Game Blog: Georgetown at Duke
Jan 17, 2009
Jake Lloyd covers Duke for WRALSportsFan. He is filing live reports from today's Georgetown at Duke men's basketball game.
3:38 p.m. — Well, there's a minute left and Duke leads 72-64 with the ball. As long as the Devils protect the ball and make free throws, they should come out on top.
That doesn't mean K won't have things to work on in practice heading into Tuesday's game against N.C. State. In this half, the Hoyas have been able to penetrate the lane and have scored almost solely layups. Still, they're one of the strongest teams Duke has faced all season.
3:30 p.m. — Singler re-entered the game with 5:58 remaining, and he quickly made his presence felt. He nailed a 3-pointer off a nice feed from Henderson and then drove for a tough layup over a G'Town defender. The Hoyas have responded to both field goals with shots of their own, but time is running out.
Duke leads 68-58 with 3:51 to play.
Another note of interest: Duke has played Smith and Paulus together a bunch here in the second half, and they've been effective. Krzyzewski has said in the past he likes trying out the two point guards together, so expect to see it more — especially when Duke has sizeable leads and wants to run clock, as is the case now.
3:19 p.m. — Singler picked up his fourth foul on a flagrant with a little over 9 minutes to play. It happened after he looked to be fouled on an offensive rebound. He then proceeded to foul hard on the ensuing rebound. While Singler has had a rough day offensively, his impact in other areas can't be denied. When he left the game, he had 13 rebounds.
It will be interesting to see how long Coach K waits before reinserting his star player. For a couple minutes, Duke's biggest man on the floor was the 6-6 McClure. Now Zoubek is in the game for the first time since way back in the first half. We'll have to see if he can quickly adjust to the intensity of this second half.
Still, Duke is in good position at 63-54. The Hoyas aren't going down without a fight, though. Everytime it seems Duke is going to run away with it, they come back. Stay tuned.
3:05 p.m. — If the first half belonged to Henderson, the second has been Greg Paulus'. The senior has been quiet most of the season, but he's caused the Crazies to go into a frenzy here in the last couple minutes. First, he got a steal near midcourt and then was fouled by Sapp.
Then Paulus made a running layup for a 54-44 lead, and he followed that up by making the play of the game: After Summers grabbed a defensive rebound, Paulus sneaked up behind him, stripped the ball and caused a turnovers. Just seconds later, he nailed a long 3-pointer to give Duke its 57-45 lead.
Paulus has 10 points and a bunch of hustle plays to his credit.
2:57 p.m. — Monroe might have affected the game greatly — not in a good way. While sitting on the bench with three fouls, Monroe managed to pick up a technical foul (his fourth personal). Obviously, he wasn't happy with the way the game was being called, but there was no reason for him to be arguing. Let the coach do the talking.
Since the technical, Duke has scored six straight points to extend its lead to 52-42.
2:49 p.m. — Georgetown started a different lineup in the second half, benching Chris Wright and Jessie Sapp. Both players got in a minor argument at the end of the first half when they bumped into each other on the offensive end. That might have caused the benching.
Anyway, it was a good move, as Jason Clark hit two big shots to help G'Town come back from a 44-31 deficit to within 46-41. Henderson has played great, but he made a dumb play when he tried to no-look a pass while falling down. It resulted in a three-point play for Summers at the other end and Henderson immediately sat.
2:28 p.m. — It's halftime here, with the Blue Devils leading 40-29 thanks to a half-ending 11-0 run. With the exception of that, it was a back-and-forth half. But a 3 from Scheyer and two from Henderson broke open the game, and Georgetown had trouble scoring in its halfcourt offense.
In one of the game's most entertaining moments, Paulus walked up to the 6-8, 236-pound Summers — who has an NBA body and will one day be in the league — and gave him a bump. The intent, of course, was to anger Summers, who, along with his teammates, was struggling at the moment. But it quickly dissolved, except for the Cameron Crazies starting a "Greg Paulus" chant.
Key halftime statistics: Henderson is 7-of-8 from the field and has a game-high 17 points. The best half of his career. Duke has made six of 13 3-pointers, including three by Henderson, which is the main reason for its advantage.
And it's also made up for Singler's poor shooting performance: 3-of-10 from the field.
Summers started out hot with 10 quick points, but he has just 12 at the half. Still, he's dangerous at all times. Monroe has made all four of his shots for eight points. But outside of Austin Freeman's seven points, the Hoyas have gotten just two from the rest of their team.
Duke's bench clearly played better, with Paulus playing one of his best halves of the season and Plumlee contributing four points.
2:18 p.m. — Coach K was very vocal during the week, saying the ACC isn't getting the respect it deserves compared to the Big East. What has this ACC-Big East battle proven so far? That both conferences are pretty good. There has been a high level of play throughout on both ends.
But Duke has stopped turning the ball over, thus stopping the Hoyas' fastbreak. And Henderson, no hyperbole, is playing like an ACC player-of-the-year candidate. With leading scorer Singler struggling with just four points, Henderson has taken over, knocking down back-to-back 3s to give Duke the biggest lead of the game — 38-29.
Henderson's last 3 was his most impressive, as he drained it in the face of a defender from well beyond the arc. Normally, he doesn't shoot long 3s.
Miles Plumlee get a huge ovation after leaving the game. He gave Duke good minutes and defended Monroe.
2:05 p.m. — Gerald Henderson is officially a big-game player. The junior has been aggressive, making a pair of contested jumpers, and leads Duke with 11 points. He has averaged 16.6 points the last eight games, and Duke fans can rest easy knowing that there won't be many more no-show games by the extremely talented forward.
This is just a great game, period, with G'Town leading 27-25. Both offensives are playing well, with the Hoyas holding the advantage because they're getting out in transition.
1:57 p.m. — Duke's bench might not score much, but it sure is getting plenty of run in the early going. Paulus, Lance Thomas, Zoubek, Marty Pocius and Elliot Williams have all gotten into the game. Paulus has a key 3-pointer and a pair of free throws.
But Duke can't stop Summers, who has double-digit points, and the Hoyas have also gotten out in transition for a couple of layups. That's why they lead 20-19..
Monroe has already shown his versatility, dribbling out on the perimeter and knocking down a contested free-throw line jumper.
1:45 p.m. — While Mike Krzyzewski's move to put McClure on Georgetown leading scorer DaJuan Summer (15.1 ppg) was probably the right move, it hasn't stopped Summers. The 6-8 junior has five points and G'Town leads 9-8 here at the first timeout.
The starting lineups will play a huge role in today's game, as both do most of each team's scoring. Georgetown, in fact, gets 82.4 percent of its points from its starters. Duke could get an edge if someone like Greg Paulus steps up and has a big game.
1:37 p.m. — One quick note: David McClure is starting in the place of Brian Zoubek for the Devils. This is probably for defensive purposes against Georgetown's motion offense.
1:30 p.m. — All right, we're a couple minutes from the tip. Packed house here at Cameron. If the teams' previous games are any indication, this could be an old-fashioned defensive battle. Duke is allowing an ACC-best 60.2 points per game while the Hoyas give up just 60.7.
Also, both teams hold their opponents to dismal shooting percentages. Georgetown allows just 37.4 percent shooting while Duke allows 38.8 percent shooting. No one's reaching 100 — or 90, or probably 80, or even, possibly, 70 — today, folks.
A player to watch: Georgetown freshman center Greg Monroe. He's 6-foot-11, but he's a great passer and likely won't be fazed by playing in Cameron.
1:16 p.m. — Welcome, everyone, inside Cameron Indoor Stadium. I'm sitting in a very crowded press room here, which speaks to just how big of a non-conference game is about to tip-off between No. 13 Georgetown and No. 3 Duke.
A number to consider is 67; that's how many consecutive non-conference games the Blue Devils (15-1) have won here in Cameron. Of course, not many of those wins have come against teams the caliber of the Hoyas (12-3), who have a starting lineup just as good as Duke's.
That's just one of many interesting storylines here today. More to come, as we near the 1:36 p.m. start.
Most Recent Comments
Posted Jan 17, 3:31 p.m.
Rank: Veteran Posts: 335
Joined: Oct, 2007
Location: Clayton, NC
RE: Live Blog: Georgetown at Duke
First, I don't call a 10 point lead a rear kicking. Let's just see if the dookies can hold on to win. Yes, I am CAROLINA fan first, but I have to pull for the ACC teams. I am not a hater.RE: Live Blog: Georgetown at Duke
Duke has played 11 players today and still kicking rear! That's REAL depth, baby!RE: Live Blog: Georgetown at Duke
Kicking the rear? I dont believe that is the case. They are only leading by 10. Its not that hard to come back from a 10 point lead.Posted Jan 17, 3:28 p.m.
Rank: Pro Posts: 194
Joined: Aug, 2007
Location: Creedmoor, NC
RE: Live Blog: Georgetown at Duke
"Just plain Dirty...just like dukeblues wife."wow nice one...what are u like 13? u don't understand what basketball is so u have to turn to grade school insults, and over the internet haha. now that's sad.
