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| W. Times
| H-S | Annapolis
| B-Sun
| Box
Score | Notes
This game turned rather sharply after a technical foul called
on Daniel Ewing, who was responding to an elbowing by Ekene Ibekwe. At the
time, Duke had a nine point lead; Mike Jones hit eight straight, and the lead
fell to one. After Shelden Williams fouled out, the result was more or
less predictable, although Duke did show an enormous amount of heart at the end,
even if they did have trouble scoring.
The game ended with Shavlik Randolph, Shelden Williams, Daniel
Ewing, Lee Melchionni, and Sean Dockery all fouled out, and when you basically
have seven players in your rotation and five of them are gone, your odds go down
rather quickly.
Still, Duke hung in there and gave Maryland a bit to worry
about, first defending well enough to push the game into overtime and then
playing tough with walkons and, basically, J.J. Redick and DeMarcus Nelson at
the end.
Still, despite all that, Maryland didn't score a basket in the
overtime, and the game came down to the dwindling seconds before Maryland could
feel entirely comfortable.
So by our count, this is the third, maybe fourth game we've
seen where Ibekwe's temper became an issue. Ewing was probably wrong to
respond, but as in the pileup in the Wake game, when he as pummeled and
responded, there was a definite cause and effect. One thing you can say
about Ewing after four years is that he is not a big woofer, and if you see him
getting angry, there's usually a reason.
We understand officials can't see everything, but if we can
see on television that he's a hothead and an instigator, you'd think they'd keep
an eye on him. We'd like to see him try it with someone with nothing to
lose, like say Elton Brown.
It was too bad, because Ewing had had a great game up to that
point, and the personal foul assessed was basically what fouled him out.
In the end, Maryland was able to do precisely what they set
out to do in Durham, which was to make the game a war of attrition, only they
were able to do it more thoroughly. Again, the key was getting Shavlik
Randolph and Lee Melchionni in trouble, which allowed Maryland to capitalize on
their advantages inside, and this time, they got Williams out of the way as
well.
That was also too bad, because Shelden was having a powerful
game at that point, rebounding and scoring pretty much at will.
The good news, as far as there is any, aside from the courage
shown under difficult circumstances, was that Duke managed to control Nic
Caner-Medley, and, to a lesser extent, John Gilchrist, at least for part of the
second half. And Daniel Ewing
largely has ended his mid-season slump after two solid games, although the end
of this one wasn't what anyone wanted. And Shelden Williams had a dominant
performance before fouling out, with 23 points and 17 boards.
Maryland has done as solid a job on J.J. Redick as anyone has
this year. He scored 21 points, but only shot 5-18 and often seemed out of
sync.
There's not a whole lot more to say. Yes, Duke lost, but
18-3 is not a disaster. Reggie Love is dressing out and will his return is
imminent, as is Dave McClure's. Love would have helped a lot in this game,
and hopefully he and McClure will both be up to speed soon.
So on to the next game