On January 30, 2010, the Duke Blue Devils ventured away from the friendly confines of Cameron Indoor Stadium to face a Big East matchup in a hostile environment. They entered the game as favorites, and exited the game having been thoroughly demolished. A year later, it is painfully clear how Duke chose to celebrate the anniversary: through a reenactment.
Early in yesterday’s game, St. Johns punched Duke squarely on the nose and never let up. Duke turned over the ball 17 times, while shooting a horrendous 5 of 26 from three point range. However, Duke’s three point shooting was actually worse than those numbers suggest, as the Blue Devils made only 1 of their first 22 three pointers, before going on a “hot streak.” But as poor as the Blue Devils shooting was last night, offense was not the problem.
In reality, the problem was on the other end of the court. Consider that, when Duke scores 78 points, the defense is usually more than capable of holding the opponent below a winning margin. Not the case last night, as the Red Storm exposed what is normally one of the best defensive teams in the country. They did it by going inside, early and often. Using a combination of drive-and-dish, back door cuts, front door cuts, side-window cuts – essentially passing and moving the ball with complete freedom around the key – St. Johns took the ball to the interior for easy baskets, possession after possession after hair-pulling possession. The end result? St. Johns shot 58% from the floor and cruised to a 15 point win.
It’s a tough loss, but there were still a few positives. Though the entire squad was cold from three, Duke’s offensive spacing was actually generating plenty of open looks; the shots were simply not falling. Also, though down by over twenty points, Duke’s seniors never gave up, making hustle plays and showing heart throughout the second half. In other words, Nolan Smith and Kyle Singler led by example, as seniors should. That is certainly something to build on, which the team will have to do, as they jump right back in to the ACC schedule with a Wednesday game at Maryland.
