Lance Thomas contributed in a lot of ways in Duke's win over Clemson, just not so much in the scoring department. Thomas talks about the game and his new tatoo.
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Yearly Archives: 2010
Duke Unleashes Devilish Defense to Defeat Clemson 74-53
Durham, N.C. - The walk up to Cameron was a cold one tonight as the temperature is in the twenties, but Dukes defense made the elements seem warm compared the the cold defensive breeze that shut the Tigers offense to a crawl. The Blue Devils cruised to a 74-53 win in their ACC opener using the aforementioned lock down defense which held Clemson to 32.7% from the field for the game.
Duke held the visitors to just 12 first half points and 16.7% from the field, but Clemson did manage to score the second half's first 12 points and it looked as if Duke's first half effort would evaporate, but the Devils regrouped after a Krzyzewski timeout and rode the big three to a win.
Whats that? Who is the big three? Well, if you don't know you haven't followed the Blue Devils. The big 3 would be Jon Scheyer, Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith. The trio combined for 60 of the Blue Devils 74 points and their consistency has been uncanny to this point.
The backcourt of Smith and Scheyer scored 22 points apiece and combined for 9 of the Blue Devils 12 assists. Singler added 16 and earned the praise of Krzyzewski after the game where he said he looked stronger or better than at any time this season.
He was probably referring to Singlers toughness and leadership or maybe it was that Singler jaw jacked a bit with Clemson star Trevor Booker. Duke held Booker to just 10 points his second lowest total of the season.
Krzyzewski showed emotion tonight while trying to keep the Cameron Crazies going and they did a pretty good job with a lot of the students missing. He leaped when Scheyer picked up a Booker turnover, turned and made a three point shot which gave Duke a commanding 39-25 lead after a Tiger run to crawl back into the game.
Duke outscored Clemson in the paint and out-rebounded their opponent and scored 19 points of Tiger turnovers. The final 21 point margin was the largest lead of the game for Duke.
With the win, Duke goes to 12-1 on the season and 1-0 in the conference while Clemson drops to 12-3 and 0-1. Duke will next face Iowa State in Chicago on Wednesday.
Be sure to check out the BDN Locker Room Report which is coming later.
Notes - Duke honored the great Vic Bubas and his 1960 team at half time. Krzyzewski sang the praises of Bubas during the post game press conference.
High School Hoops 2010 Edition No. 8
This edition of High School Hoops 2010 includes a Holiday Tournament action wrap up and coverage of teams recommencing their normal game schedules. There are updates on committed Duke players Tyler Thornton, Josh Hairston, and Kyrie Irving as well as information on prospects Roscoe Smith, Austin Rivers, and J.P. Tokoto. [private]
Kyrie Irving: St. Patrick traveled to beautiful sunny San Diego (I love that city) to participate in the MaxPreps Holiday Classic and Irving came away as the Most Valuable Player as St. Patrick won the National Division with a 66 – 43 victory over Newark Memorial (CA).
In earlier games, the Celtics defeated Ironwood Ridge (AZ) 83 – 35 and Centennial (CA).
This ESPN article has been linked on message boards all over the Internet so most everyone has already seen it but here it is again for anyone who hasn’t already read this exciting statement:
“Irving will be the best point guard prospect heading to Duke since Jason Williams laced them up for the Blue Devils.”
How sweet does that sound?
Josh Hairston: On Saturday evening, Montrose Christian defeated St. Stephen’s/St. Agnes 79 – 50. There is no news on individual performances prior to Blue Devil Nation going to press with this article, but there is a great post from Studlee10 on the Premium Message Board describing the action.
Tyler Thornton: Gonzaga defeated Rice (N.Y.) 67 – 55. Rice was coming off their 55 – 54 Championship performance over Kinston at the GSK Invitational. Gonzaga defeated Kinston 84 – 64 in Honolulu on December 22.
Roscoe Smith: Oak Hill Academy traveled to Portland to compete at the Les Schwab Invitational. In their first game, Smith recorded a double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds as Oak Hill defeated Sunset 94 – 66.
Oak Hill took care of Oregon City 80 – 67 in the second round. Smith was limited to six points and three rebounds in the game.
In the semi-finals, Smith recorded his second double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds as Oak Hill defeated Westview 72 – 58.
Westchester (CA) defeated Oak Hill 52 – 47 in the Championship Game. Smith finished with six points and seven rebounds.
Austin Rivers: Winter Park traveled to Birmingham, Alabama to participate in the T-Mobile Invitational. In the first round, Butler (AL) defeated Winter Park 60 – 58. In the consolation game, Winter Park defeated Kentwood (WA) 72- 52. Kentwood is Josh Smith’s school, but Smith did not participate due to being injured.
Winter Park is sitting at the top of the Orlando Sentinel’s Super 16 rankings.
J.P. Tokoto: It was a rough two days for Menomonee Falls at the Wisconsin Basketball Yearbook Shootout at the Al McGuire Center in Milwaukee. On day one, Menomonee Falls fell to Arrowhead 67 – 66 in overtime, and on day two, they fell to Catholic Memorial 68 – 63. Tokoto delivered a good individual stat line in both games but he struggled from the free throw line.
Against Catholic Memorial, Tokoto scored 23 points with 17 rebounds, three blocked shots, and five steals, but went 3 – 11 from the free throw line. In the overtime loss to Arrowhead, Tokoto scored 18 points.
Menomonee Falls is now 6-3 on the season with J.P. Tokoto averaging 18.2 points per game.
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Previewing the Clemson Tigers
The Tigers come a calling as Duke (11-1) hosts Clemson (12-2) on Sunday evening in each team's ACC opener. Duke is coming off a 114-55 thrashing of Penn, while Clemson escaped South Carolina State 70-67 in their last game. In post game comments, Clemson Coach Oliver Purnell stated, "In college basketball, upsets happen all the time. We avoided one tonight. Hopefully, we'll be energized to go on the road and play in the ACC."
Last year, Clemson embarrassed Duke 74-47 in the game at Littlejohn. The Tigers' press resulted in 16 Blue Devil turnovers. Duke will need to be prepared to deal with Clemson's pressure defense as Clemson is number one in the ACC in steals averaging 11.4 per game.
Duke and Clemson have had two common opponents on the season. Clemson went on the road and defeated UNC-Greensboro 89-67, while Duke defeated the Spartans 96-62 in Cameron Indoor Stadium. The second common opponent is Long Beach State. Clemson defeated the 49ers, on a neutral court, at the 76 Classic in Anaheim 87-79, while Duke won 84-63 in Cameron.
Senior Trevor Booker (6'7" 240) is Clemson's best player. He averages 14.8 points and 8.9 rebounds per game in 28.5 minutes of action. Booker was named Second Team All ACC last season and is playing like a First Team candidate so far this season. Booker will challenge Duke inside with athleticism and physical play.
Sophomore Tanner Smith (6'5" 220) and Junior Demontez Stitt (6'2" 175) average 10.8 and 10.1 points respectively. Stitt leads the team with a 3.9 assists per game average.
Sophomore Andre Young (5'9" 170) and Senior David Potter (6'6" 215) provide the 3-point shooting punch for the Tigers. Potter is making 45.3 percent of his long range attempts while Young is making 39.7 percent. Clemson is 3rd in the ACC with 7.1 made 3-pointers per game. Duke is first at 8.8.
Off the bench, Devon Booker (6'8" 235) and Jerai Grant (6'8" 220) chip in 5.8 and 5.5 points per game. Freshmen Noel Johnson and Milton Jennings also average double digit minutes to give the Tigers a solid nine man rotation.
The keys to the game will be:
1. Taking care of the basketball. Duke must neutralize Clemson's fullcourt press by passing over it and quickly advancing the ball into the frontcourt. Duke's big men's passing skills and ability to run the court will be critical to the outcome.
2. Physical inside play. Trevor Booker and company are going to challenge Duke inside with physical play. Duke's five man frontcourt rotation is going to have to play the Tigers tough. Foul trouble could be an issue for both team's big men.
3. Backcourt dominance. Scheyer, Smith, and Singler have an advantage over Clemson's backcourt and they need to press that advantage for 40 minutes. Clemson will look to run their offense through Trevor Booker so Duke must harass Clemson’s backcourt and prevent them from feeding the ball inside. Clemson turns the ball over 15 times a game.
This game is the beginning of a three game litmus test for Duke's frontcourt. Iowa State and Georgia Tech are also tough inside teams. We will all know a lot more about our inside players’ strengths and weaknesses once these three games are in the books.
Trevor Booker is a beast inside and Miles and Mason Plumlee need to respond to the challenge. In the backcourt, Duke has a huge advantage in both talent and experience. This is a game where both teams are going to attempt to dictate the style of play. For Duke to come away with the win, they must handle Clemson's press and match Clemson's physical play.
BDN Premium – Josh Hairston talks of his season, Duke, Ross, Irving and more
BDN Premium caught up with future Blue Devil Josh Hairston who discussed his season to date with Montrose Christian, his improvement and some of the hot names in recruiting of late like Terrence Ross . He touches on playing with Kyrie Irving and Andre Dawkins as well in an in depth audio interview. This [private] interview was conducted after I covered the Tournament of Champions event in a bit of a cramped situation, thus the tint like sound on my end. Regardless, I think you'll agree that Josh is comfortable in answering questions in that BDN has covered him from when Duke first started recruiting him. Let me know how you like actually hearing Josh for this is a first for us passing it own as it happened. Happy New Year! [/private]
BDN’s Duke Locker Room Report – Scheyer, Smith and Mason interviews and more
We have a new format for our BDN Premium Locker Room Report and to start it off we have audio interviews from Jon Scheyer, Nolan Smith and Mason Plumlee to go with game and team analysis and a few tidbits. We go out of our way to bring you as many one-on-one and joint chats with the players as possible, fresh after every home game.
While we'll continue to have a lot of free audio clips, the majority of them will remain in the new format. In order to gain full site access to our private members-only message board and read all the latest on the team and recruiting, join BDN Premium and start the new year off getting inside the goings on around Duke Athletics.
The Blue Devils had little time to celebrate their walk in the park victory over Pennsylvania, for the ACC season has taken center stage in the teams thoughts. No matter which player I chatted with after their 11th win of the season, no one said they would have a big New Year and many mentioned that they had been practicing really hard.
In fact, one Duke Assistant Coach said, "They better not be," despite hearing me say that all of the players claimed it would be a calm New Year's Eve, which echoed the businesslike nature of the team.
Coach Krzyzewski made it clear in his press conference that it was time to see how Duke measured up in the ACC for teams would expose any weaknesses. That's why the players and staff are more than just a little focused for their Sunday visitor.
[private] The Devils used games with Long Beach State and Penn to prep for an athletic Clemson Tiger team that will be looking to pull off the upset and prove they're an upper level ACC team.
Jon Scheyer is now on everybody's list as one of the ACC's best players, many saying he is the best to date which includes myself. The thing about Scheyer is that he has embraced his role where his assist-to-turnover ratio is incredible. That stat will go down a bit after his four turnovers against Penn, er ... actually with 11 assists maybe not so much. Watching Scheyer has become more popular than watching preseason All ACC pick, Kyle Singler, of late. Of course, Singler is still adjusting to his role on the team this year and is still putting up good numbers. Here is a one on one with Jon from last evening -
Nolan Smith had a great shooting night, going 8 of 11 from the field, including 4 of 5 from beyond the arc on his way to 23 points. Smith seemed a bit gassed after the game and mentioned tough practices in preparation for the ACC season. Smith will need to be at his best to help Duke win their conference opener. Here is what Nolan had to say -
Mason Plumlee realized that anyone could have had a good night against Penn, but he was still elated to be swarmed by the media. Mason had career highs in points with 18 and rebounds with 7 in 21 minutes of action. Even though the competition was weak, just seeing the ball drop in the basket had to help Mason. I asked him about letting the game come to him after he finished his Duke Radio interview with Bob Harris, which enabled me to get him away from the media swarm.
We hope you enjoyed the BDN Locker Room Report. [/private]
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