Game blog: No. 2 Duke destroys Maryland
Jan 24, 2009
1:56 p.m., Final score: Duke wins this one very easily, 85-44 to improve to 5-0 in the ACC and 18-1 overall. Duke will be the number one team in the nation on Monday. Alright I gotta go. See ya!
1:46 p.m., Let's end this: This is one of those embarrassing games that just won't end. We know Duke has won, so let's just call it right now, huh? It's a 40 point game, it would be different if it were even 15 or 16 with four minutes to play. Duke leads 80-40.
1:39 p.m., Quite a cast for Duke here: You would think there was 50 seconds left in the game with the guys Duke has in here. Williams, Czyz, Thomas, Paulus, and Pocius. Things are going well for Duke as they lead 74-33 with 7:15 left in the game.
1:29 p.m., Maryland nugget: Here is something I can tell you from my days in Northern Virginia. I played a year of freshmen basketball at Hylton High School, a really strong career I know. Eric Hayes of Maryland played for Potomac High School, which was always the best team in our district. His dad Kendall Hayes was his coach, who took the team to many Virginia state title games in his long career there, including a state championship in 1995. Hayes coached a guy named Cliff Hawkins at that school before he went to Oak Hill. Hawkins was a starting point guard at Kentucky for a few years. He also coached a kid named Rolen Roberts, who helped Southern Illinois to a deep tournament run. Duke still leads this game 71-29 with 10 to play in the game.
1:24 p.m., Reserves in early today: Duke is able to go to some players that don't normally see the rotation. Plumlee and Elliot Williams are in the game with 13 to go in the game. Duke is up by more than 40 points, 66-24. The crazies are really having a good time with Vasquez today.
1:15 p.m., Roof is off the joint: Henderson just hits a three and has 14 points as Duke is up 56-20 now and MD didn't even reach the first media timeout before using two timeouts. I need earl plugs! This place just got so loud after a Singler alley-oop from Henderson and a Henderson lay-up. Duke now is up by 40, 60-20 and I couldn't even hear but I assume MD took it's third timeout of the half. Coach K even stepped out of the floor and took a big sigh after the last Duke bucket was made. You could see the expression of, "wow" in his face. The whole Duke team met out on the floor to congratulate each other on the really solid play.
1:10 p.m., The nines: Scheyer, Singler, and Henderson all have nine points right now. Maryland is throwing on the full court press after made shots, which they should do for the rest of the game. Duke leads 46-18. It's out of hand.
1:05 p.m., What I want to see: Since we have an old fashioned blowout on hand here, I want to see something they call the "Gerald Henderson Show". Also, the "Oh baby" baby just touched me on the back. Get that thing off me crazies! Not to mention it was sitting in my seat when I came back.
12:50 p.m., Halftime is here: Your halftime score is 40-15, Duke on top. This is not one of those classic rivalries from the beginning of the decade.
12:48 p.m., Terps can't hang with this team: Duke does a great job of always being prepared in a game. This Maryland team has no chance to hang with the Blue Devils. They maybe have had four open shots the whole half, and they haven't even made all of them. Duke is showing why they will be the number one team in the nation on Monday. They lead 40-15 with 35 ticks left in the half.
12:40 p.m., Maryland a weird team to understand: This team went to the tournament in Orlando back in November and demolished a good Michigan State team by 18, then got destroyed by Gonzaga and Georgetown. Now they are 13-5 and 2-2 in the ACC but are getting handled by 20 here in the first half. Duke is up 32-13, so 19 if you want to be exact. Brian Zoubek will be at the line after the media break. There is just under four to go in the first.
12:29 p.m., Quick moving half: And it's Duke still holding strong with a 23-11 lead with 7:41 left in the half. Kyle Singler only has 2 points and they are still leading easily. Duke commit Ryan Kelly is here again. He goes to Ravenscroft in Raleigh. I think he would miss a game he was playing in before missing a Duke game this year.
12:22 p.m., Devils out playing MD: They are just showing more hustle in the early goings here. They are getting the loose ball and playing much harder man-to-man defense. That has given Duke a 19-9 lead with under 10 to play in the first half. They just got three tries and converted on their last offensive possession, and Paulus hit a jumper.
12:13 p.m., Brian Zoubek playing well: This is a game where Zoubek will be a big factor because Maryland just doesn't have the size to compare. He already has a big block that took away a lay-up, a few rebounds, and four points. Duke leads 12-3 with 15:45 left in the first half.
12:10 p.m., Duke out early: Hi, Tim Hall is with you now. Thanks to Jake for taking care of the blog until I got here. They held a nice moment of silence for N.C. State coach Kay Yow before the anthem. She died this morning at the age of 66 after a long fight with breast cancer. Duke is smothering Maryland early. They are out to a 10-3 lead. Jon Scheyer has two threes already for six points.
11:56 a.m., Some things never change: The Cameron Crazies come up with new cheers every year, but some stay the same. Today, expect to hear a lot of "Sweat, Gary, sweat," in reference to the always-perspiring Gary Williams. Some things never change, folks.
11:53 a.m., Let's play ball: Well, it's almost time for basketball, and hopefully the Terrapins and Blue Devils can put together an exciting game on this sad day in the Triangle. A couple things to consider as we get ready for this ACC matchup:
It is widely assumed that if Duke wins today, it will ascend to No. 1 in the national polls because of Wake Forest's loss Wednesday to Virginia Tech. That's not a certainty, however. If No. 3 Connecticut beats Notre Dame tonight, it would give the Huskies two wins over top-20 teams this week. It's feasible that the Huskies could jump the Devils, who haven't played a ranked opponent this week.
On the other hand, don't count out Maryland. As the Hokies showed in Winston-Salem, any ACC team can beat another in any venue. And the Terps have had recent success in Durham, winning two out of the last four matchups here. Gary Williams will have his guys ready for the challenge.
And the Terps have a true leader in Greivis Vasquez, who is one of two players in the ACC to lead his team in points, rebounds, assists and steals. The other, of course, is Kyle Singler. It will be interested to see these men of all trades going against each other.
Another Maryland player to look out for? How about little-known Adrian Bowie, who has exploded in Maryland's first four conference games to lead the team in scoring, averaging 16.3 points per game. Of course, today will be difficult for the 6-2 guard, going against Duke's ACC-best defense.
Almost tip time. Let's get the hoops day started here in Cameron.
11:00 a.m., Tough morning: It will be hard to play a game as the news came out this morning that Kay Yow passed away after a long battle with breast cancer. She will be missed. She was one of the greatest women's coaches ever, and a great person as well. But Duke and Maryland will still have a game to play today.
