DUKE 66-63, final: Reggie Jackson hits a huge three to get BC within one, but Scheyer drills his free throws and Trapani’s buzzer beater clangs off the iron. Duke escapes with a 3-point win on the road.
DUKE 62-60, :26.9: It’s becoming a free throw game. BC has edged within 2.
DUKE 60-56, :55.2: BC takes a timeout after Raji nails two free throws. Andre Dawkins is getting ready to come in the game after 79+ minutes of inaction, with Duke clinging to a four-point lead.
DUKE 60-54, 1:22: Nolan Smith (who else?) hits a clutch layup after BC had closed the deficit to four with a pair of Roche free throws.
DUKE 56-48, 3:50: Scheyer hit a huge three from the top of the key out of the timeout, but Raji answered with a layup. Then Duke had an extremely long possession (3 missed shots) before Singler is fouled going for the bank. He’ll go to the line after the timeout.
DUKE 53-46, 5:07: Big sequence for BC. Nolan Smith had a sure fastbreak layup but was rejected by Sanders. He fed it upcourt to Jackson, who made the layup. The four-point swing has BC back within 7 and this crowd the loudest it’s been all day, by far.
DUKE 51-41, 7:30: Lots of missed shots for both teams in the last few minutes, but Duke is still up by 10. BC’s shot selection has been questionable at best, exemplified by Reggie Jackson’s ill-advised three that barely caught the rim. Duke’s experience is showing–they stopped the Eagles’ run before it became a real problem and are now back in control of the game.
Notable shooting numbers: Smith is 8-for-11 for 17 points, while Singler is just 4-for-12.
DUKE 48-39, 11:17: Duke stopped the bleeding in that four-minute stretch. Nolan Smith continues to impress for the Blue Devils, hitting a variety of shots off curls and cuts. Zoubek cleaned up an errant alleyoop pass from Scheyer to give Duke an 11-point lead at the 12:58 mark.
The Duke bench seems to be more actively involved in the game this half. They’ve been standing up for a good portion of the half, shouting directions to their teammates.
DUKE 37-33, 15:49: Duke’s still up by four, but the momentum seems to have shifted in favor of BC. The Blue Devils had two turnovers in that stretch that led to easy transition baskets for the Eagles. The crowd’s intensity is starting to pick up–it was as loud as it’s been all afternoon after Singler missed both of his free throws 30 seconds ago.
DUKE 35-29, 18:36 2nd: So much for putting the game away. BC has been the one to come out of the gates firing on all cylinders, scoring a quick four points to pull back within six. After Singler forced a tough shot for Duke, Rakim Sanders scored an easy bucket in transition, forcing Mike Krzyzewski to call timeout.
HALFTIME: A solid first half for Duke, as it pulled away late in a complete role reversal of last year’s game. The Blue Devils are up by a comfortable 10 points. They’ve been led by Scheyer, Smith and Singler, who have combined for 59 minutes and 29 points. Nolan Smith has been particularly sharp, shooting a cool 6-of-9 from the field. After starting 0-for-6 from beyond the arc, Duke made its last three long balls. BC, meanwhile, is still just 1-for-5 from deep and shot 44 percent for the half. If the Blue Devils can get another quick run early in the second half, they could put this game out of reach. This crowd is already looking deflated that the Eagles are down by double-digits.
DUKE 35-25, half: Smith spins and fires but misses from the right elbow. Zoubek is called for over-the-back, giving Dunn a chance for free throws, but he misses the front end of the 1-and-1. Duke goes into the break up by 10.
DUKE 35-25, :25.5: Singler just had a monster block, giving Duke the ball with a chance for the last shot before the half. It’s been a pretty solid half so far for the Blue Devils. Look for a play for Smith or Scheyer here.
DUKE 33-25, 1:35: Bench update: Still no sign of Dawkins, who is now approaching 60 minutes-plus of game-time without seeing the floor. Kelly has played a few minutes, but the majority of minutes have been going to the starters, particularly Scheyer, Smith and Singler.
DUKE 30-25, 2:26: An exciting five minutes, kicked off by a huge fastbreak dunk from Lance Thomas. Singler made Duke’s first 3 of the game a couple minutes later. The highlight, though, was Nolan Smith’s desperation three from the top of the key as the shot clock was winding down. That put the Blue Devils up by five, which is where the lead stands right now.
And if you’re wondering about playing in a hostile environment, it’s kind of loud in Conte Forum, but not overwhelming. The only discernible chant so far: “Scheyer… you suck!” So nothing creative. Or accurate.
BC 19-18, 7:25: BC takes the lead on a Raji stepback jumper from the free throw line extended. The Eagles are shooting 8-for-17–slightly worse than Duke–but that will be a stat to keep an eye on this afternoon. In Duke’s two worst losses of the year (NC State and Georgetown), it was absolutely torched from the field.
DUKE 18-17, 8:38: Still a tight game. Jon Scheyer got on the scoreboard on a layup about a minute ago. Ryan Kelly has gotten some playing and has looked solid. He had a nice feed inside to Miles Plumlee at the 10:44 mark, but Plumlee missed the shot and the ball went out of bounds to BC.
DUKE 16-13, 11:33: Duke is thankful for Nolan Smith right now. The junior is 4-for-6 for eight points, and he has been getting a lot of good lucks by moving aggressively without the ball. The Blue Devils are still struggling from long range, though. They’re 0-for-6, and Singler has already missed as many threes (two) as he did in the entire contest against Georgia Tech.
15:56 1st, DUKE 8-7: A back-and-forth first four minutes has the Blue Devils out to an early one-point lead. Nolan Smith has looked sharp for Duke so far, scoring on a couple of nice runners. Neither team has been able to get much going from long range, but that might not be such a bad thing for the Blue Devils–a lot of things went wrong in this game last year, but one of the biggest was the three-pointers made by Trapani and Tyrese Rice. Zoubek to the line for 2.
PREGAME: Duke is wearing blue for the first time in at least the last four away games.
PREGAME: We’re coming to you live from Silvio O. Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, Mass. The game definitely isn’t a sell-out, but it’s not a bad crowd for a more hockey-oriented school. In case anyone needs reminding, this game was a disaster last year. It was the end of the Greg Paulus/Nolan Smith point guard experiment, with Jon Scheyer shifting to the point the next game against St. John’s. Other story lines going into this game: How does Duke handle the quick turnaround after a win Thursday over Georgia Tech? Does Andre Dawkins get off the bench? Was Kyle Singler’s magnificent performance against the Yellow Jackets a sign of things to come?
Starting lineups: Duke–Singler, Miles Plumlee, Thomas, Smith, Scheyer. BC–Corey Raji, Joe Trapani, Josh Southern, Rakim Sanders, Biko Paris.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
I understood Duke to have very high academic standards. If so how do Zoubek and the Clumlees get in? Can’t Duke recruit a big man that is smarter than a bag of hammers? I know Zoubek is a lost cause but it’s getting on in the season and both of these guys continue to make dumb play after dumb play. Throw in Kelly to this equation also. Maybe its monkey see monkey do but unless these guys start to make smarter plays it will be an early exit again.
Both of Ryan Kelly’s parents are Ivy League graduates and he reportedly scored a 2100 on his SAT, so he’s not a dummy.
At first I didn’t understand your comment Bronson because Zoubek, the Plumlees and Kelly are actually some of the brightest players on our team. From what I have read, all four would have very well gotten into Duke were they not basketball players.
I know that wasn’t your point, I just wanted to throw that out there. That being said, productive big men are rare on the college level on a whole. Mason and Ryan are just freshman (and effectively Miles is too given how little he played last year) – give them time. Their talent is evident, their understanding of fast paced ACC basketball is not quite there yet. They foul, they get frustrated and controlling their emotions will come eventually.
My stance on this tends to be an unpopular one, but give me Brian Zoubek on our team any day. A good kid, works his butt off and does well in school. Yes maybe he hasnt met some of the fans’ lofty expectations when they see a 7 footer, but considering his slew of foot problems (which really can’t be under emphasized – those take a huge toll on big guys), Zoubek has turned into a dependable role player his senior year. He represents our university well and often unfairly turns into the scapegoat for fans when our team doesnt perform in March.
Perhaps some of the fault should lie with coaching? Considering that our big men get the ball so rarely, maybe they just overthink their moves out of fear that one turnover or missed layup will mean they dont see the ball the rest of the game (while Scheyer or Singler can repeatedly turn it over and take ill-advised threes to their heart’s content, yet play 40 minutes day in and day out).
Duke’s offense hasn’t been friendly towards big men the past few years. Even when K has talent in the post and on the wing, he prefers to go with the perimeter players. We see a lot of production from our guards and wings cause they are given a lot of freedom and opportunities to score. Our big men basically get junk layups and rebounds and until that changes, maybe our expectations of them should be tempered. Playing loose and relaxed aint exactly easy when you know you get two to three touches a game to ‘prove your worth’.
Also the reason our teams havent performed in march lately is because our GUARDS have stunk it up. Our offense is what it is and its not the big men who havent produced come the tournament – it’s lines like 5 of 23 that made us lose to Nova, not the big guys…
Don’t forget Zoubs is the 2nd best offensive rebounder per minutes played in the nation next to Demarcus Cousins. Also, Zoubs is an Academic All-American, just saying.