Tag: Duke Blue Devils (Page 11 of 12)

#3 Duke, #6 Wake trounced on the road

Let’s say you’re sitting in a Vegas sportsbook yesterday afternoon and you decide that you want to get odds on a parlay that has #3 Duke losing to #10 Clemson by 27 points and #6 Wake Forest losing at Miami by the exact same margin. Or let’s just say that you have them both losing by 20-plus. What kind of odds would you be able to get? 100-1? 1,000-1? 10,000-1?

That’s exactly what happened. Clemson slammed Duke, 74-47, while Miami blasted Wake, 79-52. Littlejohn Coliseum is a great home court environment and the Tigers were able to jump all over the Blue Devils, leading from the get-go. It was just one of those nights for Duke when nothing was falling. Kyle Singler, Nolan Smith and Jon Scheyer were a combined 4 of 23 from the field for 12 points. As a team, Duke shot 23% from long range and 31% from the field, and they were rattled by the Tigers’ full court pressure. Trevor Booker was stellar for Clemson, posting 21 points and eight boards, both game highs.

Meanwhile, the Demon Deacons were stymied by Miami’s zone defense en route to a brutal 32% from the field (and just 15% from long range). Jack McClinton had 32 points for the Hurricanes. Miami broke a three-game losing streak with the victory.

North Carolina and Duke sit atop the ACC at 6-2, while Clemson is a half game behind at 5-2. The Tar Heels visit Duke next Wednesday in a game that will determine who is in the driver’s seat in the ACC.

DVD Review: North Carolina beat Duke

North Carolina and Duke are located just eight miles apart, making their rivalry the most spirited in all of college basketball. This three-disc DVD set contains three of the Tar Heels’ most memorable wins over their hated archrival.

From the back cover…

March 3, 1984
Chapel Hill, NC
North Carolina 96 Duke 83 (2 OT)

The final home game for North Carolina’s Matt Doherty, Michael Jordan, and Sam Perkins, was a memorable one. #1 North Carolina looked to be finished down two with just second to go in regulation when Matt Doherty took the inbounds pass the length of the court and hit a 15-footer to force overtime. Michael Jordan opened the second overtime with an alley-oop dunk and Duke’s Johnny Dawkins came back to cut the North Carolina lead to 82-81 with a short jumper but Duke would get only one more basket as Jordan and Perkins carried the Tar Heels to the victory.

February 5, 1992
Chapel Hill, NC
North Carolina 75 Duke 73

A rough one between #1 Duke and #9 North Carolina that featured blood and broken bones. The teams would exchange the lead 10 times before a Thomas Hill baseline jumper gave the Blue Devils a 39-38 halftime lead. The second half was just as tight seeing the Tar Heels take a 75-73 lead on a pair of Derrick Phelps free throws with 44.5 seconds remaining. Christian Laettner had two shots to tie the game in the final 24 seconds, but missed both. The lasting image from this game had to be North Carolina’s Eric Montross, who took a couple of elbows to the face – looking more like a boxer than a center, as he sank two late free throws with blood streaming down his face.

February 2, 1995
Durham, NC
North Carolina 102 Duke 100 (2OT)

Duke seemed out-manned on their home court from the opening tip, falling behind 26-9 in the first half, highlighted by an alley-oop dunk from Carolina’s Rasheed Wallace and a reverse jam by Jerry Stackhouse over two Blue Devils. However, Duke rallied in the second half and led by as much as 12, before North Carolina staged a rally of its own. The two squads exchanged leads four times at the end of regulation before heading into overtime. With three seconds left in the first overtime Duke’s Jeff Capel hit a running, 37-foot heave that tied the game at the buzzer. With the game still tied late in the second overtime, Jeff McInnis stole the inbounds pass for an easy layup, putting North Carolina up 102-98. Duke answered with a basket of their own and had a chance to force a third overtime or win the game but fell short on Steve Wojciechowski’s missed jumper.

DVD Review: Duke beat North Carolina

The Duke Blue Devils #1 goal every season is to beat North Carolina. The two schools are just eight miles apart and the players and fans hate each other (literally). This three-disc DVD set includes three of the biggest Duke wins in this storied rivalry from the full-length, commercial-free television broadcasts.

From the back cover…

February 3, 2000
Chapel Hill, NC
Duke 90 ∙ North Carolina 86 (OT)

The Tar Heels, unranked coming into the game for the first time since 1990, struggled in the first half. Shane Battier scored 14 first-half points for #3 Duke who jumped out to a 17-point halftime lead. Duke pushed the lead to 19 early in the second half before North Carolina turned the game around scoring on 19 of its final 22 possessions, including a Joseph Forte three-pointer with 5.2 seconds left to send the game to overtime. The Blue Devils scored on their first six possessions in overtime and got seven points from Carlos Boozer in the extra frame to hold on for the victory.

February 5, 2004
Chapel Hill, NC
Duke 83 ∙ North Carolina 81 (OT)

The first game in the rivalry pitting Mike Krzyzewski against new UNC head coach Roy Williams didn’t disappoint. #1 Duke turned up the defense late in regulation with a 10-0 run, taking a 72-69 lead on two free throws by Luol Deng. #17 North Carolina fought back hitting a game-tying three-pointer and sending the game to overtime. Duke’s Shelden Williams’ two blocks and aggressive defense forced North Carolina into a late turnover. Duke’s J.J. Redick made two free throws to take the lead before North Carolina’s Rashad McCants drilled a game-tying three. That set the stage for Chris Duhon’s reverse layup with 6.5 seconds left in overtime to give Duke the win.

February 9, 2005
Durham, NC
Duke 71 ∙ North Carolina 70

In arguably the most anticipated game in the rivalry since 1998, #2 ranked UNC came up Highway 15-501 to visit the #8 ranked Blue Devils for a heavily hyped, prime time broadcast. By keeping the game almost entirely in the halfcourt, the Blue Devils and their vaunted defense simply were too much for North Carolina. J.J. Redick scored 18 points and freshman DeMarcus Nelson added 16 for Duke who forced UNC into 23 turnovers to seal the victory.

#1 Duke, #3 Pitt both fall

Who says the college basketball regular season doesn’t mean anything? (Kirk Herbstreit and Mike Greenberg, I’m looking at you.)

When Dino Gaudio took over as the head coach at Wake Forest, he immediately announced a change in defensive philosophy. He decided that if the team wanted to become a perennial contender, they had to focus more on that end of the court. He implemented the Pack Defense, created by Dick Bennett, former coach at Wisconsin and Washington State. He spoke with Dick’s son, Tony, as well as Sean Miller, who uses the defense at Xavier.

That change in philosophy paid great dividends tonight, as the #4 Demon Deacons upended #1 Duke, 70-68, limiting the Blue Devils to just 4-22 from long range.

But good defense can’t always overcome bad free throw shooting. Wake Forest led, 61-48, with 8:50 to play. Benefiting from Wake’s 5-10 free throw shooting down the stretch, Duke went on a 20-7 run to tie the game at 68-68. The game should have gone to overtime, but Gerald Henderson, Nolan Smith and David McClure didn’t communicate on Wake’s out-of-bounds play with only a few seconds remaining, and James Johnson sprung free for a way-too-easy layup to win the game. Johnson was positioned to be the goat, as he was outhustled by Jon Scheyer for a rebound on Duke’s previous possession (which set up Gerald Henderson’s game-tying bucket over Johnson).

In the end, these were two very good teams doing battle in the ACC. Wake Forest now has the inside track to a #1 seed with wins over Duke and North Carolina, but the two teams will meet again in Durham on Feb. 22 and may meet a third time in the ACC Tournament.

In other action, #3 Pitt lost to #22 Villanova, 67-57. It’s tough to win any game on the road in the Big East, especially against a ranked opponent like the Wildcats. Reggie Redding led ‘Nova with 18 points as the Wildcats’ defense held the Panthers to just 42% from the floor and 20% from long range.

Pay attention! #1 Duke visits #4 Wake Forest tonight on ESPN

In one of those easy-to-miss-if-you’re-not-paying-attention weekday games, #1 Duke travels to Winston-Salem to face #4 Wake Forest in a big-time ACC showdown. The Blue Devils need to contain dynamic guard Jeff Teague and do their best to battle the Demon Deacons’ big men — James Johnson, Al-Farouq Aminu and Chas McFarland — in the paint. With improved play from 7’1″ center Brian Zoubek, Duke now has some extra beef down low.

The Demon Deacons have the home court advantage, but Duke is still a slight favorite, at least according to the Las Vegas oddsmakers. Wake Forest lost last week at home to Virginia Tech, but looked great in a Jan. 11 home win against North Carolina. Kyle Singler leads the Blue Devils in scoring (16.5 ppg), but lately it has been Gerald Henderson leading the way. He has averaged 21.0 points on 64% shooting over the last five games, so the Demon Deacons would be wise to account for him.

The game is on ESPN tonight at 7 PM.

« Older posts Newer posts »