts North Carolina (21-2, 7-2) Wednesday night.

But Duke's sophomore point guard won't be standing next to the Tar Heels' junior when the opening tip goes up. Rather, Smith will be relegated to the bench for the second consecutive game.

After his poorest outing of the season in Duke's 74-47 loss to Clemson last Wednesday, Smith was benched in favor of Greg Paulus. The senior tri-captain proceeded to play his best game of the season on Saturday, scoring a season-high 18 points and leading Duke to a come-from-behind 78-75 overtime win over Miami.

Despite the benching and playing just 7 minutes against the Hurricanes, Smith said with a smile on Monday that he's ready to go against his former high school teammate.

"I'm excited," Smith said. "I wanted him 100 percent last year. Now with him speeding up and down the court, it's going to be a huge task to stop him and turn him into a half-court player (where) he's not going 94 feet."

Lawson missed the teams' first game last season — a Duke win in Chapel Hill — with an ankle injury and wasn't completely healthy for the Tear Heels' victory in the regular-season finale at Duke. This season, he's injury-free and the player who makes the Heels tick.

With Lawson's ability to push the ball the entire length of the court and with the way wings Wayne Ellington and Danny Green are shooting from the perimeter, coach Mike Krzyzewski knows the defensive challenge that lies ahead.

"Everybody's important (defensively)," Krzyzewski said. "No one person can stop Lawson on a fast break. It's a team commitment to trying to slow their offense down."

Still, the Devils will need solid play on both ends of the court from their duo of point guards — something that didn't occur in the team's worst loss in nearly 19 years at Clemson.

In that game, Smith was often tentative with the ball against the Tigers' full-court press. He had zero assists, four turnovers and shot just 1-for-7. It was a performance that shook his confidence a little bit.

After all, Smith hasn't been a point guard his entire basketball career. It has been a process at Duke, where he came off the bench a year ago before earning the starting spot prior to this season.

"Yeah, it's something I need to regain," Smith said of his belief in himself after the Miami game. "Early in the ACC, I definitely started to lose that confidence to speak out. So I definitely need to get it back.

"Being a point guard, you can't be quiet. Sometimes I'm quiet and don't really say much. So I just need to pick that up."

On Monday, Smith said he has regained that confidence and is ready to play assertively whenever he's inserted into the game.

"My confidence is 100 percent, I'm happy," he said. "The last game I didn't play my normal minutes and Greg had a great game. But come Wednesday, we're going to need both of us out there and I'm going to have to be a great player."

Paulus has been in the starting lineup for all six of his Duke-North Carolina games, so Wednesday will be nothing new to him. What will be different for Paulus from a year ago is facing a healthy, speedy Lawson.

One thing Paulus won't face is a lack of confidence. Against the Hurricanes, he played one of his best games. Krzyzewski said afterward that Paulus became Duke's leader during the Devils' comeback from a 16-point, second-half deficit.

He'll no doubt carry that into Cameron Indoor Stadium against the Heels.

"I think (leadership) is something I can help the team out with," Paulus said. "I've been around for a while, been in all types of games, have experience. I love to talk, communicate and organize and put people in positions where they can be successful.

"That's how I can help the team and that's something that I want to do."

Whether Paulus can help slow down Lawson is a much bigger issue for the Devils. And it's another reason why a bounce-back game from Smith might be a needed ingredient for a Duke win.

The Devils pride themselves on playing team defense and helping each other, but they know that their defensive pressure starts with the point guard position. Paulus simply doesn't have the same lateral quickness as Smith.

"Our defense does start with Nolan," Kyle Singler said a couple weeks ago before Smith was benched. "When he's out there pressuring the ball, that's where it starts.

"He makes it tough for their point guard to set up their offense and takes away the actions that they want to run."

Smith isn't as fast as Lawson, but he's shown the ability to slow down quicker, more athletic players. Even in Duke's 70-68 loss at Wake Forest, he helped hold Jeff Teague to 4-of-14 shooting and 14 points — well below his scoring average.

But if he doesn't run the offense and communicate well to his teammates, it won't matter what he does on defense. He needs to be effective on both ends of the court for Duke to be successful when he's running the show.

"The game at Clemson, I really didn't lead that well," Smith said. "Therefore, (Krzyzewski) decided to put Greg out there to give that leadership. I'm ready now, seeing how Greg played (against Miami) and he led.

"Come Wednesday, hopefully Greg and I will be out there together leading the team as the two point guards."

It's possible that both point guards will play together at times, allowing Paulus to play off the ball on offense and try to find open 3-pointers. While it benefits the Devils to have an extra ballhandler on the court, the onus still falls on Smith to get Duke into its motion offense and be its tactical leader.

It's something the sophomore is still learning to do.

"This is a good thing for Nolan," Krzyzewski said. "Nolan is very much a developing player. … This may give him an opportunity to play with Greg, play in place of him, and I still think of Nolan as a starter."

Most Recent Comments

RE: Duke's Smith, now on bench, eager to face high school teammate Lawson

Tizu: "I agree with some of your factors. The refs factor is complete BS, though."

I made no mention of the charge that Duke gets all the calls. That is for another discussion. Simply put, teams with a frontcourt cause more fouls. Therefore, if the refs call every little foul, then it favors UNC because they will cause more fouls due to the better frontcourt which means the distinct and real possibility of Duke players getting in foul trouble. Yes, UNC players can get in foul trouble too, but Duke is far less likely to cause fouls just by the very nature of the game. If the refs don't call the fouls, then it favors neither team. UNC's frontcourt won't get Duke players on the bench and Duke players won't be able to take a charge or pseudo-charge. I prefer the refs to let them play.

RE: Duke's Smith, now on bench, eager to face high school teammate Lawson

It's a tad ballsy to guarantee a win at Cameron. Good thing you're just an anonymous online poster and not a player.

RE: Duke's Smith, now on bench, eager to face high school teammate Lawson

Yadda, yadda, yadda. The headline was about Lawson vs. Smith. It's no contest. Smith simply can't stay with Lawson and neither can Paulus. So, it's the same old story in Cameron - a win for THE University of North Carolina. Go Heels!!

RE: Duke's Smith, now on bench, eager to face high school teammate Lawson

Wade:
I agree with some of your factors. The refs factor is complete BS, though.

I don't think Duke is going to look for the 3 first like they have in the past several games. I think they're going to look to drive in the lane a lot...if anything just to draw fouls and to get to the line. I think they're going to look to get the big players in foul trouble as early and often as possible, all the while not taking away from their attack plan as a whole.

This game should be phenominal to watch..I hope it's not a blow out on either side of the ball..I want to see a classic Duke vs. Carolina game that will go down in the books as one of the greatest of all times!

Lets Go Devils!

RE: Duke's Smith, now on bench, eager to face high school teammate Lawson

The first factor in this game is Duke's defense. Even with Duke's 3 point shooting prowess, they cannot outscore UNC. Duke's defense has to step up. It is going to be hard, because Duke has no inside threat to contain Hansborough and the UNC backcourt is shooting well of late.

The second factor is how much will Duke love the 3 ball? The games where Duke gets in trouble are the games when Duke tends to shoot only 3's. Even on their best shooting night, a team is still going to miss most of the 3's. Plus if you only shoot a 3, you become one-dimensional and give the defense a gift. Duke has to be balanced otherwise not even their stout defense will be able to save them.

The third factor is how the refs call the game. If the refs call every single foul, then UNC's frontcourt will get Duke is serious foul trouble, and UNC is a good free throw shooting team. In this case, even if the refs call all the Duke flops as a charge, UNC will still get Duke in foul trouble. Conversely, if the refs let them play it doesn't really benefit either team.

The fourth factor is UNC's experience in this game and in this building. Hansborough and Lawson have never lost at Cameron. They know they can, they have confidence they can. Duke also knows this, so it is probably a combination of "uh-oh, what if UNC wins here again ..." and "we can't let them win here again!". If UNC comes out swinging or gets ahead big in the first half, then the former will enter Duke's mind making it that much harder for them to win. The mental aspect of the game is often overlooked, but it is important.

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