The Duke men’s basketball team put together a great defensive showing in their 71-61 victory over Michigan State to advance to the Elite 8. The Blue Devils will face the overall number one seed on Sunday. That would be the Louisville Cardinals.

Where has this team been?

After the Spartans cut the Duke lead to one point at the half, the Blue Devils came out with alot of energy on defense. They held Michigan State to just one field goal over a 14 minute span. Sure the Spartans got to the free throw line (15-of-18), but just one field goal? They only made seven total second half field goals. Michigan State committed six second half turnovers.

Senior Seth Curry was on fire, as he scored 29 points on 8-of-17 shooting. He scored 14 points in the first half and many of his shots were WIDE open. Apparently, the Spartans did not get the memo that Curry is a good shooter.

Mason Plumlee dealt with some second half foul trouble, but still finished with 14 points and seven rebounds. Rasheed Sulaimon only made two shots from the field, but scored 16 points. He went 12-of-14 from the free throw line, with plenty coming late.

Tyler Thornton played most of the second half and had his hand in on just about every defensive stand (I missed what happened to Quinn Cook). He went 1-for-1 from the field, as he hit a big three pointer in the first half.

The energy and intensity that Duke played with tonight was missing from their first two wins of the tournament. I hope they still have some left for Sunday. They will play at 5:05pm ET on CBS.

Somehow, the Duke men’s basketball team overcame massive foul trouble to defeat seven seed Creighton, 66-50.

Ryan Kelly picked up three fouls in the first half while both Mason Plumlee and Josh Hairston fouled out.

When it looked like Creighton was closing in at the end of the first half, Tyler Thornton hit a three at the buzzer to give Duke the 29-23 lead. And if you looked at the stats, you were probably scratching your head trying to find out how they were leading. Kelly had not scored. Seth Curry couldn’t hit the side of a barn.

But Rasheed Sulaimon was back, hitting shots and playing with confidence. He finished with 21 points and five rebounds.

In the second half, Amile Jefferson had the pleasure of guarding Creighton’s best player, Doug McDermott. Let’s just say he earned his scholarship tonight. With a combination of Kelly, Jefferson, and then Thornton towards the end, McDermott made just four shots (out of 16). He did score 21 points, as he went 12-for-12 from the free throw line.

The Duke defense visibly frustrated McDermott and there were times down the court that he didn’t touch the ball on offense.

Curry hit some shots in the second half, as he scored 17 points on 5-of-15 shooting. Thornton scored eight points and led the team in rebounds with six.

The Blue Devils move on to the Sweet 16 to face Michigan State on Friday night at approximately 9:45pm ET on CBS. The game will be played in Indianapolis.

*I was on the edge of my seat at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia for most of the game, especially with all of the foul trouble. The Creighton head coach was constantly complaining to the refs, but it wasn’t until the second half that their best player (and his son) got into foul trouble. Meanwhile, two of Duke’s best players had three (or four) fouls.

I stayed for the entire game, unlike most fans. Many left before the midnight ending. The Florida Gulf Coast fans were loud and proud, especially considering their team became the first 15 seed to advance to the Sweet 16. However, most of their fans left between games.

**On a side note, Creighton didn’t really have cheerleaders. They had a dance team and a group wearing blue and white overalls. Their band had a guy banging on a cowbell and a girl with a tambourine. Can I get on scholarship in that band? At the half of the first game between San Diego State and FGCU, the Eagles mascot did his own routine. I’m sure somebody has posted it online by now.

In the revenge rematch on Saturday night, the Duke men’s basketball team beat visiting Miami, 79-76. The loss kept the Hurricanes from clinching the outright ACC regular season title (it would be their first ever basketball outright title). The game was a bit closer than Duke fans would have liked, due to sloppy play and missed free throws over the final minute, but a win’s a win.

It was all about Ryan Kelly tonight (and the Cameron Crazies made sure to chant his name throughout).

In his return (he last played on January 8th due to a foot injury), he was absolutely unstoppable. If you had said he would have had a career night in his return to the court, you should play the lottery more often.

Kelly scored a career-high 36 points on 10-of-14 shooting. He also hauled in seven rebounds in 32 minutes of work. Duke is still undefeated during this season with Kelly in the lineup. Check out Kelly postgame HERE.

Freshman Rasheed Sulaimon was so bad for about 37 minutes of the game and found himself on the bench for a good chunk of the second half. However, when he came back in with about 2:40 to go, he scored four points over a thirty second span to give Duke a seven point lead (which just about put the game away).

Mason Plumlee played with a lot more energy and toughness than he did in Thursday’s loss. He scored 12 points and hauled in five rebounds. Quinn Cook scored 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting. He also dished out five assists and hauled in four rebounds.

As the guys from ESPN’s College Gameday said following the game, Miami’s Reggie Johnson forgot what time the game started. He really didn’t show up (no points) and they will need him to go far in the tournaments.

The Hurricanes did receive production from their four other starters. Shane Larkin, who many believe will earn the ACC Player of the Year honors, scored 25 points, hauled in four rebounds, and dished out four assists. He scored 19 of his points in the second half. Kenny Kadji scored 17 points on 7-of-13 shooting while hauling in ten rebounds. Trey McKinney-Jones and Durand Scott each scored 12 points and hauled in five rebounds in the loss.

» Continue reading “Duke Welcomes Ryan Kelly Back with Open Arms”

The Duke men’s basketball team blew out Florida State from the very beginning en route to the 79-60 victory. Duke jumped out to an 11-0 lead and the Seminoles took four minutes to score. The only way that FSU could stop Duke from scoring was to call a timeout.

The Blue Devils led 42-22 at the half and it wasn’t until the closing seconds that FSU cut the deficit under twenty points.

This was a game that I circled when the schedules came out that Duke would have trouble with. They always have trouble at FSU and with Duke’s issues on the road this season and with the loss of Ryan Kelly, I thought it would be a close game. I mean Michael Snaer loves to hit buzzer-beaters (one at Duke last year and two already in the last week). However, Snaer did not score in the first half and was just 3-of-13 from the field overall (seven points).

I cringed at the 10:33 mark when Mason Plumlee committed his second foul and headed to the bench. ESPN analyst Doris Burke stated that there was no way that Plumlee would spend the rest of the first half on the bench. Well, she was wrong, as Duke did not need him. He ended up scoring eight points on 4-of-4 shooting.

Seth Curry

Duke shot 62% from the field in the first half and it was not like they were hitting everything (well they were). But they were uncontested shots. FSU was not playing much defense and Seth Curry kept taking wide open three pointers and they kept cutting to the basket for wide open for layups.

Speaking of Curry, he finished with a game-high 21 points on 7-of-11 shooting. He made 5-of-7 three pointers.

FSU played with a little more intensity after the first five minutes of the second half. However, they still did not play much defense (Duke shot 60.8% overall). The two teams were pretty much trading baskets. Coach K probably is not happy about the defensive effort in the second half, as FSU made 15-of-27 shots to up their shooting percentage for the game to 41.8%.

Without Mason, the Blue Devils got plenty of support from the rest of the starters. Quinn Cook was brilliant once again as the point guard. He scored 18 points on 7-of-12 shooting. He dished out six assists to one turnover and hauled in five rebounds. Rasheed Sulaimon has found his shot, as he made 6-of-11 on Saturday afternoon for 14 points. Amile Jefferson had a solid game, with 11 points on 4-of-4 shooting.

And with the big lead, Duke had the chance to give its bench some quality playing time. Guys like Alex Murphy and Marshall Plumlee got some good minutes in both halves. Josh Hairston actually had a solid game and did not foul out (five points and two blocks).

» Continue reading “Duke Pummels FSU From Opening Tip”

Just three days after being completely blown out of Miami, the Duke men’s basketball team rebounded with a victory over ACC rival Maryland, 84-64. The Blue Devils have now won 12 of the last 13 games against the Terrapins.

The Blue Devils were 12 point favorites, but I thought for sure the game would be closer.

Duke came right out of the gate showing tons more energy than they showed in Wednesday night’s loss. Even the coaches were pumped. There were some fouls early on for both teams and Duke struggled to keep Maryland off the offensive glass.

During the game, the CBS announcers were talking about how the young players for Duke were shell-shocked after the Miami loss. Well, two of those “young guys” came out on fire in the first half. The Blue Devils were led to halftime by freshmen Rasheed Sulaimon and Amile Jefferson. Sulaimon, who has been struggling with his shot, was one point off his career-high at the half (18 points on 6-of-8 shooting). Jefferson had nine points and six rebounds at the half.

In the second half, Duke stepped up their defense and cleaned up their offense. Duke did not commit a second half turnover and only committed four total. They ended up shooting 52.4% from the field and made 11-of-22 free throws. Overall, the Blue Devils forced 14 turnovers and had seven steals. They held Maryland to 41.7% shooting.

Quinn Cook controlled the Duke offense, as he dished out nine assists and only committed two first half turnovers. He also scored 11 points and hauled in five rebounds. Mason Plumlee took over the second half, as he scored 15 of his 19 points after halftime. He also hauled in seven total rebounds and dished out three assists. Sulaimon stayed hot in the second half and finished with a career-high 25 points on 9-of-13 shooting.

The glaring negative was their rebounding. The Terps out-rebounded Duke, 42-31 and 16-9 on the offensive end. The free throw shooting was also alarming, as they only made 7-of-17. Mason and Jefferson both missed four.

For the Terps, transfer Dez Wells scored 13 points and hauled in eight rebounds. Alex Len hauled in ten rebounds, but only scored eight points. Charles Mitchell came off the bench to score 13 points and haul in seven rebounds.

Duke next heads the short distance to play Wake Forest on Wednesday night at 8pm ET.

The Duke Blue Devils came out flat in the first half yet again, but behind senior Mason Plumlee, they dominated the second half to beat Georgia Tech, 73-57.

The Blue Devils are now 15-1 since 2009 after a loss.

The Yellow Jackets led 28-27 at the half, as Duke made just nine first half field goals (27.3%). They were out-rebounded and just out-played. Their defense was lacking and they were not getting back. They also missed a lot of shots in the paint.

The second half was a different story.

The Duke defense came out in full force. They had six steals and blocked four shots. They forced eight turnovers (GT finished with 21). The Yellow Jackets only made ten second half shots.

The Blue Devils also started making some shots. They made 17-of-33 shots in the second half (51.5%).

Mason had just six points (2-of-12 shooting) at the half and eight rebounds, to go along with four turnovers. He finished with another double-double: 16 points and 13 rebounds. He committed just one second half turnover and made 5-of-8 shots.

Seth Curry, who sprained his ankle on Saturday, scored a game-high 24 points on 7-of-14 shooting. He made 6-of-7 three pointers. 16 of those points came in the second half.

Freshman Rasheed Sulaimon came off the bench for the first time in his career and finally got his shot back on track. He made 5-of-8 shots for 15 points. He also hauled in five rebounds.

GT is a young team and Chris Bolden led them in scoring with 20 points on 7-of-13 shooting.

The Blue Devils have some time off, which is good for Curry, Mason (who needs some rest), and the injured Ryan Kelly. But it doesn’t get any easier. They travel to play a very solid Miami team next Wednesday night.

On the day that Jabari Parker verbally committed to Duke, the men’s basketball team went out and beat visiting Elon, 76-54. The offense was off, as they played their second game in two days after not playing over an 11 day span. The Blue Devils did win their 100th straight non-conference home game.

Their defense forced 17 turnovers and Elon made just 20-of-52 shots. Duke also out-rebounded them, 42-31, which has been a rarity.

Mason Plumlee got back to his double-double ways. He scored 21 points on 9-of-14 shooting and he hauled in 15 rebounds. Ryan Kelly and Quinn Cook also scored in double figures (14 and ten points respectively), but the two combined made just 8-of-26 shots.

Rasheed Sulaimon rounded out the Duke double figure scoring with 13 points. He also had four assists. Tyler Thornton came off the bench to hit two big three pointers that helped the Blue Devils pull ahead. They had less than a ten point halftime lead.

The Blue Devils now have off until next weekend, as they enjoy the holidays.

*As I mentioned at the beginning, Jabari Parker verbally committed to Duke. The #2 recruit for next season chose Duke over teams like BYU and Michigan State. Coach K still has not lost a kid he has recruited from Chicago. He chose Duke over MSU and Florida for the history and to play for Coach K. He talked this afternoon during his announcement that he wants the college experience and is looking forward to playing two or three years of college basketball.

Todd Zafirovski

The Duke men’s basketball team hasn’t played in eleven days and it looked like it early on in the first half. But when Todd Zafirovski scores a career-high three points, you know the Blue Devils won big. They beat visiting Cornell, 88-47.

The win extended their home court non-conference winning streak to 99 games. Not bad for the recently crowned number 1 team in the country.

I thought the first five minutes of the second half would be important with how the first half played out (Duke led at the half, 41-30). It was. Duke went on an 8-0 run to start the half and put the game away quickly.

Cornell stayed in the game for most of the first half, but turnovers plagued them (14 in the first half).

In the second half, Duke stepped up their defense and held Cornell to just 17 points in the second half. Their shooting percentage went from 54.2% at the half to 36.4% when the game ended. They also turned the ball over 25 times.

Mason Plumlee was perfect from the field (8-of-8) and scored 18 points. He fell one rebound shy of a double-double with nine. He also blocked three shots. Seth Curry continues his hot shooting despite limited practice. He went 7-of-10 from the field for 20 points. He also had two steals.

Quinn Cook only took four shots (2-of-4) but dished out a career-high 12 assists compared to just one turnover. Rasheed Sulaimon continues to be impressive and play great defense for a freshman. He was 6-of-10 from the field for 16 points. He dished out three assists and had four steals.

With the blowout win and a another game tomorrow night, Coach K had a chance to play the bench. Alex Murphy did not play in the first half, but was all over the court when he got in. He scored seven points and hauled in three rebounds. Tyler Thornton did not score (0-for-4), but he dished out five assists, hauled in four rebounds, and had two steals.

» Continue reading “Duke Finally Back on Court and Wins”

The Duke men’s basketball team took in two ACC honors after going 2-0 last week and staying at number two in the nation in the latest rankings.

Mason Plumlee

Senior Mason Plumlee earned Co-ACC Player of the Week (with Virginia Tech’s Erick Green). In victories over fourth ranked Ohio State and Delaware, Plumlee recorded a pair of double-doubles. In those two games, he averaged 19.5 points and 14 rebounds. He made 12 of his 20 shots (60%) and made 15-of-22 free throws. He dominated the Buckeyes with a 21 point, 17 rebound performance and his dunk rallied the Blue Devils to the comeback.

Rasheed Sulaimon was named the ACC’s Rookie of the Week. In Duke’s two victories, he averaged 15.5 points, four rebounds, and three assists. He scored 17 points in the win over OSU, with all of those points came in the second half comeback (7-of-10 shooting). He recorded a career-high six assists in the win against Delaware.

Duke is back in action on Saturday afternoon at the Izod Center in North Jersey against the undefeated Temple Owls.

The Duke men’s basketball team extended their non-conference home court winning streak to 98 games as they blew out Delaware, 88-50.

It never was close, even without Duke senior guard Seth Curry sitting out with an ankle injury. The Blue Devils held the Blue Hens scoreless for about a seven minute span in the first half, which increased their lead from 12-7 to 25-7. They led 45-19 at the half.

It was yet another big game for Mason Plumlee, as he recorded another double-double. He scored 18 points (13 in the first half) and hauled in 11 rebounds. He also blocked three shots. Ryan Kelly seemed to get his shot back, as he made 8-of-13 for 18 points.

The Blue Devils received some great guard play from both Quinn Cook and Tyler Thornton (who started in place of Curry). Though they only scored a total of 11 points, they dished out 16 assists to just four turnovers. They also combined for five steals. Thornton hauled in six rebounds.

Freshman Rasheed Sulaimon got into a bit of foul trouble, but rebounded from a slow first half (just five points and two turnovers) to score 14 points, haul in four rebounds, and dish out six assists. He did not commit a turnover in the second half.

However, this game was about the Duke bench, one that has not been used very often over the course of the season so far.

Freshman Amile Jefferson took just one shot in the first half (three points), but went 4-for-8 in the second half for a total of 12 points. He also hauled in six rebounds. He and Alex Murphy, who has barely played this season, played 21 minutes. Murphy went 4-for-5 in the second half for ten points. He also hauled in seven rebounds.

Josh Hairston couldn’t stay out of foul trouble, but still managed to haul in six rebounds. Having the big lead meant that Coach K got Todd Zafirovski into the game, to the delight of the Cameron Crazies. He scored his first points of the season (1-for-2), while also picking up a rebound and blocking a shot.

Devon Sadler of Delaware was averaging 21.4 points per game. He ended up scoring 23 points, but was 8-of-22 from the field. He had just eight points (3-of-11) at the half.

Next up for Duke is a much needed week off. They then travel up to north Jersey (the Izod Center to be more specific) to play the undefeated Temple Owls on Saturday.