Duke Takes Down Tech, 82-70
About the only negative we could think of in the Georgia Tech game was that Duke let them rally in the second half. Against some teams that would have been a fatal mistake. Duke pushed back, rebuilt a double-digit lead, and Tech went into the off season to ponder what went wrong this game, with they lost 82-70, and in a larger sense this year.
In some ways, the most impressive thing about this game was that Kyle Singler picked up two fouls in the first 30 seconds, basically sat out the first half, and Duke didn’t miss a beat.
In fact, Duke quickly built a 36-16 lead doing the things Duke usually does – shooting three point shots, forcing turnovers – but also dominating Tech inside, even without Singler. Lance Thomas really came through inside, especially in the first half. Thomas finished with 10 points and he was assertive. A lot of times he fakes several times and gets himself in trouble. Not this time: he looked like a different player. If you add offensive confidence to what he brings to the defense – the ability to sprint all over the court and to cause mismatches and chaos – he’s a much more valuable player.
Brian Zoubek played 13 minutes, and while he wasn’t a huge hit statistically, he has put together a string of games now where he is playing with confidence and is contributing in a lot of ways. Take the play in the first half where the ball got loose and he dove on the floor and made sure Duke retained it. Doesn’t show up in the stats, but at the beginning of this year, he wasn’t making those kinds of plays. Later on, he was patient when surrounded by defenders and made a smart pass to an open teammate more than once. On another play, he knocked down a Tech player, who staggered into the referee, knocking him over the photographers, before knocking Matt Causey down as well. We’re not saying it’s smart basketball, but he’s a legitimate big man now: better stay out of the way.
These are little things, but really important little things. He was basically able to plug in and fill the minutes Singler would normally play, and not hurt his team. There’s no way to measure it but it’s really key.
Duke also got a tremendous game out of Jon Scheyer, especially in the first half. He finished with 18 points and three assists.
Greg Paulus added 13 points and four assists, while Gerald Henderson kicked in 12 points.
The hero of the game, though, was DeMarcus Nelson. His game was huge. He finished with 17 points, nine rebounds, seven assists, a steal, and a block. That’s a remarkable stat line. But it wasn’t just numbers, it was when he performed that mattered.
Tech’s second half comeback erased a big Duke lead and brought them to within two at 52-50.
Nelson hit a free throw to push the lead back to three. He grabbed a defensive rebound to deny a basket, then Singler stole a pass and hit Nelson for a three.
The lead was back to six, and after a Singler basket, Duke was back up by eight. Tech never got close again, and Nelson’s leadership when the lead was down to two is why.
Coach K said that was the most game pressure Duke had faced this season. He’s the expert, but there was some pretty severe game pressure in the Pitt game, and Duke didn’t handle it well. This time, they did.
There were a lot of little things in this game that were nice, too: Dave McClure tipped a ball away from a Tech defender to kick off a break. Small, but it ended up in a basket.
Taylor King hit a three. Small, but fully within the offense.
For Tech, Zach Peacock finished with 13, Maurice Miller in a promising performance, finished with 16, including some big baskets during Tech’s rally, and Anthony Morrow got 12 in his swan song. Jeremis Smith grabbed nine boards as well.
Duke moves on to play Clemson Saturday, after Clemson’s total destruction of Boston College.