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Duke Gets Back On Track With 86-56 Win Over St. John's

By Jake Lloyd

Feb 23, 2008

DURHAM, N.C. — On Friday afternoon, Nolan Smith said that Duke failed to be the aggressor in back-to-back losses to Wake Forest and Miami.

"We weren't attacking the other team," Smith said. "We were being attacked. Early in games, teams were coming at us and really hitting us first. Then we'd try to throw a counterpunch, and that's not the way we've been playing all year.

"So we're going to come out Saturday and really try to hit St. John's first, attack them."

But the first four minutes of the Blue Devils' 86-56 win didn't exactly back up Smith's words. On Duke's first possession, upperclassmen Greg Paulus and DeMarcus Nelson — both tentative — muffed an exchange, turning the ball over. Then Lance Thomas' weak attempt at a layup was blocked.

At the 16-minute mark of the first half, the Devils (23-3) trailed the Red Storm (10-16) by five points, 9-4.

Enter Gerald Henderson.

The sophomore guard usually starts for the Devils, but since spraining his wrist in Duke's win over North Carolina Feb. 6, he had struggled. In four games, Henderson made just five of 19 field goals, scoring a combined 24 points.

So coach Mike Krzyzewski started Jon Scheyer for the first time this season, and like Scheyer usually does, Henderson responded strongly when he entered the game. He played at the level he competed at in Duke's first 21 games — and the other Devils noticed and followed suit.

"Fire" was the word Lance Thomas used to describe Henderson's play.

"G's a warrior," Thomas said. "He's been hiding it. And for him to actually bring that out — G's a hell of a player and he knows it. Him playing like that is going to be very vital to what we do in March."

Henderson didn't waste anytime in energizing the Devils' attack. First, he pulled up for his bread and butter midrange jumper. Then, he didn't wait a second to launch an open 3, which swished through the net. And finally, Henderson showed off his NBA potential, dribbling from the left side of the free-throw line to the right before abruptly jumping high in the air, turning and knocking down a fade-away jumper.

That shot gave Duke a 15-14 lead. The Storm retook the lead at 16-15, but a 3 by Kyle Singler gave the Devils the lead for good 18-16.

The rest of the Devils fed off Henderson's early explosion. On an afternoon where Paulus played a mere 4 minutes in the first half and finished with six points and a tongue-lashing from Krzyzewski and leading scorer Nelson scored only nine, Duke rediscovered what got it a No. 2 national ranking just last week.

Almost everyone contributed. Five players scored in double figures, led by Singler's 16 points. Eight players grabbed at least two rebounds to help Duke out-rebound St. John's 45-39. And everyone played defense.

Krzyzewski was overly animated during the first half, getting in the face of Nelson at one point and yelling only at his players and not the refs, as he quipped afterward. The Devils responded, holding the Storm to an awful 20-of-60 shooting performance and forcing 18 turnovers.

The Storm's leading scorer, Anthony Mason Jr., was held to four points on 2-of-11 shooting.

"I got very emotional throughout the first half, because that's (communication on defense) what I was trying to get from my guys," Krzyzewski said. "I don't think I said one thing to an official — it was all my team.

"I was all (to) my team, 'C'mon! Give it up. Open up. Talk.' You know, that brings everybody together, and we still have to do a better job with that."

The 56 points were the least Duke allowed since beating Eastern Kentucky in late November, and the performance was a far cry from the 96 points and 57 percent shooting the Devils gave up to Miami on Wednesday.

Once Henderson entered the game, the Devils were never on their heels. Unlike in their two recent losses, they didn't settle for outside shots. Instead, they focused on driving to the basket — or in Henderson's case, pulling up for short jumpers — and when the defense collapsed, they took the open 3s in the offense's rhythm.

Duke made 10 of 25 shots from behind the arc, a big improvement from its 8-of-28 and 15-of-37 performances against Wake Forest and Miami, respectively.

"I don't think we took one bad 3," Singler said. "It was either in transition, which is a good shot for us, or off the kick-(out). Those are the shots that coach wants us to shoot."

And when the Storm didn't collapse inside, the Devils took the ball strong to the basket. All season, it has been said that Duke lacks an inside presence. Thomas and 7-foot-1 reserve Brian Zoubek had something to say about that Saturday.

Zoubek played his best game of the season, scoring 11 points and grabbing 13 rebounds in 20 minutes of action. When Zoubek's put-back layup gave Duke a 83-52 lead late in the game, a group of Cameron Crazies hurriedly did some research to see if Zoubek, indeed, had recorded his first career double-double. When they learned that he had, they chanted, "Zoubek! You've got a double-double!"

"All I can say is, I feel really good and I'm getting close to where I think I should be," Zoubek said. "I just keep building every game.

"(A game like this) is huge, especially just to have confidence in my being able to do it physically. With my cardio coming back, I think the confidence will really help me to build every game and just improve."

Krzyzewski said that since it appears Zoubek has recovered from a nagging foot injury, Duke will tweak its offense a little bit to get him more scoring opportunities in the past.

"Brian is an asset and now we know that he's going to be with us," Krzyzewski said. "His foot has responded to the last one and a half, two weeks, and now we have to put some plays in where he gets some touches.

"There is some newness, but I think it's good newness."

But Henderson's recovery from his wrist injury might be even more important than Zoubek's expanding role. He was back to his high-flying ways Saturday, soaring for two alley-oop dunks and finishing with 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting.

When Henderson threw down his second slam of the game, No. 5 Duke took its biggest lead at that point of 79-47. Memories of the first few minutes — and the two-game losing skid — were all but forgotten.

"He was good off the bench for us," Nelson said. "He sparked us, and that really got us going.

"(When) you have an injury, the longer you have to play with it (and) the longer you get treatment on it, it's gong get better. … Understand what you can do and what you can't do. I think he's starting to really play (well) with that."

After Henderson's nine points helped push Duke to a 47-29 halftime lead, Nelson took the reins to begin the second half. First, he took an inbounds pass outside of the 3-point arc and bulled his way down the center of the lane for a thunderous dunk. A couple minutes later, he stole a pass near midcourt and sliced toward the basket.

As Nelson neared the free-throw line, he cut to his right to avoid a defender trying to draw a charge and laid the ball just over the rim, drawing the foul as well. The fast-break score gave Duke a 60-37 advantage.

And it was representative of the mindset the Devils came out with after being pushed around for two games.

"It wasn't on the (white) board, but that was the word of emphasis — attack," Singler said.