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Duke Basketball

#2 Duke holds off Davidson 79-67

[private]The Duke Blue Devils boosted their record to 13-1 with a 79-67 win over Davidson in Cameron Indoor Stadium.  Duke was led by the dynamic duo of Jon Scheyer and Kyle Singler who scored 22 points apiece.

Duke held Stephen Curry in check during the first half, but the nation's leading scorer erupted for 25

Photo is courtesy of GoDuke.com
Photo is courtesy of GoDuke.com

points in the second half.  Curry's scoring effort allowed Davidson to cut a 25 point lead to 8, before Duke gained control to close out the victory.

"I think their help defense allows them to do that because if they create a mismatch where I’m guarded by a big guy, I usually try to take him off the dribble. If I see a guy right behind him on the second line of defense it’s tough to create something. That’s why they’re really good if they can switch and take away the initial shot and then when you drive they’re right there to help and make you make a tough decision,” said Curry in regards to the way the Devils defended him.

Early on, the Dukies defense picked up where it left off against Virginia Tech.  Davidson finally scored Curry's average as a team at the 15:20 mark in the second half making it 51-29.  They finally found their offensive game scoring 38 points to close out the game.

"We beat an outstanding team tonight. I think when two really good teams play one another, you have blows. At the end of the first half, those last eight minutes, we played really well and gave us the lead, and the first six minutes of the second half we played great. Then it looked like we got tired. We took some quick shots that missed, and I thought Lovedale made some big blocks when we did get a good shot," said Krzyzewski.

The Blue Devils played very well as a team for the most of the game before losing some momentum after maintaining large leads.  There is no question that the strong play of Jon Scheyer helped Duke thwart the Wildcats comeback.

"It was just plays needed to be made and opportunities were there, and I just had my shots, had some drives.  We took some pretty good shots in the second half I thought.  Most of them fell, some of them didn’t, but we when we move the ball like that, whether it’s me, Kyle, G or whoever, we can have some good opportunities to make some plays like that,” said Scheyer.

The victory was the Blue Devils 67th straight in Cameron versus a non conference opponent.  Duke will now travel to Talahassee to take on Florida State in a nationaly televised game which tips off at 2:00 this Saturday.

Sidebar -The Blue Devils have started the season 13-1 for the 17th time in school history. The Blue Devils have begun the year 13-1 for the third straight season and sixth time this decade. Coach K has led Duke to a 13-1 start a total of 11 times.

-Duke has now won its first nine home games in a season a total of 25 times, including 17 times under Coach K.

-Duke now leads the all-time series with Davidson, 87-17. The Blue Devils have won the last 22 meetings in the series dating back to a 75-73 loss in Cameron Indoor Stadium on Dec. 29, 1981.[/private]

Duke Basketball

Some tough out-of-conference opponents

[private]The 2008-09 out of conference schedule contains strong foes to complement the always tough ACC games. Duke will face off against three pre-season Top 25 programs in Davidson, Georgetown, and Purdue, with the possibility of facing a fourth, UCLA, in the Coaches versus Cancer tournament. The Purdue game is a road game on December 2, in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

The early season road game at Purdue will be a litmus test for the Blue Devils. Purdue, ranked number six in the CBS Sportsline preseason poll, returns all but one player off of last season’s 27-9 squad. Small forward Robbie Hummel was First Team All Big Ten, guard E’Twaun Moore was Second Team All Big Ten, and guard Chris Kramer was voted Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year. The Boilermakers are talented and experienced as they return 65.1 of the 69.6 points per game scored last season. On defense, Purdue forced their opponents to turn the ball over an average of 17.4 times per game. This will be a tough road game and should be a good indicator of Duke’s toughness.

Davidson travels to Cameron on January 7, 2009, and of course that means sensational Stephen Curry will be in the house. Curry was named the Mid-Majors Player-of-the-Year by CollegeHoops.net. The Southern Conference Champions lost point guard Jason Richards, and 6-8 forwards Thomas Sanders and Boris Meno whom combined for 27.1 points per game and were the teams second, third, and fourth leading scorers behind Curry’s 25.9 points per game. 6-10 230 pound center Frank Ben-Eze is the Wildcats lone new freshman. The loss of point guard Jason Richards who averaged a national best 8.1 assists per game will be tough to overcome and Duke should hold off Davidson to secure a home court victory.

Duke faces the Georgetown Hoyas, on January 17, 2009, in Cameron Indoor Stadium. The Hoyas, who lost leading scorer Roy Hibbert to graduation and the NBA, have suffered two off season transfers in Vernon Macklin and Jeremiah Rivers. Starting guard Jonathan Wallace, 10.7 points and 2.6 assists per game, and Patrick Ewing, Jr., 6.1 points per game, have also graduated so the Hoyas have lots of holes to fill. Four new freshmen will need to contribute early for Georgetown. Highly sought after power forward Greg Monroe is one of the new Hoyas who are ranked number 15 in the CBS Sportsline preseason poll. Georgetown should push the Blue Devils but they will be too inexperienced to win on the road in Cameron Indoor Stadium.

According to how the brackets play out, Duke could face UCLA in the Coaches versus Cancer Tournament in Madison Square Gardens in November. The Bruins lost Kevin Love, Russell Westbrook, and Luc Mbah a Moute to the NBA, but Darren Collison and Josh Shipp return and the Bruins bring in the nation’s number one rated recruiting class, which includes McDonald’s All-Americans Jrue Holiday and Malcolm Lee. A game against UCLA in MSG would be an early test for the Blue Devils equivalent to last season’s match-up against Marquette. A Duke – UCLA match-up should be an even and very tough game.

The Blue Devils will be deep and experienced this season with 12 scholarship players including seven upper classmen on the roster. As always, the ACC schedule will be tough and the out of conference games highlighted here will assist in preparing Duke for the tough competition they must defeat in March in order to continue playing into April.[/private]