Only up 1 at halftime, trailing by as many as 3 with 10 minutes left, Duke survived a serious upset bid tonight against Kent State 79-72. All year, the Blue Devils have won on their staple defense. Tonight, they out slugged Kent State and were lackadaisical on the defensive end. I can't remember a Duke team giving up so many open looks from the perimeter before. Fortunately, for the Devils, their offensive was finally in sync after about a month absence. In the preview, I looked for Kent State to get most of their points from their star guard Gates but it was the omnipresent Omni Smith, who tallied 33 points and almost gave the Golden Flash the upset.
Tonight, the defense was very poor but let's look at the uniqueness of the Kent State team. They basically played 5 guards the whole game considering their center had 10 assists tonight. It's very tough the deny passing lanes and pressure the ball when such speed is on the floor. This game reminded me of the 1st Round NCAA Tournament game against Deleware State two years ago. Deleware State started 5 guards, spread the floor, used the clock, and then dribble penetrated. For about 35 minutes, they stayed even with Duke. I believe the final score was 57-46 or something like that but it was much closer and a game they could've easily lost to a #16 seed.
Josh McRoberts had a historic night tallying 19 points, 6 blocks, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, and 4 steals. He became the first player in Duke's rich history to have at least 4 in each of those five categories, which is an astounding feat. Jon Sheyer, especially early on, was spectacular. He hit 3 consecutive 3 pointers that turned a 4-2 defecit into a 16-4 lead. He was a little shaky with the ball at the end of the game though. DeMarcus Nelson had 18 points and 6 rebounds as well and hit a huge three that essentially sealed the game making it 65-57 after a brilliant feed by Greg Paulus.
Now, to Paulus. I've been scratching my head all year at Paulus. He reminds me of Chris Duhon when he was a Junior. So many expectations and pressure on his shoulders and it really got to him. In New York, the front page of the paper consists of something about the War in Iraq but when I was in North Carolina, the front page consisted of an article on why Paulus has been struggling. The kid is under a great deal of scrutiny and many people fail to realize that he is only a month into his sophomore season. I'll admit he's been shaky but his assists numbers are down because JJ and Shelden are gone. They made everybody better. The problem with Paulus is that I've seen the potential in him to be a dominate PG at this level but he has yet to fulfill it with any type of consistency. Again, I will hark back to a game last year against Memphis when he made those athletic guards look silly on the defensive end, constantly penetrating and kicking to an open guy. He was sensational and I don't know if it's the foot, the pressure or a lack of confidence but he doesn't dribble penetrate anymore. Despite turning the ball over, he really played his butt off tonight. He may have made the two biggest plays of the game: 1) the steal with 1 minute left up 5 after the turnover when Kent State had a 2 on 1 and 2) the 3 pointer he hit from the corner when Duke was reeling and losing by 1 with about 10 minutes left in the game.
Two negatives: Lance Thomas was out of control tonight and picked up 3 quick and stupid fouls and that landed him on the bench and Brian Zoubek cannot for his life play man-to-man defense and until he learns how to, his minutes will keep diminishing. Let's give him some time though considering he played nothing but zone in high school. Overall, I liked the effort but not the execution especially defensively.
Next up for Duke is Gonzaga, one year too late at MSG. I will be there so they better not lose. In my own little fantasy world, I want to believe that they will beat Gonzaga but in the real world, it will be really tough and they would have to play an outstanding game. Don't look for Gonzaga to get overwhelmed by the mystique of MSG either since they just played 2 games there a month ago, beating UNC and losing to Butler. But, since Duke played so poorly tonight, especially defensively, I expect them to put out a much better effort defensively and I don't know, maybe I am trying to make this team better than they are, but I feel like they will pull it out using their staple defense.
Prediction Duke 66 Gonzaga 63 (Ravio missed 3 at the buzzer)
No comments:
Post a Comment