The Blue Devil Nation interrupted Nolan tweeting to get his thoughts on his first game of the season in Dukes 101-59 dusting of Charlotte. "My name is Nolan and I'm a twittterholic." Okay, we are just having a little fun for everyone loves Nolan's tweets. Smith scored a career high 24 points and dished out 5 assists to boot.
Just press play for instant BDN audio -
Durham, N.C. - The Duke Blue Devils rolled past the visiting Charlotte 49ers by a score of 101-59 in the second round of the NIT. In the process, the Blue Devils climbed to 3-0 on the young season.
The Blue Devils delivered a quick knockout blow in the first half where they took a 30 point lead into the locker room. There were many bright spots for Duke on a night of career high stats for many players.
Smith's return was just the spark the offense needed. Smith was the games high scorer with 24 points [a career high] and he tied Scheyer with 5 assists to go with 5 boards and 2 steals.
"Nolan is going to get involved. We don't have to set anything up for him because he's an outstanding player," said Krzyzewski.
I've been anxious to get back out there. I was ready to make plays. I wanted to play well and feed off Kyle and Jon. They've been playing great basketball and they were looking for me," said Smith
Jon Scheyer chipped in with 20 points and Kyle Singler ended the game with 17.
Duke was also able to use their height as Miles Plumlee had dual career highs of 15 points and 11 rebounds [10 defensive] for his first double-double.
Krzyzewski said of Miles, "He can really run the court and likes to dunk and we like him to dunk [smiling and turning to Scheyer and Singler who nod yes]. His defense was good and his rebounding was good. With the amount of minutes he played last year, he's still like a freshman."
Brian Zoubek fell one point short of a double-double finishing with 9 points and he tied a career with 13 rebounds.
As good as the offense was, it was the Devils defense which pleased Coach Krzyzewski after the game. Duke held Charlotte to 33.9% from the field.
The Blue Devils turned in 29 points off turnovers as well and outscored their opponent 42-22 in the paint. The Blue Devils will now face the winner of the Arizona State- TCU game in New York on Wednesday November 25th.
Duke is now 22-2 all time in NIT play. Duke extended their NCAA leading home winning streak versus non conference opponents to 71 games. Duke had an amazing 21 assists with six players recording two or more.
Game 3 l NIT Season Tip-Off Second Round
Duke (2-0) vs. Charlotte (2-0)
Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2009 l 6:05 p.m. l ESPN
Cameron Indoor Stadium l Durham, N.C.
The Opening Tip
Duke (2-0), ranked ninth in the AP preseason poll and eighth in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches’ Poll, faces Charlotte (2-0) on Tuesday, Nov. 17 at 6:05 p.m. in the second round of the NIT Season Tip-Off. Tuesday’s contest will be televised by ESPN with Brad Nessler and Jimmy Dykes calling the action.
The Last Time Out
Duke improved to 2-0 on the year with a 74-49 win over Coastal Carolina on Monday. Kyle Singler led the way with 23 points, 11 rebounds and two blocked shots, while freshman Andre Dawkins had 13 points and three assists. Senior Jon Scheyer and sophomore Miles Plumlee added 10 points each. Duke held Coastal Carolina to 28.6 percent (16-of-56) shooting for the game.
Series History
Duke is 2-0 all-time against Charlotte. The Blue Devils topped 100 points in both games, winning 111-94 on Dec. 1, 1990 and 104-82 on Jan. 18, 1992. Both games were played at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
NIT Season Tip-Off History
Duke is 19-2 all-time in the NIT Season Tip-Off, including a 9-0 mark in first and second round games played at Cameron Indoor Stadium. The Blue Devils have won nine straight games in the tournament. Duke won NIT Season Tip-Off championships in 1985, 2000 and 2005.
Numbers Game
DURHAM, N.C. – Kyle Singler had 23 points and 11 rebounds and No. 9 Duke beat Coastal Carolina 74-49 on Monday night in the first round of the NIT Season Tip-Off.
Freshman Andre Dawkins had 13 points and Jon Scheyer and Miles Plumlee added 10 apiece for the Blue Devils (2-0).
They held the Chanticleers to three field goals during a 14-minute stretch of the first half, put themselves up by 25 points with a 24-11 spurt midway through the second and cruised from there to a second-round matchup with the Elon-Charlotte winner Tuesday night.
Mario Edwards scored 12 to lead the Chanticleers (1-1). Their coach, Cliff Ellis, beat Duke three times from 1987-90 during his decade coaching at Clemson. But that didn't translate onto the court for a Coastal Carolina team seeking its first win against an Atlantic Coast Conference team since 1987.
But on a night when the Blue Devils once again were short-handed due to an injury and a suspension, Singler was there to keep them rolling. The ACC's preseason player of the year followed his 20-point performance in the opening win against North Carolina-Greensboro with even bigger numbers, scoring 15 in the first half and finishing 8 of 14 in 36 minutes.
Dawkins, a freshman with a quick trigger from long range, hit two 3-pointers during the overwhelming second-half spurt. The first made it 50-28 with 11 minutes left and pushed Duke's lead into the 20s.
The Blue Devils extended their NCAA-record nonconference winning streak at Cameron Indoor Stadium to 70, claimed their 30th straight win at home against an unranked team and improved to 19-2 in the preseason NIT, a tournament they have won three times.
Coastal Carolina, which was playing its first game against a top-10 team since a 43-point loss to No. 7 Florida in 2002, fell to 1-28 against the ACC and lost its sixth straight road game. The Chanticleers were without three first-year players — including South Carolina transfer Chad Gray — who were serving one-game suspensions for violating undisclosed team rules.
Duke had just eight players in its rotation because guard Nolan Smith sat out the second of his two-game suspension for playing in an unsanctioned summer league and 6-foot-10 freshman forward Mason Plumlee remained out with a broken left wrist. Smith is expected back for the second-round matchup.
Without them, the Blue Devils pushed their lead into double figures to stay by scoring 10 straight points midway through the first half and forcing the Chanticleers into some miserable shooting.
Coastal Carolina reeled off six quick points in the first 2 minutes — but managed just six more during the following 14, when they were held to 3-of-22 shooting while allowing Duke to take a 26-12 lead. The Chanticleers attempted their only two free throws of the half at the 2:20 mark.
Blue Devil Nation caught up with Duke freshman Andre Dawkins once again. Dawkins scored a career high 13 points and while he missed some shots, he took the ones Krzyzewski wanted him to.
BDN caught up with Andre Dawkins to get his thoughts on playing in his first collegiate basketball game at Duke University.
Just press play -
You must be logged in to post a comment.