Monthly Archives: December 2009

Duke Basketball

Previewing the Johnnies

DukeSt. John’s (6-0) is off to their best start since the 1994-95 season. The matchup against Duke (6-1) on Saturday features two of the winningest programs in college basketball history with Duke fourth (1,883) and St. John’s seventh (1,692). The two teams have played 18 times with Duke leading the series 13 – 5. In their last meeting, on February 19, 2009, Duke prevailed 76 – 69, at Madison Square Garden.

The Red Storm brings experience onto the court starting five juniors. Wing D.J. Kennedy (6’5” 215) is the Red Storm’s leading scorer at 17.7 points per game. Kennedy can play inside and outside. He has knocked down 43.5 percent of his 3-point attempts this season and 77.3 percent of his free throw attempts including going 9-9 from the charity stripe in a win over Temple on November 28th. Kennedy has scored in double figures in all six of St. John’s games. Against Duke last season, Kennedy played 39 minutes and scored 20 points with nine rebounds.

St. John’s floor leader is Malik Boothe (5’9” 188). Boothe averages only 4.8 points per game but is an 82.4 percent free throw shooter and made two key free throws in a late game situation against St. Bonaventure. He has a 1.8:1 assists to turnover ratio. Against Duke last season, Boothe played 37 minutes and scored 10 points, but he turned the ball over six times.

The frontcourt players in St. John’s starting line-up are Sean Evans (6’8” 255) and Justin Burrell (6’8” 235). Evans is averaging 8.8 points and 7.2 rebounds per game, while Burrell is contributing 5.3 points and 3.7 rebounds. Against Duke last season, Evans played 31 minutes scoring 15 points with five rebounds, and Burrell added one point and one rebound in 13 minutes.

Guard Paris Horne (6’3” 191) is the fifth starter. Horne is averaging 7.3 points per game this season. He has twice as many turnovers (10) as assists (5) through six games. Against Duke last season, Horne was in foul trouble playing 20 minutes and scoring seven points.

The keys to the game will be:

1. The Blue Devils must execute on offense and not settle for the dribble-drive. Running their motion offense to achieve open looks at the basket, setting ball screens, going high-low, and converting offensive rebounds into points are all important aspects of the multi-dimensional offense Duke must run to be successful.

2. On defense, Duke must force St. John’s to make mistakes. On the season, the Red Storm has averaged more turnovers (13.8) than assists (12.2) per game. Duke must exploit this weakness, while ensuring they do not allow the Red Storm to score in transition.

3. Duke must control the glass and out rebound St. John’s. Duke cannot allow St. John’s frontcourt to score second chance points. St. John’s plays several 6’7” – 6’8” physical athletes who will attempt to score off of missed shots. Duke must limit second chance points.

St. John’s is a deep team with nine players averaging double digit minutes per game. Dwight Hardy (6’2” 187) and Justin Brownlee (6’7” 232) are two key players off the bench for the Red Storm. Hardy is the team’s second leading scorer at 10.7 per game, while Brownlee is contributing 8.3 points per game.

This will be another tough game for the Blue Devils who are coming off their first loss of the season at Wisconsin. The final outcome of the game should be decided over the final three minutes. St. John’s is a program that is working hard to restore its program back into the upper echelon of college basketball after some tough times the past few years. Duke has won 72 consecutive non-conference games at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Duke’s last loss was to St. John’s, 83 – 82, on February 26, 2000. The Red Storm would love to break Duke’s winning streak once again.

Duke Basketball

St. John’s (6-0) at Duke (6-1) Game Notes

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Game 8

[6 AP/5 Coaches] Duke (6-1) vs. St. John’s (6-0)

Saturday, Dec. 5, 2009  •  3:30 p.m.  •  espn2

Cameron Indoor Stadium (9,314)  •  Durham, N.C.

The Opening Tip

Duke (6-1), ranked sixth in the AP poll and fifth in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches’ Poll, faces unranked St. John’s (6-0) on Saturday, Dec. 5 at 3:30 p.m. Saturday’s contest will be aired by espn2 with Dave O’Brien and Jay Bilas calling the action.

The Last Time Out

Duke is coming off a 73-69 loss to Wisconsin on Wednesday in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.

Junior Kyle Singler scored a career-high 28 points on 10-of-17 shooting from the field and 7-of-7 from the free throw line in the loss. He also added six rebounds, three assists, one block and one steal in the game.

Freshman Andre Dawkins went 4-of-4 from three-point range to finish with 12 points, while Nolan Smith (13) and Jon Scheyer (10) also reached double figures in scoring.

The Blue Devils shot 93.8 percent (15-of-16) from the foul line in the game, but were unable to overcome eight three-point field goals, including three threes in the opening five minutes of action, by the Badgers.

The Duke-St. John’s Series

Duke has won six straight games in the series and is 13-5 all-time against St. John’s. The Blue Devils have won four straight home games and are 4-1 at Cameron Indoor Stadium in the series. Head coach Mike Krzyzewski boasts a 13-2 record against St. John’s.

Numbers Game

l Duke has won 32 straight home games against unranked opponents, dating back to a 68-67 loss to Florida State on Feb. 4, 2007.

l The Blue Devils have won a current NCAA-best 72 consecutive non-conference home games. Duke’s last home loss against a non-conference foe was an 83-82 decision against St. John’s on Feb. 26, 2000.

l Duke has won five of the last six games in the series with St. John’s by double figures. The Blue Devils have a +14.1 ppg. scoring margin in that span.

l The Blue Devils have won seven of their last 10 games against Big East opponents, including a 68-59 win over Connecticut on Nov. 27. Duke is 105-44 all-time against the conference.

l Duke has won 45 straight December home games, dating back to a 62-61 loss to Michigan on Dec. 8, 1996.

l The Blue Devils are 156-26 in the month of December under Coach K. Duke is 48-4 since the 1999-2000 season in December contests.

l Duke is 9-2 following a loss in the last three seasons. The Blue Devils are 34-11 in the last 10 seasons after a loss.

l Andre Dawkins leads the ACC in three-point field goals (2.9 3pg.) and has made two or more threes in six of seven games. He ranks second in the conference in three-point percentage at .556 (20-of-26). Over the last four games, Dawkins is averaging 12.8 points  per game, while shooting 14-of-18 (.778) from three-point range.

l Duke is the only team in the ACC with more than one player averaging over 15.0 points per game. Nolan Smith (17.4), Kyle Singler (17.1) and Jon Scheyer (15.9) are each average over 15.0 points per game for the season.

l Jon Scheyer has reached double figures in scoring in 19 straight games. He has scored 10 or more points in 83 of 111 career games.

l Junior Nolan Smith has scored 10 or more points in all five games he has played this season. He is averaging a team-high 17.4 points per game, a +9.0 ppg. scoring jump from a year ago.

l Duke leads the ACC in free throw percentage at .799 (115-of-144). Five Blue Devil regulars (Andre Dawkins, Nolan Smith, Jon Scheyer, Kyle Singler & Lance Thomas) are shooting 85.0 percent or better from the charity stripe.

l The Blue Devils have three more fouls committed than their opponents through the first seven games of the season. The last time Duke finished the year with more fouls committed than its opponents was the 1995-96 season.

l Kyle Singler had a career-high 28 points in the loss to Wisconsin. He now has three 20-point efforts on the year and 18 for his career.

l Senior Jon Scheyer has led Duke in assists in all seven games this season. He leads the ACC in assist-to-turnover ratio (7.2:1) and is sixth in assists per game (5.1 apg.).

Duke Women's Basketball

Thomas helps lead Duke past #3 Ohio State 83-67

jaxxDURHAM, N.C. – It felt like old times again at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Duke had Lindsey Harding in the house, an Allison dominating the paint and a highly ranked team in deep trouble.

Jasmine Thomas scored 24 of her career-high 29 points during the second half and the 11th-ranked Blue Devils routed No. 3 Ohio State 83-67 on Thursday night in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge.

Duke (6-1) outscored the Buckeyes 24-8 during a 6-minute stretch of the second half, then led by 19 while pulling away late and turning its 18th straight home victory into an unexpected blowout.

"Everything about the second half was much more aggressive," coach Joanne P. McCallie said.

Jantel Lavender had 20 points and 18 rebounds for Ohio State (8-1), which beat its first eight opponents by an average of 27 points but was held to fewer than 83 points for the first time this season.

These kinds of punishing performances became commonplace at Cameron three years ago when Harding ran the show and led Duke to a 30-0 start and a No. 1 ranking.

This time, Harding watched from the stands while her protégé, Thomas, put on a show and Allison Vernerey — a 6-foot-5 freshman who wears the same No. 43 jersey that star center Alison Bales wore during Harding's era — teamed with 6-4 Krystal Thomas inside. Vernerey finished with a season-high 13 points in her first home game of national significance.

"That's the kind of game I came for," Vernerey said. "You don't come for easy games."

There isn't much about the remaining schedule that's easy for Duke, the only team to face the top three schools in The Associated Press Top 25. But the Blue Devils can't help but like their chances against No. 1 Connecticut and No. 2 Stanford if their junior point guard keeps playing like this.

"I just decided to attack the basket more," Jasmine Thomas said. "I really didn't get anything inside in the first half, so that was just a change in my mentality."

Thomas, who had a triple-double last time out against Marquette, started the decisive burst with a 3-pointer, scored 10 points during the run and went coast-to-coast for the layup that gave the Blue Devils their first double-figure lead, 59-49, with 11 minutes left.

"We should have made her take some tougher shots," Buckeyes coach Jim Foster said.

After Bridgette Mitchell's jumper capped the burst and made it 61-49 with 10½ minutes left, Ohio State didn't get closer than five the rest of the way.

Karima Christmas had 10 points and Krystal Thomas finished with 13 rebounds to help the Blue Devils win their fifth straight.

Tayler Hill scored 13 points, Brittany Johnson and Sarah Schulze had 11 apiece and Samantha Prahalis finished with 10 points for the Buckeyes. But the Buckeyes led twice for a total of about 3½ minutes, turned it over 21 times, were outscored 46-10 in the paint and got just two points from their bench.

"I just think they came at us, with just an attitude, like, 'We were going to win this game,'" Prahalis said. "For whatever reason, we didn't come back at them."

Duke Basketball

Duke loses their first Big Ten/ACC Challenge game on the road in Wisconsin

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MADISON, Wis. - Even after the game, Trevon Hughes had all the answers.

Hughes had 19 of his career-high 26 points in the second half and Wisconsin's 73-69 win over No. 6 Duke on Wednesday night snapped the Blue Devils' perfect mark in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.

"The Big Ten's never won, and I think we won it?" teammate Keaton Nankivil asked postgame.

There was Hughes, right on cue: "Yeah, and the first time Duke lost."

With Illinois' 76-74 rally over Clemson and Ohio State's 77-64 victory over Florida State in the final game, the Big Ten won the 11-year series for the first time, 6-5.

"I'm proud to be a part of the conference when they win something," Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan said. "We're in it to try to win it."

It was especially sweet for the Badgers (5-1), who never trailed and got a measure of payback against Duke (6-1) after being routed 82-58 two years ago in a challenge game in Durham, N.C. Wisconsin's win ended the Blue Devils' 10-0 streak in the annual event and helped end the ACC's perfect 10-0 record as well.

"It's a point of pride to know that we had something to do with that in a game a lot of people probably didn't think we were going to win," Nankivil said. "It was pretty special."

Kyle Singler scored 17 of his career-high 28 points in the first half for the Blue Devils and Andre Dawkins went 4 of 4 from 3-point range in the second half to finish with 12. Duke cut Wisconsin's 11-point lead with just over 5 minutes left to 70-69 with 5.7 seconds to play on a tip-in by Singler.

But after Hughes hit two free throws to make it 72-69, Singler's inbounds pass to Jon Scheyer was too hard and skipped away. Jordan Taylor's free throw was the final margin.

Wisconsin only committed five turnovers.

"That's five opportunities you didn't get a shot at the basket," Ryan said. "They had 11 opportunities that they didn't have to score. That might have been the difference in the game."

Duke had led the nation in field goal percentage defense coming in and were allowing an average of 58.2 points in their first six games. But in the Blue Devils' first true road game, Hughes kept slashing the lane and when Duke gave him a little space, he'd hit 3-pointers.

"Their offense just beat our defense," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said.

Wisconsin went up 59-54 with 7:40 left when Hughes hit two free throws and the only thing that slowed the senior point guard was when he was inadvertently hit in the face with just under 6 minutes to play.

"Yeah, I got hit with an elbow," Hughes said. "I was checking for blood. It would've been my first nose bleed ever."

No worries.

Hughes came back and hit a 3-pointer that rolled around the rim with 5:08 to go, giving the Badgers their biggest lead at 65-54 until Dawkins answered with three 3-pointers in a span of less than 2 minutes to cut the lead to 67-65.

Duke had a couple of chances to tie it, but never could in the closing moments, only cutting it to 70-69 on Singler's tap-in in the waning seconds.

"I got a lot of buckets going to the basket, and I got to the free throw line," said Singler, who didn't want to talk about his new scoring mark. "That's about it."

Wisconsin improved to 123-10 at the Kohl Center under Ryan and got 17 points and seven rebounds from Jon Leuer. Jason Bohannon added 10 points for the Badgers.

Duke cut it to 53-52 on two free throws by Singler with just under 11 minutes to go, but Singler missed a 3-pointer moments later that would have tied it and Wisconsin opened up the 11-point lead.

Duke would've been in a much bigger hole had it not been for Singler, who hit floating one-handed shots in the lane with both his left and right hands on his way to 17 first-half points.

Singler hit his first six shots and finished 10 of 17 from the field. But the rest of the Blue Devils, who shot just 29.2 percent in a win over Connecticut on Friday, only hit 39 percent and Scheyer finished 2 of 7 with 10 points.

"I don't think we did a good job of just staying patient. They did a good job, didn't give us a lot of open looks and there just wasn't much there," Scheyer said. "We need to know that every game we play, no one's going to give us a game, every team's going to fight."

Duke Basketball Recruiting News

High School Hoops 2010 Edition No. 2

marshal1-300x235This edition is a bit of a preview edition as many high schools tipped off their first games in early December and newspapers across the country kicked off their high school basketball coverage with season previews and articles focused upon key players. [private]

Christ School improved to 5 - 0 on the season with back to back wins at the Christ School Tip-Off Tournament. The Greenies defeated Greenville High School 89 - 60 and Greenfield School 89 - 70. Junior Marshall Plumlee (7'0" 200) recorded a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds in the first game and added 9 points and 8 rebounds in the championship game.

Sophomore J.P. Tokoto was in foul trouble and held to 10 points as Menomonee Falls fell to Milwaukee King 65 -62 in overtime. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has a game recap posted as well as a detailed preview on Tokoto. By the way, J.P. stands for Jean Pierre.

Tyler Thornton and Gonzaga College High School are looking to win the WCAC Championship this season.  Here is a seven minute video preview of the team.

Austin Rivers is ready to start his junior season at Winter Park High School and the Wildcats are considered one of the favorites to win the Class 6A State Championship. The Orlando Sentinel has an article posted on Rivers as well as a video interview in which Rivers discusses his team’s loss in the state semi-finals last season. Winter Park will be hosting the Rotary Tip-Off tournament Dec. 2-5.

Trey Zeigler is a 6’-5” shooting guard at Mt Pleasant High School in Michigan whose name has been mentioned in connection with Duke. There is some speculation Duke will pursue him if things do not pan out with Roscoe Smith. Zeigler is ranked as the # 35 player in the Class of 2010 and his father is the coach at Central Michigan University. This article from the Morning Sun discusses Zeigler and his focus on team play.

Quality Education Academy lost to Findlay Prep, 69 – 63, at the Tournament of Champions in Peoria, IL.

And Bradley Beal, ranked number seven in the Class of 2011, according to Scout, has given a verbal commitment to play his college ball at the University of Florida. The St Louis Today has a nice article on Beal’s commitment.

Prep sports coverage in online newspapers across the nation is still focused upon football, but basketball coverage will pick up as football seasons come to an end. As the coverage increases, Blue Devil Nation will keep you posted on game results for Duke recruits and recruiting targets with links to articles and box scores from across the country. [/private]

Duke Basketball

Duke at Wisconsin Official Game Notes

Plumlee brothers go at it in practice - copyright BDN Photo
Plumlee brothers go at it in practice - copyright BDN Photo

Game 7   •  Big Ten/ACC Challenge

Duke (6-0) vs. Wisconsin (4-1)

Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2009  •  9:15 p.m.  •  ESPN

Kohl Center (17,230)  •  Madison, Wisc.

The Opening Tip

Duke (6-0), ranked sixth in the AP poll and fifth in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches’ Poll, faces unranked Wisconsin (4-1) on Wednesday, Dec. 2 at 9:15 p.m in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. Wednesday’s contest will be aired by ESPN with Brent Musburger, Bob Knight and Holly Rowe calling the action.

The Last Time Out

Duke is coming off a 68-59 win over Connecticut on Friday in the championship game of the NIT Season Tip-Off. The Blue Devils claimed the tournament title for the fourth time in school history with senior Jon Scheyer grabbing Most Outstanding Player honors.

Scheyer finished with a game-high 19 points, five rebounds, five assists and three steals. Nolan Smith, an all-tournament team selection, had 16 points and freshman Andre Dawkins added 11 points.

Senior Lance Thomas recorded his first career double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds, while Brian Zoubek also grabbed 11 boards (seven offensive). Duke held a 56-43 edge on the glass for the game and finished with 25 offensive rebounds.

Big Ten/ACC Challenge History

Duke is 10-0 all-time in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge, including an 82-58 win over Wisconsin on Nov. 27, 2007. The Blue Devils have won three true road games in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge and are one of two undefeated teams (Boston College [3-0] is the other) in the event. The ACC has won all 10 challenges to date.

Numbers Game

l The Blue Devils have won seven of their last eight games against Big Ten opponents. Duke is 62-24 all-time against the conference.

l The Atlantic Coast Conference has won the previous 10 Big Ten/ACC Challenges. The ACC is 62-35 (.639) in the event, including a 10-0 slate by Duke.

l Duke has won seven of its 10 Big Ten/ACC Challenge games away from Cameron Indoor Stadium. The Blue Devils are 4-0 in neutral site games and 3-0 on the road.

l The Blue Devils are 156-25 in the month of December under Coach K. Duke has won three straight games and is 48-3 since the 1999-2000 season in December contests.

l Junior Nolan Smith has reached double figures in scoring in four straight games. He is averaging 18.5 points per game, a scoring jump of +10.1 ppg. from a year ago.

l Jon Scheyer has 32 assists and just four turnovers in 208 minutes of action on the year. The Northbrook, Ill., native has led the Blue Devils in assists in all six games and leads the ACC in assist-to-turnover ratio at 8.0:1. He is also tied for fifth in the league in assists per game (5.3).

l Andre Dawkins leads the ACC in three-point field goals (2.7 3pg.) and has made two or more threes in five of six games. Dawkins is 10-of-14 (.714) from three-point range in the last three games.

l Senior Brian Zoubek leads the team and ranks ninth in the ACC in rebounding at 8.5 rpg. He is tied for the league lead in offensive rebounds at 4.8 orpg. Zoubek, who will play in his 100th career game on Wednesday, entered the season averaging 3.1 rebounds per game.

l Junior Kyle Singler has made at least one three-point field goal in 21 straight games dating back to last season. He is eighth in the ACC in three-point percentage (.414) and tied for 10th in three-point field goals per game (2.0) on the year.

l Duke has held its last five opponents under 40 percent shooting from the field. The Blue Devils are 297-9 under Mike Krzyzewski when holding opponents under 40 percent shooting.

l Duke shot just 28.4 percent from the field in Friday's win over Connecticut, marking just the fourth time under Coach K the Blue Devils have shot below 30.0 percent in a game. Prior to Friday’s contest, Duke's last win when shooting under 30.0 percent was Feb. 4, 1950 against Navy.

l Duke outrebounded Connecticut, 56-43, marking the sixth time the Blue Devils have outrebounded the opposition this season. Duke is 483-55 under Mike Krzyzewski when holding the edge on the boards.

l Nolan Smith has played all 40 minutes in each of the last two games.

l Duke held Connecticut without a three-point field goal in last Friday’s win. The Blue Devils are allowing just 3.7 three-point field goals per game on the year.