Don’t be fooled by the final score, the Blue Devils had their hands full Saturday afternoon. After struggling for over half the game, the Duke Blue Devils rallied in the second half to take down the Virginia Cavaliers, 76-60.
The Blue Devils trailed for nearly 30 full minutes against a team that most predicted would finish near the bottom of the ACC this year…a team also without their best player (Mike Scott).
Despite the struggles, Duke improved to 16-1 on the season, 3-1 in the ACC.
SO WHAT JUST HAPPENED?
SHOOTING SLUMPS
For the fourth time in only four ACC games, Duke struggled to put the orange, round ball into the basket. For the game, they finished at 46-percent. However, that percentage was masked by a strong finish where Duke made 14 of their final 23 shots.
So far in four ACC games, Duke is hitting just 40-percent from the floor.
In particular, they’re struggling early in games to nail threes. Against Miami, Duke started 1-6 from three. That was the good game. Against Maryland, Duke started 1-12, not hitting their first three until the four minute mark in the first half. Against Florida State, they hit none of their first 10 three-point shots. Against Virginia, it was another 1-11 start.
IT’S NOT JUST SHOOTING
Every team has a cold streak. As bad as Duke has been shooting the ball of late, it’s just a cold streak. It will end. Unfortunately shooting isn’t Duke’s only problem. Four the fourth time in four ACC games, Duke had more turnovers than assists. Against Virginia, they had 13 assists to 15 turnovers. In four ACC games, they only have 41 assists to 59 turnovers.
OUR HERO
Nolan Smith again put the scoring load onto his shoulders. While everyone else failed to hit a shot, he kept shooting. Thankfully enough went in. He finished with 29, dishing out six assists and grabbing seven rebounds. He’s now scoring like J.J Redick did back in his day. Nolan has scored over 25 in four of Duke’s last six games.
While Smith didn’t push the ball down low too often, he also didn’t live and die at the three-point line. He struggled at 1-6 from deep, but he really was on fire with his mid-range jumper. For the game, he hit 9-13 from two-point land.
THE DECIDERS
There were a lot of reasons why Duke lost against Florida State earlier this week, but one huge factor was the way Andre Dawkins and Seth Curry played. They couldn’t hit a three if you spotted them two. Against Virginia, the pair again started ice cold. They combined to hit only one shot in the first 24 minutes of the game.
However, Dawkins’ sudden ability to hit a long range shot was the spark that Duke needed in the second half. During the 10-minute run that saw the Blue Devils turn a nine-point deficit into a 10-point lead, Dawkins score 12, hitting all four of his shots. Curry was able to chip in seven, including five of the first seven during that run.
Listen, Duke fans can not and should not expect Duke’s big men to suddenly turn into stars this year. However, what this team can’t do is become a two-man offense of Smith and Singler. Curry and Dawkins are legit scorers and if both are having off nights, Duke will lose.
ZOUB-LITE
Prior to the start of the season, all the talk was about how Duke would be better underneath the basket, because Mason Plumlee was a more gifted athlete, thus Mason could actually participate in the offense more than Brian Zoubek ever could.
Now with Irving out and Mason’s numbers way down, at this point I’d be happy if Mason can produce Zoubek-type numbers. Tonight, was a good start.
Mason got his first start in a while and wasted little time dominating the boards. He grabbed nine in the games’ first 13 minutes and finished with 16 for the game.
Offensively Mason is just not there yet. He’s certainly not hesitating like he did last year, so that’s good. Yet he’s still not a good finisher. Twice he pulled down a offensive rebound, both times he missed it and thankfully both times Kyle Singler was able to grab his miss and put it through the hoop.
Mason also turned it over four times. It was the third time in five games he’s turned it over at least four times. He’s got amazing athletic ability, but he still has hands of stone.
CAN’T STOP THE DRIVE
Since starting ACC play, Duke has had to face quicker, athletic guards and so far the results have not been great. Guards are having little trouble penetrating into the paint. Nolan Smith is Duke’s best outside defender, but even he is limited.
Of course this was an issue last year, but the difference was, Jon Scheyer was able to use his height and length to bother smaller, faster guards.
I’m not sure there will be an answer to this problem. I think Thornton has been exposed the last past two games and I suspect we won’t be seeing much more of him any time soon. Curry would be idea, but I just don’t think he has to goods right now on the defensive end.
WHERE’S MILES?
Two games, 10 total minutes. What the hell is going on? Did I miss something? Two weeks ago, while he certainly wasn’t dominating, he looked like the only big man who was sort of looking like a post-player. Yet, he’s disappeared from the lineup. I just don’t get it. Speaking of the lineup…
HEY COACH, SET A LINEUP
I got nothing but love for Coach K. I would never question the man, but lord can we pick a starting lineup and rotation and stick with it? Every game there’s a new starting five. One game it’s Seth, the next it’s Andre. One week Mason is stuck on the bench, the next it’s Miles.
I’m sorry, but I believe it’s important for a player to know his role. I just do.
STAT OF THE GAME: Ryan Kelly took seven shots. None were three-pointers. If you were like me, you were getting a bit tired of seeing Kelly miss open three after three after three. Yes, I know he won the three-point shooting contest at the McDonald’s game. I don’t care anymore. So far in college, he’s hitting under 30-percent from deep.
Over the last few weeks, Ryan has lived on that three-point shot. He had taken 13 three-point shots and made only one. He’s a big man. We need his size inside, grabbing rebounds, producing points in the paint.
FINAL DEEP THOUGHT:
Duke will fall out of the top spot when the new polls come out. Hopefully some, if not all, of the championship talk will land on the remaining undefeated teams’ shoulders.
The fact is, Duke is still learning how to play basketball without Irving. Even the coaches are trying to figure out how to coach a Irving-less team. The reality is, I’m no longer confident that this year’s team could beat last year’s team.
Again we don’t have an inside score and we don’t have great athletes on the perimeter. Now if this team is shooting well, they’re unbeatable. But when they’re not, they will struggle to beat a bad Virginia team also missing their best player.
Looking ahead, the Blue Devils have an important game in Raleigh. NC State is not a great team. They’ve already lost six games this year, including two in a row, both on the road in the ACC.
However, this Wolfpack team is better than last year’s Wolfpack team and that team kicked Duke’s ass last year at home. The reality is, Duke is going to get NC State’s best shot. They are desperate for a signature win. The crowd is going to be wild Wednesday night. The Wolfpack have a couple of young, lightening quick guards, a solid big man in Tracy Smith and an athletic forward (C.J. Leslie) whose length could cause trouble for Kyle Singler.
As good as I may think this Duke team is, would you be shocked if they lost to NC State?