NEW YORK — On the one-year anniversary of Duke’s lopsided defeat to Georgetown at the Verizon Center, the No. 3 Blue Devils faced off against another Big East opponent Sunday, attempting to build off the momentum of four straight ACC victories.
But even in an arena that Duke fans refer to as home away from Cameron Indoor Stadium, the Blue Devils (19-2) were dominated by start to finish by St. John’s. The Red Storm, losers of five of their last six, put together one of their most complete performances of the year to emerge with a 93-78 victory at Madison Square Garden in front of a sellout crowd.
“They were ready to compete and play,” head coach Mike Krzyzewski said of St. John’s. “They had a great game plan. They have had outstanding games this season and this was one of them.”
Duke started the game with a 4-0 edge, but the Red Storm (12-8) took the Blue Devils’ short-lived lead away at the 15:45 mark of the first half and never looked back. Bolstered by repeated backdoor cuts and precise passing, St. John’s built its lead to 21 at halftime and was able to keep a double-digit advantage for the remainder of the game.
Seniors Dwight Hardy and Justin Brownlee, who led the Red Storm with 26 and 20 points, respectively, found their way into the lane at will, overwhelming Duke with superior athleticism. As a team, St. John’s consistently penetrated inside and was able to find open men when the defense collapsed, leading to an astounding 50 points in the paint.
Even the Blue Devils’ pressure did little to frustrate the home team. Although the Red Storm operated at a significant height disadvantage, they had multiple effective ball-handlers on the court at all times to dissect the Duke defense. St. John’s finished the game with 21 assists on 32 field goals.
“We were crisp in our judgments,” St. John’s head coach Steve Lavin said. “We were prudent with our decision-making at the end of breaking their press, whether it was sitting down for a jump stop, making that extra pass, probing or investigating for the open man.”
Krzyzewski echoed that sentiment.
“They passed the ball brilliantly,” he said. “They really played beautifully as a team.”
Unfortunately, that type of precision was not present in the Blue Devils’ offense. From the beginning, St. John’s frustrated Duke with its 2-2-1 press and forced 17 turnovers. The Red Storm would finish the game with 28 points off of those miscues.
Even when the Blue Devils managed to hold onto the ball, the team struggled from the floor. After three games of having a consistent third scoring option, Duke’s attack once again devolved into the Nolan Smith and Kyle Singler show. The two senior captains put the team on their backs, particularly in the second half, and Smith even approached his career high with 32 points.
Beyond the pair, however, the Blue Devils only had 26 points, many of which came in the final minutes when the game was effectively out of reach. Sophomore Ryan Kelly had six points in the first half but scored only one after the break. Seth Curry couldn’t hit anything from long range after lighting up Cameron last Thursday, missing his first four threes before finally connecting with three minutes left and Duke still trailing by 14.
The Blue Devils had perhaps their best chance to the mount a comeback in the second half when two skirmishes resulting in double technicals disrupted the Red Storm’s rhythm and brought the lead down to 17. But a traveling violation by sophomore Mason Plumlee killed Duke’s momentum and a senior-laden St. John’s team responded with a run of its own to regain control.
A series of last-ditch 3-pointers at the end of the game kept the Blue Devils’ margin of defeat closer than it might have been. The effort was too little too late, however, to make an impact on the final outcome.
“As a program today, we did not show up to compete until about the middle of the second half,” Krzyzewski said. “And that’s extremely disappointing.”
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