The Duke men’s basketball team evened the ACC/Big Ten Challenge with a 73-68 victory over visiting Ohio State. If you watched the first half and turned the game off, then the final score definitely surprised you. The Blue Devils extended their non-conference home court winning streak to 97 games.

After playing their fourth game in seven days, the Blue Devils played the first half a bit like they were sleep-walking…except for Mason Plumlee. He had ten points and eight rebounds in the first half.

Ryan Kelly was effective when he was actually on the court (seven points), but he picked up his second foul with 14:16 to go.

The OSU defense flustered the Duke guards. Anyone not named Plumlee or Kelly did close to nothing in the first half. The other six players scored a total of eight points in the first half.

Duke did not record a field goal over ten minutes in the first half. With about four minutes left, Josh Hairston had a put back for their first bucket. It’s no surprise that Duke trailed 31-23 at the half (that’s less points in the first half than in last season’s blowout loss). To be a fly on the wall for Coach K’s halftime speech.

The Blue Devils came out a different team in the second half and played much better defense (except in the final minute of the game). They also had a few players STEP up.

With less than six minutes to go, Duke tied the game at 53-53 on a Kelly three pointer. They took their first lead since EARLY in the first half (when it was 9-7) at 56-53 on another Kelly three pointer (he only made three 3-pointers in the game) with 5:30 to go.

They never relinquished the lead (though it got a little shaky at the end). Duke out-scored OSU in the second half 50-37 and shot 58% from the field, including 4-for-5 from behind the arc.

I’m guessing the coaching staff will discuss how to finish out games with a lead without fouling, with a emphasis on their two seniors (ie Mason and Kelly, who committed three fouls in the final minute).

And now to those players…

» Continue reading “Big Second Half Propels Duke to Payback Victory Over OSU”

Elizabeth Williams returned to the Duke starting lineup on Wednesday night, as the Blue Devils beat Michigan, 71-54 in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

Williams, who has been recovering from last year’s stress fracture, had been coming off the bench. Tonight was her first start and she made it a good one. She finished with 19 points on 8-of-12 shooting. She hauled in seven rebounds and blocked two shots.

It got a little dicey at the end of the first half, as Duke racked up the fouls. Haley Peters picked up her second foul with 5:24 to go and that coincided with Michigan’s comeback. Duke led 34-20 with about five minutes to go. At the half, Duke led 35-32 (a 15-1 Wolverines run). They did not score a field goal over then final 6:38 of the half.

Oh to be a fly on the wall during halftime with Coach P.

The Blue Devils were on the attack to start the second half, so Coach P’s talk must have worked. They went on a 9-2 run to open the half and pulled away from there.

Freshman Alexis Jones had a big second half. After not scoring in the first half, she went 4-for-7 with nine points in the second half. She also dished out seven assists (which led the team). Peters also did not score in the first half, but hit three straight baskets in the second half to finish with six points. She also hauled in nine rebounds.

Chelsea Gray led all scorers with 19 points on 8-of-13 shooting. She hauled in three rebounds, dished out five assists, and had five steals. Unfortunately, her free throws made streak came to an end at 37.

Richa Jackson entered the game late for her first action of the season. She has been recovering from knee surgery (she missed last year’s tournament).

For Michigan, Jenny Ryan scored 18 points on 7-of -10 shooting. She hauled in five rebounds. However, the Wolverines committed 20 turnovers, which led to 26 Duke points. They also shot below their average from behind the arc (36% compared to their average of 42%).

*Next up for the Blue Devils, they return home to play California on Sunday afternoon.

With the big game tonight in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge between number 2 Duke and number 4 Ohio State, I thought this would be a great time to get to know the Blue Devils opponent. What better way to find out about the Buckeyes than from someone who writes about them.

Krista Jones of the Poisonous Nuthouse was kind enough to let you know what to expect from tonight’s game from an OSU perspective:

Ohio State and Duke will square off for the B1G/ACC Challenge. This time around, they will be meeting at what is possibly the most hostile College Basketball venue in Cameron Indoor Stadium. Last year, OSU shocked everyone (myself included) by beating Duke 85-63 en route to a season that ended in a disappointing loss to Kansas in the Final Four. That was then, this is now.

Ohio State is currently ranked fourth in the AP. They dropped a spot after being leapfrogged by arch-rival Michigan. As a result of the drop, this team feels like they have something to prove. They couldn’t possibly make a bigger statement than beating Duke on their home court. Of course, that will be much easier said than done.

The Buckeyes lost some major firepower in Jared Sullinger and William Buford. Those are some huge shoes to fill. Fortunately, preseason All-American Forward Deshaun Thomas decided to stick around. He is currently averaging 24 PPG and 7.3 RPG. It goes without saying that OSU will need a huge offensive performance from Thomas to have a shot at pulling off the win.

The Buckeyes also return last year’s B1G Defensive POTY Aaron Craft. Any fan of scrappy, blue collar basketball players is likely in love with Craft’s game. He is a Buckeye fan favorite for not only his game, but also his off-court demeanor. Craft is currently averaging 1.5 steals per game and 5.3 APG. He is also averaging 14.3 PPG this year, which is up from an average of 8.8 PPG last season. As Craft continues to develop into an even more complete player, he becomes a bigger and bigger headache to opposing coaches.

» Continue reading “Getting to Know the Opponent: Ohio State”

At the end of the week, a portion of the Duke men’s basketball schedule was released. Yet again, Coach K has put together another tough schedule.

The ACC portion of the schedule hasn’t completely been released (ie dates and times), but we do know who they are playing at home. The Blue Devils will open their ACC schedule at home versus Wake Forest. That is the first of nine ACC home games, as Coach K is going for ACC win number 400 (he currently sits at 388). Other ACC teams Duke will play at Cameron Indoor Stadium include NC State and North Carolina in February, along with Boston College, Maryland, Virginia Tech, Clemson, Miami, and Georgia Tech.

The Blue Devils non-conference schedule was released earlier in the week. It could include 13 games against 2012 NCAA Tournament teams.

They will be headed to the Bahamas for the Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament from November 22-24. The eight-team tournament features Louisville, Missouri, Memphis, VCU, Stanford, Northern Iowa, and Minnesota.

Following that tournament, Duke will once again play Ohio State in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. The game will be played at Cameron on November 28th.

In a pair of neutral-site matchups, Duke will face Temple on December 8th in East Rutherford, NJ, and Davidson on January 2nd in Charlotte.

The big non-conference game comes during the State Farms Champions Classic at the Georgia Dome. Duke will face reigning national champion Kentucky on November 13th.

*The entire ACC schedule won’t be released until late August.

If you looked at the box score for the Duke women’s basketball game for Thursday night, you had to be thinking “How did the Blue Devils win?”

They only shot 37% from the field, just 1-of-4 from behind the arc. They again struggled from the foul line, as they made just 11-of-20. Duke also turned the ball over 15 times. Freshman center Elizabeth Williams shot just 2-of-17 from the field and 5-for-10 from the free throw line. She also turned the ball over five times. Guard Tricia Liston, who has been the go-to scorer the last few games, got the start with the suspension of Shay Selby. Liston shot just 1-for-6. Yet they still won.

The Blue Devils welcomed the Purdue Boilermakers to town for the women’s edition of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

It was the Haley Peters and Chloe Wells show in the first half, as they led 30-28 at the break. Coach Joanne P. McCallie had to breathe a sigh of relief as Peters finally broke out this season. Peters led the Blue Devils in scoring with 14 points on 7-of-11 shooting. She also hauled in eight rebounds. Wells was terrific. She finished with 13 points (though the 5-of-13 shooting wasn’t great). However she had four rebounds, five assists, six steals, and ZERO turnovers.

Then in the second half, the offense became a little more balanced.

After Purdue took a 40-39 lead with 12 minutes to play, Duke went on a 13-2 run and never looked back. The Blue Devils never led by less than six points the rest of the way. In the end, Duke beat 16th ranked Purdue, 64-53.

Despite the awful shooting for Williams, she hauled in a career high 17 rebounds, ten on the offensive end. Liston also hauled in six rebounds.  The only Blue Devil other than Peters and Wells to score in double-figures was guard Chelsea Gray. Gray finished with 11 points, seven rebounds, four assists, three steals, and two blocks (though she had four turnovers).

The Blue Devils handed the Boilermakers their first loss, as they dropped to 0-5 all-time in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

The Duke women have now won 27 straight at Cameron Indoor Stadium, which is a school record. Former guard Abby Waner was in the house as she helped broadcast the game live on ESPN3.com What did Waner say Purdue needs to work on to improve? “Rebounding and limiting turnovers.” Purdue was out-rebounded 48-28 and out-rebounded on the offensive side 23-6. They turned the ball over 20 times, as Duke had 15 steals.

Waner said Thursday’s game was a big comeback win for Duke after losing a heartbreaker to Notre Dame and the team should keep moving in a positive direction.

Next up for Duke is Pittsburgh on Sunday afternoon at Cameron.

*Back to the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Unlike the men, the women of the ACC came back huge on Day 2 of the Challenge. The ACC won four of the five games Thursday to tie the series up at 6-6.