79 - 72 Duke blew it. It’s as simple as that. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not about to take anything away from Maryland, but the Blue Devils, and in particularly Jon Scheyer, threw this one away at the end (more on that in a minute).
In the end, the Blue Devils will get some love from me. They walked into a Maryland Monsoon tonight and went toe-to-toe with a solid team (trust me, we refused all season to sell Maryland short). This was the biggest game in over seven years at Maryland. It was senior night. On top of that, the Terps rolled out of the gate, shooting 60%. The fans were rocking the yellow, emotions were blowing the roof off, everything said blowout in the making, but…
Duke didn’t bend. They didn’t break. They rallied and made a game of it. In the end, Duke made the mistakes, Maryland didn’t. Let’s not forget, these two exact teams played three weeks ago in Durham and the Terps walked away 21-point losers.
SO WHAT DID I SEE?
SCHEYER FUMBLES AWAY THE ACC POY
Wow, talk about a rough ending for the man who is reason number one for Duke’s success this year. Just look at the last two minutes. Jon hits a two-pointer that ties it at 69-69. After Jordan Williams gets a put back, giving Maryland the lead, Scheyer brings the ball down and before anyone can get back with him, he fires up a three with Vasquez in his face. Missed badly.
Vasquez then takes it back down and lays up a huge two, giving Maryland the lead. Then Scheyer follows that up by driving way too deep into the trees, throwing up a awful shot. He misses, Maryland sinks two free throws. Down six, Scheyer again drives deep into the lane, gets stuck and throws it away/missed a bad shot…who cares, really.
It was such a shame too, because after a rough start, Scheyer was playing great, In fact, he was out-playing Vasquez. Yet those two final minutes are going to stick in my head for a while only because it’s exactly what I was talking about last week:
Scheyer’s problem hasn’t been tired legs, the issue is simple, he’s taking bad shots inside the paint. Too often Scheyer has drove the ball way too deep inside, got caught among the trees and thrown up a ton of bad shots/lay ups. That’s it. Instead of shooting smart like a senior, he’s shooting dump like a sophomore.
Tonight, in the final two minutes, he played like a freshman.
ZOUBEK DIDN’T GRAB THE ONE REBOUND HE NEEDED
Again, lots of props for Zoubek tonight. The man dislocates his finger, comes back and owns the glass. He finished with 13 boards and you can’t help but be impressed with those numbers, yet…
He failed to grab the one rebound the team needed. With the game tied with a 1:44 on the clock, Mosley missed a jumper. Zoubek was in great position, but the freshman, Williams, took it away from him and put it back for a deuce.
However, it wasn’t just that final rebound. After dominating in the paint in the first 10-12 minutes of the second half, Zoubek disappears from the stat sheet. In fact, he failed to grab a single rebound in the final eight minutes. I appreciate the finger, but it’s those final eight minutes when we need the Big Z.
STATS TO END ALL STATS
There are plenty of numbers you can point to when tying to figure out how Duke lost this game, but I’m going to give you the one that counts. Duke pulled down an impressive 14 offensive rebounds (11 of which were in the first half). Good, right?
In total, Duke produced a total of six points off those 14 offensive rebounds. Yet, it’s even worse. Three of those points came from Dawkins with 13 seconds on the clock.
Breakdown: 14 offensive rebounds, two made shots, one trip to the free throw line (Smith went 1-2), nine missed shots and two turnovers, both committed by Jon Scheyer (although one was that bullsh*t traveling call).
10:20, TWO BASKETS…ALL FOR NOTHING
You would think the most frustrating part of the game was the beginning when Maryland jumped out to a 33-19 lead, but it wasn’t. I knew Maryland, a good team, was riding high with emotion. I knew we’d probably get back into it. The worse part was in the beginning of the second half.
Duke had shutdown Maryland. They made only two baskets in ten minutes. Yet in the second half, Duke couldn’t hit a shot. They were shutting Maryland down, but Duke couldn’t hit an open look. That was the moment I knew Duke might be in trouble. You have to put these teams way when they’re ice cold, especially on the road.
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Is there any doubt? While neither Vasquez or Scheyer dominated this game, in the end, Vasquez nailed the most important shot of the year, while Jon Scheyer fumbled his away. It depresses me to say it, but Greivis Vasquez is my ACC player of the Year.
The fact is, the award was Jon’s all season long. But down the stretch, he started making mistakes and got himself into a slump (even while Duke kept winning). Vasquez though, he just got better after a awful start to the season.
MARYLAND FANS REALLY DO SUCK
I love passionate fans and I appreciate Maryland fans’ passion. I really do and I have no problem with opposing fans taunting college players. It’s part of the game, but Maryland fans, could you really be any lamer?
First, the only chants they could come up with all night was, “Fuck Jon Schyer.” and “Fuck Duke.” That’s really the best you can do? My nine-year-old nephew can curse. At least last year the “Scheyer faces” were funny.
Secondly, has Maryland ever beaten Duke and not stormed the court? Seriously, you’re a top-25 team. And Maryland wonders why we don’t see them as rivals, no matter how hard they want to be. Do you ever see Carolina fans storming the court when they beat Duke?
We’ll start treating you like equals when you start acting like you actually belong.
I guess we’ll see you in the ACC Finals.
