Duke Runs Down Marquette, 77-73
What a difference a year makes: last year, Duke not only lost to Marquette, but it couldn’t close out an athletic team. This year looks to be a different story.
Duke and Marquette put on a tremendous show in Hawaii, with the game never fully in Duke’s grasp until the end, when Kyle Singler’s free throws provided the final margin, lifting Duke to a 77-73 lead with 13 seconds left.
Marquette gave Duke a real challenge. They are a veteran, athletic team, full of guys who can run and jump, and some excellent big guys who pushed Duke inside.
But Duke won, and it wasn’t by accident. Last year, Dominic James tormented the Devils, seemingly scoring at will. This season? He scored 12 points, but on 4-12 shooting. Duke’s defense was solid throughout. Marquette made a couple of big runs, but the defense won out in the end. And even better, there was a certain amount of adversity in this game, which could have derailed Duke, but didn’t.
Gerald Henderson and DeMarcus Nelson got in foul trouble, which could have really hurt. But they didn’t foul out, and the team continued to perform well as a whole.
Henderson played like maybe he was tired or sick, shooting only 2-7 for seven points. Last season, Duke couldn’t afford a game like that from a key player. This season, at least this game, they shrugged it off.
And to be clear, the Devils made some serious mistakes at the end, but managed to get through them, which is also good news.
We were really impressed by Lance Thomas’s performance, too. It was arguably his best game at Duke. He was aggressive, confident, and really showed that his grasp of the game has improved tremendously. In our minds, the right comparison for Lance is John Smith from the late 1980s, who was also 6-7 and had a knack for outplaying bigger guys. Thomas may be getting that himself.
Despite a near-disastrous turnover at the end, Greg Paulus played a solid game, highlighted by a spectacular open-court pass to Kyle Singler which must have brought back his quarterback days. Paulus lofted a beautiful pass over everyone else and dropped it right into Singler’s hands for a breakaway layup. It was tremendous.
Singler ended up winning the MVP trophy, and for Duke fans, perhaps the best part of his performance…well, let’s make it two best parts. The first was that he has begun to hit his three point shots. Earlier he seemed hesitant and missed them. Against Marquette, he nailed them. And while earlier int this tournament he was content to get pushed around, in this game, he showed that that is over. Singler pushed back and refused to back down to anyone.
Jon Scheyer continued his smart play off the bench. He only scored two points, but he had four assists and contributed to the solid defensive effort. Nolan Smith and Brian Zoubek also played extensive minutes, although they were somewhat uneven for both.
But when you get down to it, even though Singler won the trophy, the guy who set the tone and who let Marquette know that this is a different Duke team was DeMarcus Nelson. His first half performance was as fine a job as he’s turned it at Duke. He was magnificent offensively, slicing up Marquette’s defense and driving almost at will. Marquette adjusted somewhat to him during the second half, but Nelson had established Duke’s aggressiveness, and his teammates responded to his leadership.
Another really important part of this victory is that Duke is still quite young (which explains some of the mistakes at winning time). This game will go a long way towards building confidence and the habit of winning.
And really, that’s what Duke is about. A lot of people seemed to take pleasure in writing the Devils off last season. They’re going to out the truth pretty soon: this is a tough, smart, athletic team which can play with just about anyone.