As a part of The Chronicle's coverage of Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski's climb to win No. 1,000, we will bring you content from the early days of Krzyzewski's tenure at Duke. From his hiring in 1980 to win No. 903 to his upcoming 1,000th career win, The Chronicle has been a constant source of coverage for the Duke community. We hope you enjoy the trip down memory lane. Today, we go back to Nov. 30, 1980—the day Coach K earned his first win as the Blue Devil head coach.
Mike Krzyzewski’s Duke debut was certainly a successful one, but another Blue Devil in a new role stole the show Saturday night in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Sophomore guard Tom Emma, making his first regular-season collegiate start, score a game-high 19 points to lead Duke to a 67-49 victory over Stetson in the season opener for both teams.
With the Devils leading by just one, 32-31, three minutes into the second half, Emma led a 16-6 spurt that gave them a commanding 11-point advantage with 10:29 remaining. After feeding Allen Williams for a 16-foot jumper, Emma sank two free throws to put Duke up by five, a margin by which Stetson would never again decrease.
Williams and Gene Banks added four points apiece during the remainder of the streak, after which the Devils gradually increased their lead to the final 18-point difference.
Emma scored nine of his team’s final ten points, including a game-ending dunk with six seconds remaining.
“I was really sky-high going in [to the game], it being my first start,” he said. “Tonight the shots were mine, they were sagging in on Gene and I was free outside. Coach K gives me a lot of confidence, and his man-to-man defense really suits my game well.”
Banks totaled 13 points and seven rebounds before fouling out with just over two minutes left in the game. Vince Taylor also hit for 13 points, and Williams came off the bench to add 10 on perfect five-for-five shooting from the floor.
“This was a good opener for us against a well-coached team,” said Krzyzewski. “I was very pleased with our effort. They [Stetson] didn’t come up here to lose.”
Throughout the first half, it looked like neither team had come to win. Both clubs showed opening-game jitters with cold shooting and sloppy ballhandling, which led to one stretch of over five minutes when each side could manage just two points.
“We just rushed too much in the first half,” said Krzyzewski, whose team held a 26-24 advantage at intermission. “We got ahead of ourselves. Our shot selection was better in the second half.”
Indeed, the Blue Devils improved their shooting from the floor from 45 percent to 58 percent in the final period. The Hatters, however, sunk from a frigid 35 percent to what head coach Glenn Wilkes called an “archaic” 31 percent. Incredibly enough, that figure looks god when compared with their horrendous 21 percent (3 of 14) from the free throw line.
“We shot poorly and our shot selection broke down on us,” said Wilkes. “We had a few too many turnovers and our poor shot selection made us totally ineffective on offense.”
Despite its shooting woes, Wilkes’ squad, which was led by forward Frank Burnell’s 15 points, managed to stay close for most of the contest by outrebounding Duke, 45-36.
“We did not do a good job rebounding tonight, particularly on offense,” said Krzyzewski, whose team was not outsized by the Hatters’ front line of 6-5 Burnell, 6-6 Wilber Montgomery and 6-8 Clifford Johnson. “We had a one-shot offense in the first half. We were thinking defense instead of offense a bit too much.”
Krzyzewski started Mike Tissaw, who had “a good week of practice,” in place of Williams, who started against the Polish National Team two weeks ago. The 6-8 Tissaw, like fellow sophomores Emma and Williams, performed well, grabbing six rebounds and dishing out a team-high four assists in 25 minutes.
Their efforts were necessary due to the sub-par performances turned in by Banks, Taylor and Kenny Dennard, who had six points and seven rebounds before fouling out with five minutes left on the clock.
Taylor, in particular, was off his game on opening night, having the ball stolen from him the first two times he touched it and throwing up two straight air balls later in the first period.
“I didn’t play well at all,” he said. “I think I was just out of rhythm. I may have been too pumped up.”
“He didn’t play his typical game,” said Krzyzewski.
Still, the Blue Devils enjoyed their best moments of the evening when the big three was on the court. When asked what he thought of his team’s play when Banks and Dennard were on the bench late in the game, Krzyzewski said, “Not very experienced.
“I was thinking to myself on the bench,” he added, “this could be our club next year if we don’t recruit well.”
—Dave Fassett
This article originally ran Dec. 1, 1980.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.