Tag Archives: Kyle Singler

Duke Basketball

Duke wins a thriller over Rhode Island, 82-79

[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
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]

Duke Basketball

Preview: Rhode Island Rams

[private]Leading scorer Kyle Singler will lead the Duke Blue Devils against the Rhode Island Rams on Sunday at 4:30 pm in Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Rhode Island has size and athleticism, and will arrive at Cameron Indoor Stadium as the best team on Duke's schedule to date. It remains to be seen whether the Rams have the talent to seriously challenge the Blue Devils, but this game will not be a pushover so the Blue Devils need to be focused on the task at hand - beating Rhode Island - not looking ahead to New York City and Madison Square Garden.

Last year, Rhode Island jumped out to a 14-1 start before fading over the second half of the season and finishing 21-12 in the tough Atlantic 10 conference earning a bid to the NIT. Leading scorer Will Daniels (18.6 ppg/6.5 rpg) has graduated along with Parfait Bitee (11.8 ppg/4.7 apg), but Rhode Island returns six players who significantly contributed, and welcome three freshman and a transfer from Connecticut who sat out last season in accordance with NCAA transfer rules.

Seniors Jimmy Baron (6'3" 195) and Kahiem Seawright (6'8" 235) averaged 14.2 points/1.9 assists and 9.2 points/8.4 rebounds per game respectively. Jason Francis (6'9" 280) is the team's third Senior. Juniors Lamonte Ulmer (6'6" 215) and Keith Cothran (6'4" 195) both averaged double digit minutes, while Junior Delroy James (6'8" 220) averaged 9 minutes per game. The three Juniors combined for 17.9 points and 9.5 rebounds per game last season. Sophomore Marquis Jones (6'1" 200) is projected to be the starting point guard.

Rhode Island strengths: Jimmy Baron is a very good shooter and has range. He made over 40% of his 3-point attempts last season and will be the Rams' Go-to-Guy. Baron made 91% of his free throw attempts so, like Jon Scheyer, he will have the ball in his hands a lot even though he isn't the point guard. Rebounding is another strength as Rhode Island was second in the Atlantic 10 and averaged 13.4 offensive rebounds a game. Kahiem Seawright was the leading rebounder in the Atlantic 10 conference. Seawright is the core of the Ram's inside game but he will receive support from small forward Lamonte Ulmer who is active on the glass. Ulmer averaged 7.3 points and 4.9 rebounds per game off the bench last year.

Rhode Island vulnerabilities: The Ram's point guard is untested and against a high intensity defensive team such as Duke that could be a big problem. Perimeter defense is also a suspect area for Rhode Island. They were burned in Atlantic 10 conference play last season as teams exploited the Rams from behind the 3-point arc. Finally, Rhode Island likes to get out in transition but they can struggle in their half-court offense. When matched against teams that are able to match their speed and athleticism, the Rams are prone to being erratic on offense.

Keys to the game: Foul trouble will be the first indicator one team is in trouble. While both teams have sufficient depth, there are key players that must stay on the court. For Duke, the player is Kyle Singler. It is important that the combination of Lance Thomas, Miles Plumlee, and Brian Zoubek execute against Rhode Island's big interior players. If Kyle Singler is forced to do the dirty work inside, picks up fouls, and is forced to the bench, Rhode Island will gain an advantage. For Rhode Island, Seawright and Baron must stay on the court for the Rams to be competitive.

Second, turnovers will be critical. Both teams like to get out in transition and force game tempo. Which team will be successful? The team that successfully executes their running game by forcing turnovers and scoring in transition will gain a significant advantage toward ultimate success. Look for Duke point guards Nolan Smith and Greg Paulus to pressure Marquis Jones relentlessly in an attempt to deny Rhode Island the opportunity to establish fast paced offensive flow.  Lance Thomas and Dave McClure are very strong defensive players in a fast paced environment so look for these two to see plenty of playing time against the Rams.

Finally, long rebounds off of missed 3-point shots will be important. Rhode Island and Duke like to shoot from behind the arc so it will be important for perimeter players to secure rebounds. Long offensive rebounds equate to extra opportunities to score the ball. Gerald Henderson, Jon Scheyer, and Elliot Williams are all strong rebounding guards who will need to out hustle the Rams.

Last season, Rhode Island averaged 80.5 points per game and shot 47 percent from the field including 38 percent from behind the 3-point arc. They were the 82nd best team in the nation according to Pomeroy Basketball Ratings. Duke's first two opponents this season were ranked 294 (Presbyterian) and 141 (Georgia Southern).[/private]

Duke Basketball

Duke vs Rhode Island – By the Numbers

[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
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]

Duke Basketball

#5 Duke crushes Georgia Southern 97-54

[private]The Duke Men's Basketball team (2-0) trounced Georgia Southern (1-1) 97-54 to advance to the semifinals of the Coaches versus Cancer 2K Classic.  The Blue Devils used a suffocating defense which held the Eagles to 28.1% shooting from the field.  Duke held the visitors to just two field goals in nine plus minutes of the first half which enabled them to go on a tear.

Kyle Singler once again led the Dukies with 19 points and 8 rebounds in just 22 minutes.  No Blue Devil played more minutes as Coach Krzyzewski went deep into his bench.  Nolan Smith, Greg Paulus and Gerald Henderson all scored in double digits.

Jon Scheyer led the team in assists with 7 and freshman Elliot Williams got an amazing 11 rebounds in as many minutes.  In short, Duke bounced back with a much better effort than the previous evening, save their free throw shooting which was less than 50% - 24 of 49.

The Duke defense also turned 17 turnovers into 24 points.  Like I said in yesterday's game recap, I expected this game to make many forget the opener which was ugly on the eyes.

Coach Krzyzewski used several combinations and Brian Zoubek started for the first time this season.  Duke got contributions from several players, including David McClure who scored 4 points and grabbed 5 boards.

Duke will play the winner of the UMass - Southern Illinois game on November 20th with the time to be determined.  Duke stretched its non conference winning streak in Cameron Indoor Stadium to 61 straight games.  Coach K now has 805 career wins.  Duke will take on Rhode Island in Cameron on Sunday at 4:30 pm.  This will be the third straight game televised by ESPNU in the young season.  Duke is now 2-0 all time versus the Eagles.

Official Box Score Link

BDN Player of the Game - Kyle Singler[/private]

Duke Basketball

Duke wins opener – advances to face Georgia Southern

[private]Anytime there are 48 turnovers and 46 fouls in a game, it's going to be ugly on the eyes.  Duke opened -

courtesy Associated Press
courtesy Associated Press

the new season with a sloppy 80-49 win over Presbyterian in the Coaches vs Cancer 2K Sports Classic.  The Blue Devils were out of sync on the offensive end of the floor, missing open players and committing an bevy of turnovers. 

"We committed 21 turnovers.  That's a lot of turnovers for a team that's not pressing us.  A lot of our turnovers were self inflicted wounds.  We just gotta get better," said Kyzyzewski shortly after the opener concluded.

While a 32 point victory is good from an average teams standards, it is not from Duke standards.  One must consider that this is the second earliest start in history for the Devils and Coach K is still experimenting with various combinations.   In short, they are working out the kinks.

Kyle Singler was the clear choice for the player of the game.  Singler tallied a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds to go with 2 blocks and two steals.  Nolan Smith, who was the starting point guard, added 15 points on 6 of 7 shooting from the field to go with 3 assists.

Duke started slowly, the game being tied at 2-2 with just over fifteen minutes left in the half.  They rode a solid defensive effort to close out the half with a bang.  The aforementioned defense accounted for 27 Blue Hose turnovers and several steals.  Duke held their opponent to 30% shooting as well.

A bright spot was the play off the bench for Lance Thomas, who hustled his way to 12 points and 5 rebounds.   Miles Plumlee, getting his first start as a freshman went scoreless.  Jon Scheyer added 12 key points, almost all of them in the first half when Duke couldn't find their mark.

Gerald Henderson struggled to get into the flow as well, scoring just 6 points.  Brian Zoubek foulded out with just two points.  Paulus added 4 points and 3 assists, Czyz also had 4 points to lead the freshman in scoring.   Williams and McClure had 2 points apiece.

While many fans might fret and dissect the team after a lack luster performance, you can bet that they will be ready to play tomorrow evening when they take on Georgia Southern, a winner over Houston.

It seemed as if the team didn't allow the game to come to them on offense and more passes could have been made.  Several shots went halfway down and popped out and it's been awhile since Duke hit just 3 three point shots.

All of the mistakes are correctable and most of them will take care of themselves as the team moves along this season.  By tomorrow evening, I expect fans will remember this game as simply a win.  The reason is that it will be quickly forgotten if Duke takes care of the ball and works as a team to advance to New York.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Official Box Score link from GoDuke.com

K-ments -

- “You hope [the defense] is always ahead of the offense, because it can produce offense. You have a chance to win if you play good defense. It was almost as if we were trying a little too hard on the offensive end at times. It comes. It’s our first game.”

- “I thought we played really hard, but it’s like when you watch any game that has good defense and the offense isn’t that good, you don’t think it’s that good of a game. But if the defense stinks and the offense is good, you think you went to a hell of a game. It’s like 9-8 in baseball, 33-30 in football – and that 10-7 game just stunk. And so I think that’s part of it. I thought we did have spark. We played really hard, or else we wouldn’t force 28 turnovers, but that didn’t translate to being fluid on the offensive end. We had 35 points off turnovers, and that’s when we had a numerical advantage. When their defense was set, I still thought we were trying to force things.”

- “I’d like to see some made lay-ups and the extra pass and to take better care of the ball. I don’t fault any kid. They’re playing hard. But in order to get better, you have to take responsibility and be accountable – we can play better offensively and that’s the only way you get to be really good. We want to be really good.”

- “I’m a big basketball-gods guy. I think sometimes you get punished – you miss layups and when you don’t see that open guy. We had that run in the first half, we were up 32-11, and four of the next five plays we had a guy wide open. We didn’t make a bad play, but it wasn’t the right play, and that just comes from playing. Hopefully we’ll make those plays.”

Kyle Singler -

- “This team is very competitive.  I think that’s one of our strengths – we just love to play and compete.  But tonight it just wasn’t there.  That’s on us.  Our standards weren’t met tonight and we’ve just got to come back tomorrow with a different mindset and attitude.”

 - “I did miss a lot of opportunities, but I’m not going to dwell on it.  It’s a team game, and we just have to move on.”[/private]

Duke Basketball

Duke rolls to easy 95-42 win over Lenoir-Rhyne

[private]Duke cruised to a 95-42 victory over Lenoir-Rhyne in their last exhibition game before the season starts this coming Monday.  Kyle Singler dropped 22 points on 9 of 11 shooting from the field.  Singler also grabbed 8 rebounds and dished out 3 assists to lead the Blue Devils. 

He was helped by Nolan Smith who tallied 14 points on 7 of 10 shooting.  Brian Zoubek joined in the field goal accuracy party as well, going 6 of 8 from the field, totaling 15 points to go with 8 rebounds.

Duke started slowly, but manhandled Lenoir-Rhyne the rest of the way.  Thirteen Blue Devils saw action in the lopsided win. 

Duke will take to the court for real against Presbyterian at 7:00 in Cameron on Monday.  This is the opening round of the 2K Sports Hoops Classic benefiting Coaches for Cancer.  Duke will then turn around and play the winner of the Georgia Southern-Houston game on Tuesday.  Both games will be televised on ESPNU.

Should Duke win out, they will participate in the semifinals on 11-20 in Madison Square Garden.[/private]