Nate James was furious.
With Kyrie Irving at the free throw line, No. 1 Duke was up only one point and had been generally outplayed two minutes into its final exhibition contest against defending Division II national champion Cal Poly Pomona.
Despite possessing superior size, the Plumlee brothers were being outplayed in the paint by the Broncos’ lone post threat, 6-foot-9 Tobias Jahn. And Jahn had just made the younger Plumlee look unprepared defensively on back-to-back possessions.
James certainly wasn’t going to let Mason get away with it.
“Stand tall!” James screamed at the sophomore forward.
It might have taken longer than expected, but Mason and the Blue Devils finally did just that, using a second-half run to defeat Cal Poly Pomona 81-60.
“You have to play tougher. We weren’t being strong, and we weren’t playing good defense,” head coach Mike Krzyzewski said.
Duke found itself up only six points at halftime after Jahn scored 13 points on 6-of-8 shooting in the first 20 minutes. But the Blue Devils did what they’re likely to do many times this season when they’re struggling—they turned to their star, Kyle Singler.
Despite scoring only two points in the first half, Singler was fed the ball early in the second half. The senior hit a face-up jumper right out of the locker room and drew a foul behind the 3-point arc on Duke’s next possession. After hitting all three free throws, the Blue Devils quickly had regained a double-digit lead.
And it was also Singler who fueled the decisive run of the game midway through the final period. Soon after scoring a fastbreak putback to put Duke up by 17, Singler stole the ball, maintained possession with an impressive behind-the-back dribble and hit fellow senior Nolan Smith with a pass upcourt, who then found a streaking Ryan Kelly for a thunderous alley-oop.
The very next possession, Singler again single-handedly stopped the Broncos, this time with a block that led to another fastbreak and alley-oop from Irving to Smith.
Singler finished with 12 points in just nine minutes of second-half action, and Duke was on its way to a victory.
“He’s the best man on our team, so we definitely had to give him the ball,” Irving said. “Two points in the first half is unacceptable.... I mean, he’s Kyle Singler.”
While Singler broke out in the second half, Irving was the one Blue Devil who consistently impressed throughout the contest. He finished with 13 points, five assists, only two turnovers and a plethora of highlight-reel plays.
On one play, Irving split two defenders, sidestepped another and wrapped a pass to Josh Hairston around a final one for an easy layup.
“I never really think about plays like that,” Irving said. “I play on instinct.”
But despite the victory and the positive performances from the Blue Devils’ stars, there were still signs of concern, particularly in the post. Duke was outrebounded by the undersized Broncos 23-17 in the first half, as Cal Poly Pomona pulled down 11 offensive boards.
“We just weren’t being aggressive going after balls, and when we had our hands on balls we weren’t bringing it in,” Mason said. “That just can’t happen. We’ve got to be stronger.”
Still, Krzyzewski knew that there would be bumps in the road as his team developed this season, despite the cascade of preseason hype raining down on the Blue Devils.
He made it quite clear: this team isn’t perfect.
“We’re going to be a developing team. We’re not going to hold anyone scoreless, we’re going to be down in games, we’re going to look bad, and overall we’re going to try to get better,” Krzyzewski said. “I’ve got a team that has to develop. This was a very good game for us.... This game will help us become better.”
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