Singler and Scheyer were really good against Purdue ...
I think they were quietly looking forward to seeing how they stacked up with Hummel and Moore. Both of those kids are very confident players with what they can do and they're unbelievable competitors - they fight for everything.
Duke Assistant Coach Chris Collins instructs freshman Mile Plumlee in practice.
We did actually. When we recruited Kyle he was one of the best players in America. He's now made another big jump and has become an elite player. Jon has always had that warriors mentality. Now that his body is catching up with his mind he's able to put it all together. I've always thought he was an underrated player. People who follow the game or coaches follow the game know what kind of value he has.
The team will have a big break after the Michigan game. As a staff what will you focus on at that time?
During the exam break you have to keep your conditioning up. You've got to try to keep getting better. It gives you a little bit of a break to let your body rest. We've had eight games early on which takes a big toll on your body. We're going to continue to take the long view with this team. It's a long season and we're a long ways from March. We have to continue to do what we can to get better not only for the rest of the season, but for the ACC.
Elliot seems to be pushing it a bit ...
I think with both of our freshmen, Elliot and Miles, we think both of them are going to be outstanding players. What you are seeing with them is that they are on a team that's loaded with great veteran leadership and players. It kind of reminds me a little bit of the olden days when I was in school in the late eighties and early nineties you can in a learned contributing while getting better as the season went along trying to improve upon your role. Both of those guys have great attitudes. We have high hopes for both of them. It's kind of just when it clicks. They have great role models with the upper classmen on this team and their attitudes have been great. We've just got to continue to stress to them it's a process.
Gerald has been struggling a little bit on the offensive end ...
I think with Gerald has been a little off. When you are a good scorer and things aren't going as good for you, the best thing you can do is concentrate on other areas of the game. He rebounded well against Purdue, got some steals and really put his stamp on the game. If he can continue to do the things he did against Purdue, when his offense comes you are going to have a real dynamic player.
How is Greg coming along?
Greg's coming along well. Nolan got in foul trouble against Purdue but Greg came in and did well. That's the great thing about having two capable point guards. He ran our team and made a big basket late in the game with a lay up.
You grew up loving the NBA and are a hoops aficionado probably watching every game that's on the air when at home ... do you find time for other things?
I am probably going to get kicked out of the house by my wife and kids. I have such a passion for basketball. My earliest memories as a kid were going into the locker rooms after games and being around it and watching it ... I've been a junkie my whole life. Now, being able to play with my son, go out in the yard with him and shoot around is great.
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[private]Duke came into the game with Purdue undefeated in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge and Boilermaker fans were chomping at the bit to get them in Mackey Arena. Tickets were going for as much as
Singler has 20 points and 12 rebounds/copyright BDNP
500.00 each on a cold Indiana evening and most of the nation was expecting a very competitive game.
Duke came out of the gate running to a 7-0 lead and they never looked back in route to a 76-60 win which lifts them to 8-0 for the season. To get to that undefeated record, the Blue Devils used three key areas of strength.
The first of course is stellar defense where they held Purdue to just 60 points on 37% shooting from the field. Add to that, just two made three point attempts for a team known for their accuracy behind the stripe.
The two Purdue stars, Robbie Hummel and E'Twaun Moore were totally taken out of their game. Moore scored 10 points with all of them coming 30 minutes into the game. Hummel tallied 15 points to go with 10 boards, but Duke soph Kyle Singler frustrated the pre season Big Ten Player of the Year pick throughout the game.
Speaking of Singler, he continued his tenacious play with 20 points to go with a career tying effort 12 rebounds. He was clearly the best player on the court this evening and showed why he is one of the elite players in the land.
Then there was another nice effort from the free throw stripe which has also been and early season strength. They connected on 20 of 26 for the game while hitting many down the stretch not allowing a comeback attempt by the countries ninth ranked team.
The third area of mention which contributed to a convincing Blue Devil victory was their work on the boards where they out rebounded the home team by a whopping 49-29 margin. Krzyzewski made board work an off season priority and the team has improved significantly and was the second best rebounding team in the conference going into the game.
Speaking of board work, Brian Zoubek scored just 4 points, but garnered 8 rebounds in just eleven minutes of play. Not to be outdone, Henderson took his early season offensive struggles in stride by going to the glass for 8 defensive rebounds and led his team with five assists.
Jon Scheyer tied Singler for the scoring lead with twenty points, three being three point buckets. Smith who was in foul trouble throughout the contest added 12 points. Paulus had 7 points, McClure 6 and Thomas 5 points and the aforementioned Henderson 2 points to round out the scoring for Duke.
In the end, Duke showed their experience in making Purdue play their style of game. It was the Blue Devils most consistent effort from begging to end on the season as well. It was also a game which showed that Duke was having fun playing and that made for an impressive team effort.
Duke went to 10-0 in the Challenge and will now face Michigan for the second time this season in Ann Arbor on Saturday.
• The 2008-09 season marks the 10th year of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. The ACC has won each of the first nine ACC/Big Ten Challenges. ACC teams have won 56 of the 87 games played over the 10 years. The ACC and Big Ten are currently tied 3-3 in the challenge with five games remaining to be played on Wednesday.
• Duke is 10-0 all-time in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, including a 3-0 record in true road games. Boston College (3-0) is the only other undefeated team in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. The previous two road games for the Blue Devils came against Michigan State in 2003 (W, 72-50) and Indiana in 2005 (W, 75-67).
• Duke improved to 8-0 with a victory on Tuesday, marking the fourth time in the past five seasons they have won their first eight games. The Blue Devils have now started the season 8-0 a total of 20 times.
• Under Mike Krzyzewski Duke has started 8-0 a total of 15 times in his 29 years. Since the 2000-01 season, the Blue Devils have gotten off to an 8-0 start in seven of the nine seasons.
• The school record for most wins to start a season is 17 set by the 1991-92 national championship team and the 2005-06 squad.
• The Blue Devils played their first true road game of the 2008-09 season on Tuesday at Purdue. Duke has now won 12 of its last 13 road openers with the only loss coming at Georgia Tech on Jan. 10, 2007. Under Coach K, Duke now has a 22-7 record in road openers.
• In overall road games, Duke has now posted a 185-95 record under Coach K. The Blue Devils have posted a winning record on the road in five straight seasons and 11 of the past 12 years. Since 1996-97, Duke has recorded an 90-30 (.750) record on the road.
• Duke began December with a 16-point victory at Purdue on Tuesday. Under Coach K, the Blue Devils now have a 153-24 all-time record in the month of December.
• The Blue Devils are now 45-2 in December since 1999-2000 with the only losses coming to No. 3 Stanford (84-83) on Dec. 21, 2000 and No. 11 Pittsburgh in overtime (65-64) on Dec. 20, 2007.
• When playing on Dec. 2, Duke is now 15-5 all-time, including a 9-2 record under Coach K.
• Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski earned his 811th victory as a head coach on Tuesday. He ranks fifth all-time in NCAA Division I history for career victories and is first among active coaches.
• Krzyzewski is now 19 victories shy of Jim Phelan for fourth all-time.
• Coach K now has 738 wins as the head coach at Duke, ranking him sixth in NCAA Division I history for victories at one school and second among active coaches (Jim Boeheim, Syracuse – 771). Krzyzewski is 21 wins shy of Western Kentucky’s Ed Diddle for fifth all-time.
• Krzyzewski’s 811 victories are the second most by a head coach through 34 years of coaching. Only Dean Smith of North Carolina won more games with 830 victories.
• Duke scored 76 points against Purdue and has scored at least 70 points in all eight games of 2008-09. The Blue Devils are 652-129 under Coach K when scoring 70 or more points.
• The Blue Devils made 8-of-22 (.364) from behind the three-point line. In the last two games, Duke has 18 made treys after only making 19 in its previous four outings.
• Duke made 20-of-26 (.769) from the free throw line. It was the fourth time this season the Blue Devils made at least 20 free throws. Purdue only attempted 20 free throws, making it six of the eight games this year that Duke has made as much or more free throws than its opponent has attempted.
• The Blue Devils outrebounded the Boilermakers 49-29. Duke has outrebounded its opponents 339-248 on the season, a margin of +11.4 per game. The Blue Devils have now grabbed at least 20 more rebounds than its opponent twice this season.
• Duke had 16 offensive rebounds, the third time on the season they have had at least 15 offensive boards. The offensive rebounds led to an 18-9 advantage in second chance points.
• Duke held Purdue to 60 points and has now held its opponent to 60 or fewer points in six of the eight games this season.
• Purdue shot just .373 (22-of-59) from the field on Tuesday. The Blue Devils have held six opponents to under 40 percent from the floor this year. Duke is 285-9 under Coach K when holding an opponent under 40 percent shooting.
• The Blue Devils also held Purdue to just 2-of-13 (.154) from behind the three-point line. It marked the second straight game and third time this season the Blue Devils held an opponent under 20 percent from long range. It was the 121st time in school history the Blue Devils have held its opponent under 20 percent from deep. Duke has a 109-12 record in those contests.
• The two made treys by Purdue were a season low by a Duke opponent. The Boilermakers were averaging 7.7 made three-point field goals per game coming into Tuesday’s contest.[/private]
[private]The Duke Blue Devils survived Rhode Island's best shot on Sunday, and came away with a 82-79 win. Of course it took quite the effort from the Dukies as well, namely Jon Scheyer and Kyle Singler. Singler twice hit two critical free throws to put Duke ahead at 78-77 and 80-79 on his way to 21 points, 5 boards and 5 assists.
“I tried clearing my head. You can’t let anything get to you. I knew we were down on all four them. I needed to sink them for the team to win. I stepped up with confidence and knocked them down,” Said Singler.
Scheyer drained 13 of 13 free throws including 6 of 6 with 3:18 remaining in a game that was on the line. His biggest two came with three seconds left giving Duke the lead for good at 82-79. Scheyer was also the Blue Devils leading scorer with 23 total points.
In a game that had a tournament atmosphere, Duke had to claw their way back time and time again. While the lead changed hand just 9 mes, the game was intense from the opening tip. In fact, Duke found itself trailing most of the contest.
“As good as the players were for both teams, the crowd was right there. This was a big time crowd today. Our crowd helped us so much today. They were fantastic. It was one of those February games in November. It’s a big-time game today. I don’t know how you get prepared for a game like this until you get in it. I thought in those last five minutes we did everything right, which you can’t practice, you’ve just got to be there," said Kryzewski just minutes after the game.
Krzyzewski continued, “We’re lucky to have Dave [McClure] and Lance [Thomas]. They just played so hard. Greg was in a tough position today because two days ago he really hurt his arm. He took a charge, and his arm swelled so much he couldn’t move his hand. This was Friday, and he kept ice on it all night and some of the swelling came down and yesterday he was able to somewhat close his hand and then he spent all night and today icing to where in our shoot-around he shot it a little bit. That kid played with a lot of guts today."
For a while it seemed as if the Rams would pull the shocker as they took a punch and countered time and time again. Jimmy Baron, the coaches son, put on a dazzling display of ways to get off three point shots, going over the Duke defense for 24 points. "He’s a great player. We wanted to win so bad and we’d get it down to a two-point game and then he’d hit a three and it’d go to five. We would come back down and score and then they would score. It was a game where it was hard to stop people," said Scheyer.
Barons teammate, Delroy James added 21 on 9 of 12 shooting, many on pull ups which barely moved the net.
In the end, it was Duke's patented man to man defense that finally made Barron moveoff the dribble. As he drove the lane, he was forced to alter his shot, missing badly with 10 seconds left in the game. Kyle Singler, then made the games biggest block and Duke grabbed a team rebound and held on after Scheyers aforementioned clutch free throws. "
Ultimately, we knew we were getting good shots and opportunities. We just needed to get stops," stated Scheyer.
The game had a tournament atmosphere and the Cameron Crazies were on top of their game, giving the team a huge lift. In short, the game is an early season instant classic in that an inspired Rhode Island squad had the crowd sitting on pins and needles until the final buzzer.
Duke went with just eight players for the most part in that Coach K obviously felt comfortable with his veterans against a team filled with junior and seniors at the key positions. Duke had just two points on the fast break because the Rams game plan was to get back on defense and run when they could.
Duke made a living at the free throw stripe going 28 of 32, a sizzling 87.5%. The Blue Devils were out rebounded by 2 boards, but out scored the Rams in the paint 38 to 26. The Devils struggled from the three
Scheyer hits the second FT which puts Duke up for good at 82-79
point stripe going just 4 of 17 for 23%. On the other hand, the red hot visitors were 10 of 14 for 71.4%, a stat any coach would love.
Duke valued the ball down the stretch and ended the game with just 10 turnovers as Coach K's mentor, Bobby Knight looked on from the sidelines. Knight and his wife are visiting with Krzyzewski before he works the Kentucky at UNC game on Tuesday evening.
While some fans on the various message boards are complaining a bit, thinking it is Duke's birthright to win blowout after blowout, they are failing to see is how much a game like this can help a team grow. Duke took an inspired teams best shot, yet dug deep to win with a ton of adversity.
This game taught the team many lessons and Coach K will use this contest to his advantage in preparing his team for Southern Illinois, another tough team, in New York on Thursday. More importantly, Kyle Singler and Jon Scheyer stepped up and showed they are true leaders on this team.[/private]
[private]The following is courtesy of Duke Sports Information/GoDuke.com
• Game 3 •
[8 AP/5 Coaches] Duke (2-0) vs. Rhode Island (0-0)
Sunday, November 16, 2008 • 4:32 PM ET • ESPNU
Cameron Indoor Stadium (9,314) • Durham, N.C.
Blue Devil Bits
- The Blue Devils are ranked eighth in the AP poll and fifth in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches poll. Rhode Island is unranked in both polls.
- Duke has won 61 consecutive non-conference home games. The Blue Devils have won 191 of the last 194 non-conference home games.
- Duke is 2-0 on the year, marking the eighth straight year it has started with back-to-back wins.
- The Blue Devils have a 37.0 points per game margin of victory through two games. Duke topped Presbyterian by 31 points (80-49) in the opener and Georgia Southern by 43 points (97-54) in the second game of the year.
- Duke and Rhode Island have played just two times entering Sunday’s contest. Both games came in the NCAA Tournament with the Blue Devils recording one-point victories in 1978 (63-62) and 1988 (73-72). Duke advanced to the Final Four with the narrow win on March 24, 1988.
- Sophomore Kyle Singler earned 2K Sports Durham Regional MVP honors after averaging 19.0 points, 9.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 1.5 blocks and 1.5 steals per game against Presbyterian and Georgia Southern.
- Six Blue Devils are averaging at least 8.0 points per game, while five players are grabbing 4.0 rebound per game or more.
- Duke has forced 45 turnovers and allowed just 34 made field goals this season.
Numbers Game
- Duke is 105-16 all-time in the month of November, including a 91-10 mark under Coach K.
- The Blue Devils have won 11 straight games in November and are 42-2 in the month since 1997-98.
- Mike Krzyzewski is fifth all-time (first among active coaches) with 805 career wins.
- Duke is 263-52 this decade, more wins than any other team in the NCAA.
- The Blue Devils are playing in their third straight game on ESPNU.
- Duke is 73-27 all-time against teams currently in the Atlantic 10 Conference. The Blue Devils have won 11 straight contests against A10 opponents (last loss was 59-58 versus Temple on Jan. 25, 1996). Duke will also play A10 schools Duquesne (11/28) and Xavier (12/20) this season.
- Duke pulled down 58 rebounds for a 58-36 rebounding advantage against Georgia Southern. The 58 rebounds are the most rebounds by the Blue Devils since March 4, 1999, when they had 59 rebounds in a 104-67 win over Virginia in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament. It is the most rebounds at home since Duke had 59 against Xavier, in an 82-60 win on Dec. 4, 1993. The 58 rebounds on Tuesday are the second most at home and fourth most overall under Coach K. On the year, Duke is outrebounding its opponents by an average of 18.5 rebounds per game.
- Against Georgia Southern Duke went to the free throw line 49 times (25-of-49), the most since Jan. 30, 2005 when the Blue Devils also recorded 49 free throw attempts (30-of-49) against Virginia Tech.
- The Duke bench is averaging 33.5 points per game through two contests. The reserves posted a
copyright BDNP
big game against Georgia Southern with 40 points. Duke had three games last season with 40 or more points from the bench.
- The Blue Devils collected at least 10 steals in both games with 17 against Presbyterian and 11 against Georgia Southern. The 17 steals rank tied for the 14th most in a single game in school history and were the most since the Blue Devils recorded 17 steals against UNC Greensboro on Nov. 16, 2006.
- Duke held both of its first two opponents to under 40.0 percent shooting. They held Presbyterian to just 16-of-53 (.302) and followed by holding Georgia Southern to 18-of-64 (.281) from the floor. Duke is 280-9 under Coach K when holding opponents under 40.0 percent shooting and 39-0 when limiting them to under 30.0 percent shooting.
- Sophomore Nolan Smith is shooting 53.1 percent (52-of-98) from the field in 18 career games at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Smith is 11-of-17 (64.7 pct.) from the floor at home this season.
-Scheyer has recorded more assists than turnovers in 18 consecutive games. Scheyer enters Sunday’s game with a 10:1 assist-to-turnover ratio for the season. He had a career-best seven assists and just one turnover against Georgia Southern.
- After turning the ball over 21 times in the season opener, Duke trimmed its turnovers to 11 against Georgia Southern.[/private]
[private]How will the three point line being moved back play into this season?
The guys who really shoot the three can hit them, so it won't bother us that much. It could become a little bit more of a specialty because teams will not have as many players who can shoot the three. So, that can change how our game plan works. Knowing the three is a little further will have us scouting team and looking for the changes.
As a team, how will you deal with the last two seasons early outs in the NCAA's?
You are going to be judged on what you do in March and we haven't done much. All of us were anxious last year to get back after the loss in our freshman year. This past year we learned you have to take the games one step at a time and when it comes March we'll worry about that.
How does it feel to be a captain for the Duke Basketball team?
It's something I dreamed about, wanting to be a captain and it's an honor to be named one at Duke University. I'll do whatever it takes to lead the team. I'm glad Coach and my teammates have confidence in me and I don't want to let them down.[/private]
K-ments - During some recent practices, Coach K shared some thoughts about his team. He stated that Marty Pocius was one of the teams better three point shooters and that they would try to get him the ball in good position when he entered the game. Marty has been playing surprisingly well, especially on the offensive end of the court. He's still not the best defensive player, but he should provide some good depth in the back court. The biggest plus is that Pocius has learned the system and knows where to be on the court. [private] Now, if he can only drop Olek some hints.
He said that he hoped Elliot Williams could fill some of the roles that DeMarcus Nelson did this past season. He likes Williams versatility and his ability to play good on ball defense on the perimeter. He also mentioned that Williams was a good spot up shooter. Williams played very well against Virginia Union and we'll see how he does this evening against Lenoir Rhyne. However, in my views, he has a ways to go to get use to the size and speed of the college game. When I talk of speed, in Williams case he needs to slow down a bit and let the game come to him. This will come in time as will his strength, but expect K to bring him along at well, K's pace.
Coach also said that Duke would get out and run. With their depth, he plans on pushing the ball and he seems as if he will go to the bench early and often. He once again mentioned how important it was to keep Kyle Singler fresh and how having a deeper front line wold help.
He also said his team was healthy overall and that he hoped that would carry through the season. "We have 14 healthy guys ready to go," said Krzyzewski.
"Do it, hear it, see it!" K barked that out as he stopped practice on several occasions. He meant for his team to talk a play through, see it later on film or at a half speed walk through and to then "do it."
K worked his team very hard with ACC Officials last week. He then carried that over into more work, knowing and saying his team was tired. He had a no contact practice after that, wanting to see how his team responded the next day when they went through two full practices in one day. He was pleased with the results.
The Big Three- "Gerald, Kyle and Jon are the guys we will build around. They are our best players. That doesn't mean a Nolan Smith or Greg Paulus couldn't lead the team in scoring. It simply means that these are the guys we feel comfortable building around, much like what we did in the Olympic. We feel if the rest of the team can fit in around them, then we'll have a chance to be really good. Don't get me wrong, we have some good players, but these three are our best." - Coach K
Jon Scheyer has played wonderfully in practice and worked his butt off all summer. When prospects came to visit, they all mentioned Scheyer. When teams are picked by individuals, he goes first or to the next guy with the second and third picks. He has shown more leadership and his defense on the ball has vastly improved.
Kyle Singler is the smartest player on the court when he's out there and that is often. Expect a fresh Singler to really blossom as the season progresses. He has worked with Miles Plumlee to make him a better player and the two get along on and off the court.
Gerald Henderson is becoming a man among boys. He is physically better than he's ever been and he looks like a future NBA player with his ability to go inside and out. He is capable of making the jump to All American.
No secret anymore- Miles Plumlee has proved that he has a very well rounded game. He plays smart, runs the floor well, has good hands and nice ball handling to go with a mid range offense game. He also finishes nicley and has good hops. His Dad told me he was under appreciated and you know what? That won't last much longer. I do expect he will struggle at times with veteran big men, but this kid has earned the starting nod as a freshman and that's a heck of an accomplishment.
The latest on John Wall- Wall will get together sometime soon with Coach K and the Duke staff. At that time both will figure out how they will proceed. Wall canceled his weekend visit with Memphis and I expect we will know whether Duke has offered no later than Monday.
Sorry for the delays in reporting of late due to computer attack. It happens. I lost two informative articles, but some of the info is a bit old now. I will still go back over some practice notes and dig up the pertinent information in the coming week. It looks like the Josh Smith interview will come next week, due to and overload in covering Duke vs NCSU in football, tonight's game, preparing player profiles and Monday and Tuesday's opener. Thanks for your patience during this time.[/private]
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