Duke defeated San Diego State, 92-79, this afternoon at Cameron. It was a one-point game until about seven minutes to go in the first half, when the Blue Devils put on a spurt to take an 11-point lead. Duke surged to a 21-point lead late in the second half, which they squandered in the final few minutes, but held on to the 12-point lead. Here's the box score. As we said, we weren't at the game, so if some of you were there, sent us your comments. We listened on the radio a bit and watched on TV a bit. Sounds like Dunleavy and Christiansen had solid games and that Duhon found his shot, but that overall it wasn't a very stellar or consistent performance by the Blue Devils.
Nate Jones reports:
After an 11 day break, you would think that Duke would look rusty. Well,
coming out of the gates, Duke did look rusty. Jason Williams' threes weren't
falling, Chris Duhon couldn't get his "routine" penetration, and SDSU was
having their way with Duke's defense. Duke jumped out to an early 5-0 lead
after a Chris Duhon three pointer, and a Carlos Boozer baby hook. After that
small spurt, SDSU responded. Tony Bland, former Syracuse player, dazzled the
crowd with amazing off balance shots and creative passing. With one of
Bland's many buckets, SDSU tied Duke with 10 minutes left in the 1st half.
Duke's answer to Bland didn't come from one person. Jason Williams and Mike
Dunleavy hit back to back threes to put Duke up by 6. Duke seemed to be
pulling away as Matt Christensen, a little used reserve, went for a dunk and
got intentionally fouled. He hit the two free throws, and put Duke up 8. To
close the first half, Chris Duhon hit a big three pointer to put Duke up by
11 at the break.
In the second half, SDSU made a little spurt. Tony Bland (remember that
name) hit some short pull-ups to bring Duke's lead down to 6 at 47-41. Duke
responded with a lay up from Mike Dunleavy to push it back to an 8 point
lead. From that point on, Duke seemed in control. With Dahntay Jones hitting
a three and Jason Williams hitting a three from what seemed to be from half
court, Duke pushed the lead to 25 with 7 minutes left to go. At the 5 minute
mark, SDSU made a "Duke type run". Tony Bland, Al Faux and (first named
eludes me right now) Holcomb all chipped in big baskets to cut Duke's lead
down to 11. Duke would have none of that and from that point on, Duke
cruised to a 13 point victory.
Player evaluations:
foot long threes, sweet drives down the lane while getting fouled, and short
pull ups. He started out shooting 1-6 from the foul line, but then he got
back on track.
played his usual 3:1 assist:turnover game. He played under control and
looked for his teammates before himself. He penetrated at will.
one dunk at the end of the game, where you just said to yourself "He can't
dunk from there!", and sure enough, he did. Like some say about Vince
Carter, Dahntay is "half man, half amazing!"
beginning. He scored 7 points in the first 5 minutes, but was hampered with
foul trouble later. Carlos' foul trouble was really a blessing in disguise
for Duke, because it led to the emergence of Matt Christensen, the "storming
mormon".
look no further than Matt. Matt beasted the SDSU frontline snagging a big 9
rebounds. Matt has the most heart on the Duke team. He really inspired the
fans and his teammates. Go Matt!
ups. Mike has gained a good 20 pounds of muscle and believe it or not, is
still growing taller. He was definately taller than Carlos Boozer. Look for
Mike to continue with his 20+ point performances.
well. He only made one shot, a lay up, and went 1-8 from the floor. Don't
look for Dan to continue with these kind of games.
from the line and didn't take many other shots. Reggie has serious heart and
loves playing for this team.
Casey Sanders was sick.