Duke "bounced" back Saturday afternoon at Cameron Indoor with a a win over Virginia 76-60. Nolan Smith led the way with 29 points, Andre Dawkins had a huge second half with timely three pointers and quality defense. Duke busted out of it's offensive slump that had carried over from the Florida State game, at the end of the first half Duke trailed 31-25 and looked sluggish. They needed a confidence boost and it came in the second half from the sophomore, Andre Dawkins. His runner plus the foul was the first step of the confidence boost. After the shot fell and the whistle blew Dawkins, normally a reserved silent assassin, went to the Duke bench screaming and giving high fives to his teammates. Then he sank the free throw, a possession or two later, he came up with a steal and hit Nolan Smith for a thunderous dunk. After those two huge momentum plays Duke cruised and ended up winning the game by 16.
All of this is great but I am left with many of the same issues I had after the loss to Florida State. Some issues seemed to be addressed, others look like they still need some work.
NEGATIVE -
- Plumlees still offensive ghosts.
Someone call the wack jobs that go ghost hunting on the Discovery channel to find these two on the offensive end of the court please. Mason Plumlee at least attempted to get going, but you can just see when he gets the ball there is no decisiveness in his offensive game. When he goes to the rim or attempts a put back there is so much going on in his head he is missing easy shots. Miles on the other hand only played 4 minutes.
- Smith, Singler and......
The two headed monster of Nolan Smith and Kyle Singler is a great option that every college basketball team would kill to have. Yet the two of them since Kyrie Irving hurt his toe have each been averaging 20+ points a game and it looks like the other players are struggling to find their role outside of waiting for the kick out for a three. There is no doubt that Kyrie was the glue to the offense for Duke early on this year. He got everyone involved and kept everyone engaged on the offensive end of the court. Duke needs Smith or possibly Tyler Thornton to step into the distributor role and get the rest of the team involved. Without this Duke is a 1-1 team with Nolan Smith or Kyle Singler working 1-1 or off a ball screen looking to either drive for a score or a kick out for a three. The ACC is bad enough that Duke will probably still win the ACC with this offense, maybe not as dominantly as predicted here and other places, but they still would probably win it. The issue would come in the NCAA tournament when they run into a defensive minded team, for example Wisconsin. You run into a team that can take away Singler (as FSU did for most of that game) and limit Smith with great help defense, you will struggle mightily without other options getting involved. If Irving comes back prior to the tournament this point maybe mute, but if indeed Irving is out for the rest of the year Duke will have to find a way to get others involved prior to the tournament or the National Championship goal will not be met.
POSITIVES-
-The Lid Came Off
Finally in the second half, thanks to Andre Dawkins, the lid came off the basket for Duke and shots began falling. Thank you Jesus.
- Ryan Kelly...this years Zoubek?
Ryan Kelly was assertive in this game, he got the message that I can only assume the Duke coaches stressed in practice after the FSU debacle. "We need inside scoring!" Ryan Kelly has spent most of this year outside the three point line spreading out the defense and allowing one of the Plumlees to roam the blocks posting up and setting ball screens. Against Virginia though Kelly was cutting into the lane with purpose, posting up and attacking the basket once he got the ball. The result? 8 pts on 4-7 shooting 0-0 from 3. This coming from a guy who 50% of his offensive shots have been 3's this year. This is a good sign. Kelly is 6-10 and has a nice touch around the rim, maybe the best on the team outside of Kyle Singler. Kelly needs to prove he isn't a liability on defense and the boards and he will start stealing more of whichever Plumlee seems to be in a funk that week, like he did in this game with Miles only getting 4 minutes.
- K adjusted
Coach K obviously stressed focusing on going inside more and shooting the three less. Duke still attempted 20 threes in this game but it was the focus that you could see by the players to take the ball to the rim that proved this point. Against FSU I can't remember a single post entry, against Virginia there were many to Mason Plumlee and Ryan Kelly and those players actually focused on attacking the rim, Kelly effectively and Plumlee not so much. Duke needs to continue this focus throughout the rest of the ACC and build the confidence of its inside player's. Duke was a different team last year once their inside players Zoubek and Thomas got their confidence and K needs to focus on aiding this same boost in confidence this year for the big fellas if Duke is going to reach its maximum potential with or without Irving.
That's all for now, up next @ NC State Wednesday. This isn't going to be a cake walk, NC State is a team that came in with high hope's this year, hope's that they haven't lived up to so far and will be hungry for a win. This could turn into a FSU type game quick if Duke doesn't take away the crowd and NC State's confidence early. Have a great Sunday.
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