DURHAM, N.C.—The UNC Tar Heels struck first Saturday night against the Duke Blue Devils in Durham, taking the first lead of the game on a made Marcus Ginyard free throw. It was their only lead. Duke’s Schmingler—the composite scoring machine of Jon Scheyer, Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith, whose combined 65 points alone would have bested the Tar Heels by 15—hit consecutive three-pointers, launching a masterful run that put them up by 22 points less than 11 minutes into the contest. And when the game clock expired, ending what’s been an often-surprising ACC regular season for both squads, Duke gave its four seniors a proper sendoff with a 32-point victory over their biggest rivals.
“We played a full 40 minutes,” said Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski after the game. “Our defensive intensity was there throughout. We really cared for the ball offensively.”
Indeed, Duke looked as good as it has all year on its way to the rout of a UNC team that withered against Duke’s swarming man-to-man defense and could do little to control Duke’s motion-heavy offense. The starting Devils perimeter had no turnovers and just nine overall, while UNC gave it away 15 times and grabbed nine less rebounds than their opponent.
The defeat didn’t take long: In a lights-out first half, Duke shot better than 51 percent from the field and hit seven of 13 three-point shots. Smith landed and was fouled on consecutive layups, too, converting both three-point plays. UNC showed a spark of life late in the half, going on a 10-4 run as they finally crept beyond the double-digit point barrier. Despite a commanding 16-point lead, Krzyzewski called a furious 30-second timeout and demanded they get back on defense. He didn’t have to shout twice. UNC made just two more field goals in the last five minutes of the half, and Duke sprinted to the locker room with a 27-point lead. Continue reading »
DURHAM, N.C.—The Duke Blue Devils sprinted to a 14-4 lead in the first seven minutes Thursday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium, capitalizing on a series of turnovers and a spate of poor shooting from the field by the visiting Tulsa Golden Hurricane. But then the torpor set in: During the most consistently quiet half this season in Durham, the Devils let Tulsa not only creep within reach during the next 10 minutes but even tie the game at 28-28 late in the first half.
During that span, Duke missed five three-pointers and allowed the Hurricane to move to the basket quickly. In fact, in the first half, Tulsa shot against Duke 35 times, just one attempt shy of a season high against the Devils. Still, though the Hurricane hit a higher percentage from the floor than the Devils, Duke headed into the locker room with a four-point lead.
“I thought we felt we were going to be able to knock them out, and they’re not a team that’s going to get knocked out,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said of the first half after the game. “We looked rushed.”
The start of the second half didn’t look any better: Tulsa’s excellent seven-foot senior center Jerome Jordan began the half with another dunk. Tulsa followed with two free throws from guard Justin Hurtt. But as they’ve often done this season, when this streaky Duke team turned it on, they refused to relent. Over the next six minutes, Duke presented one of its most balanced stretches of basketball yet this season, with points, a steal and an assist from Brian Zoubek, an assist from Lance Thomas, points and an assist from Mason Plumlee, two blocks from Kyle Singler, two three-pointers from Jon Scheyer and strong contributions from Nolan Smith on both ends of the floor. At the nine-minute mark, the Devils were up by 20 points. Continue reading »
It was the battle to avoid last place: When the N.C. State Wolfpack visited the Dean E. Smith Center late Saturday afternoon in Chapel Hill, the circumstances were much different than they were last February, when UNC had only three season losses and was charging convincingly toward the school’s fifth national title. But the Tar Heels’ woes have been largely on par with those of the Wolfpack this season. Both teams came into today’s game with 11 losses each—eight for the Wolfpack in conference play and seven for the Tar Heels. And both teams dropped ACC contests at home Wednesday night, putting them neck and neck—or perhaps it’s feet and feet—for last place in the ACC.
Today, though, somebody had to win, and during a weekend in which alumni from the last seven decades of UNC’s century of men’s basketball gathered to celebrate tradition in Chapel Hill, it was the Tar Heels. With about five minutes left in the first half, the Tar Heels took the lead for the fifth time and, this time, didn’t relinquish it.
“What I felt is that it’s a wonderful weekend, and I told the kids, ‘Let’s do our part,’” UNC coach Roy Williams said of the festivities after the victory. Williams improved to 19-1 versus the Wolfpack. “I didn’t feel like it would be a great weekend if we didn’t do our part. I did emphasize that for this to be a really fantastic weekend, we had to play.” Continue reading »
CHAPEL HILL, N.C.—During Wednesday’s entire first half in Chapel Hill, the Duke Blue Devils scored only six points inside the paint, all on second-chance putbacks, none off of set plays. So it was appropriate and certainly not surprising when, with just seven minutes remaining in the tied game, freshman Mason Plumlee locked up a rebound, stepped, and dunked the ball behind his head after yet another Kyle Singler miss from the floor.
Before that dunk, the Devils and the UNC Tar Heels had traded the lead 11 times in a game that seemed more about withstanding errors like missed free throws and bad passes than actual execution. But after that slam, it was all Duke in a tenacious, low-scoring 64-54 win, winning for only the third time in the last 10 meetings of the legendary rivalry.
“Mason’s play on that offensive rebound reverse dunk was huge—not just for the two points,” said Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski after the game, noting that it did break the tie. “But for his teammates to see the ball go in with that force.” Continue reading »
DURHAM, N.C—Duke rebounded from a disastrous loss over the weekend at Georgetown with a win against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, the frontcourt-heavy squad that handed the Devils their second loss of the year in early January. The Devils took the long, arrhythmic, foul-heavy game with, well, rebounds and its best percentage performance from beyond the arc all season. Meanwhile, The Jackets’ foul trouble—eight team fouls in the first seven minutes against a Duke team that’s shot above 77 percent from the charity stripe this season—benched its highest scorers, Derrick Favors and Gani Lawal, for much of the first half.
Kyle Singler scored 30 points, besting his previous career high of 28 with eight three pointers, six of them coming in the second half. Mason Plumlee showed flashes of brilliance, too, piling on a rebound, a three-pointer (his second of the year) and a hard dunk during a crucial minute-long stretch late in the first half. Ryan Kelly added his first three since mid-December, and Lance Thomas led both teams in rebounds, grabbing 11 boards in another one of his impressive defensive stands.
“It was a high-level game, very physical,” said Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewksi. “During all of that physicality, we didn’t turn it over.”
Jon Scheyer had 22 points against Florida State Wednesday night (Photo: Duke Photography)
DURHAM, N.C.—Jon Scheyer’s floating jump shot sure seemed a lot like salvation Wednesday night for the Duke Blue Devils: After pushing their lead against the Florida State Seminoles to a game-high 16 points, the Devils froze on their home court, going without so much as a point for five minutes. Layups, free throws and steals by the Seminoles had trimmed the lead to four. What’s more, Lance Thomas picked up his third personal foul in that span; Kyle Singler, his fourth. Though the Seminoles had only three team fouls, Duke had already gathered nine, giving Florida State an early bonus with nearly nine minutes left. Duke’s big men weren’t scoring, and Schmingler wasn’t hitting, either.
But Scheyer, who led the Devils with 22 points en route to a 70-56 victory, stepped just under the arc and nailed a difficult shot under pressure. The team seemed to rebuild around the make. It certainly wasn’t a panacea for Duke—Scheyer, after all, turned it over as the shot clock expired 40 seconds later, and the Devils continued to struggle with mediocre shooting. After the crowd erupted with Scheyer’s hit, though, Duke’s lead wasn’t questioned for the next eight minutes.
“When it got down to 51-47 and they’re shooting free throws, it’s a game that, when you’re playing at home, there is almost more pressure on you,” explained Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski, “because you can be a little hesitant.”
That swing in momentum came in part from a defensive shift by Duke: Coming out of a timeout, the Devils switched briefly from man-to-man defense to a zone. They took the ball away from Florida State the first time down the court, resulting in a Brian Zoubek put-back off of a Nolan Smith miss. Kyle Singler followed with a crucial three off of a Smith rebound and Scheyer assist, pushing the advantage back into double digits. Smith, who scored 11 points, missed another drive, but Lance Thomas sustained Duke’s push with a tap-in. Continue reading »
RALEIGH, N.C.—When the N.C. State Wolfpack lose at home, watching the stands at RBC Center feels a bit like watching a bloodstain leave cotton fabric in a spin cycle: Every few minutes, or with each new timeout or stop in play, another chunk of the school colors—deep red T-shirts and sweaters and twisted-balloon hats, or black blazers and North Face jackets—lifts from the cushioned chairs of the arena, disappearing up the concrete stairs. Staring down a loss, N.C. State fans are notorious for their expedient escape, and in its vibrant hue, the exodus always seems more dramatic than it should.
Tuesday night, that stain lifted a bit slower than one might have expected against the UNC-Chapel Hill Tar Heels, college basketball’s defending national champions. Of course, the Tar Heels haven’t had an easy year themselves, having dropped seven games coming into Raleigh tonight, including their last three by a combined 34 points. Ed Davis, the sophomore forward who was second in scoring for UNC coming into the contest, was questionable for action with an ankle injury.
And for a bit, it seemed as if the Wolfpack were going to prevent UNC from landing their first true road victory of the season. N.C. State, who stopped the Duke Blue Devils from earning their first away win just last week, led by five points five minutes into the second half, thanks to a 22-8 run that stretched back into the first half. But the Pack went disastrously cold after that lead stalled at five, making just one field goal during the next 14 minutes of play. When the Pack offense finally began to show signs of life with under four minutes left in the game, it was too late: The 28-9 run had put the Tar Heels up by 14 points, and the seats were emptying with urgency. During an official timeout with 49 seconds left, the stairways suggested diaspora, flooded with a stream of disappointed red, headed back into the encroaching January cold. Continue reading »
Dennis Horner and the kids, Wednesday night after the Wolfpack upset Duke
RALEIGH, N.C.—The N.C. State Wolfpack women’s basketball team went dancing in Raleigh Wednesday night. As hundreds of fans stormed the court before the clock could even expire as the States men defeated the No. 6-ranked Duke University Blue Devils 88-74, the women’s team—who’d been introduced during a time-out—waltzed onto the floor, claimed their corner and celebrated.
“I didn’t know they were going to storm the court,” said a N.C. State Coach Sidney Lowe, smiling about the red-and-white student throng. “When I turned around and saw the kids all over the court the court, I thought, ‘This is what it’s all about.’”
Indeed, Wednesday night’s surprise Wolfpack victory—surprise in the sense that the team picked to finish last in this year’s topsy-turvy ACC outplayed and defeated the team picked to finish first—was a major one for a State team that was close to the ropes. With six losses and a tough slate of conference games in the coming weeks, the win could redirect the Wolfpack season, which, so far, has been full of inconsistent shooting, torpid play and tough losses. Continue reading »
Nolan Smith's 24 pushed the Devils to a 79-59 victory Wednesday. (Courtesy: Duke Photography)
DURHAM, N.C.—It was an anxious first half for Duke’s Crazy Towel Guy: During nearly every Duke home game, the Cameron Crazies collectively chant his name in staccato secession—“Crazy Towel Guy”—until Herb Neubauer, the bald, bespectacled and legendary fan who sits high at center court, stands, howls and waves a white-and-blue towel around his head in tight little circles. Against Boston College Wednesday night, though, he needed no encouragement, at least in the first half. Less than eight minutes into the game, and then again, eight minutes later, Neubauer stood at his seat, screaming to the court, the towel falling limply from his left hand as he pleaded with his faltering Devils to pick up their game.
After a loss Saturday to Georgia Tech in Atlanta, everyone in Cameron Indoor Stadium expected the Blue Devils to return in dramatic fashion, to crush an Eagles team that’s struggled consistently this year and who lost to Maine in Boston earlier this month. But the Eagles had other plans, handing Duke their third consecutive half of challenging, physical play. They matched the Devils in nearly every statistical column for those 20 minutes, posting 14 rebounds to Duke’s 16, three steals to Duke’s four, and only six turnovers to Duke’s seven. Duke missed five of six threes, with both Jon Scheyer and Kyle Singler missing two each. Mason Plumlee faltered on an under-the-basket put-back, while Nolan Smith flubbed an open court dunk. The Eagles found ways to score, though, matching Duke’s one three-pointer but, more importantly, scoring several points in the paint after dashing through the Devils’ defense. Duke’s two-man traps in the backcourt allowed the Eagles several chances to get in front of the squad, and—in a first half where the lead changed 12 times—they landed a load of easy shots. Boston College center Josh Southern ended the half with seven, while sophomore guard Reggie Jackson slashed for many of his nine, including an emphatic dunk that put the Eagles ahead 25-24. Continue reading »
Duke's Jon Scheyer scored 22 points versus Clemson Sunday night (Photo courtesy of Duke Photography)
CAMERON INDOOR STADIUM/ DURHAM—It certainly wasn’t going to get easier: Though the Duke University Blue Devils shot a mere 39 percent during first half of the team’s Sunday night ACC opener at home versus the Clemson Tigers, the Devils’ strangling defense—which closed passing lanes and refused the Tigers the chance to establish any half-court rhythm—limited Clemson to 16 percent from the floor and just 12 points in the first 20 minutes. That’s a season low for the Tigers by nearly half. What’s more, Trevor Booker, the Tigers’ dominant forward, had scored only two, harassed as much by the long arms and body of Duke senior Lance Thomas as he was by a tempo that limited his explosiveness. Of course, it wasn’t going to last. Continue reading »
Kyle on "UNC holds off pesky NCCU with big second half, awaits selection committee": Mike Potter does Triangle sports fans a wonderful service by providing a unique perspective of events that may not otherwise receive media coverage. Thanks Mike for all you have done and continue to do in your outstanding career as a journalist and an ambassador for the Triangle.
caniacgirl on "Peters and pipes pickpocket a peck of prickly Penguins": I absolutely love the headline! Games like this one definitely reignite the little bit of playoff hope I have left in me. It should be an interesting few weeks that's for sure.
Greg Nccu Student on "Miller leads NCCU to 11th victory": There are a lot of Rumors on Campus about Joanna Miller leaving NCCU next year. Please Coach Robinson, We need to keep this player from gong to another College.
