And they’re off. No. 1 Duke began its 2010-2011 season with a bang on Sunday against Princeton.
The Blue Devils blew out the Tigers, 97-60, to the satisfaction of the 1,600 or so Cameron Crazies-turned-Vikings in attendance. The fans wore Viking helmets to honor senior, and former line monitor, Drew Everson, who tragically passed away earlier this semester.
While the final result was dominant, the game did not start as well as expected for Duke. Though they never trailed, the Blue Devils looked unsure of themselves early on in the first half. Princeton’s zone defense wore down on Duke’s big men, and the Blue Devils were unable to score as explosively inside the paint as they might have hoped.
Noting this, it didn’t take head coach Mike Krzyzewski much time to change his lineup, pulling both of the Plumlee brothers in favor of the smaller, quicker Seth Curry and Andre Dawkins. Curry and Dawkins, Duke’s sharpshooters, could provide the Blue Devils with an instant spark off the bench, especially against a zone defense that often left the perimeter open.
Unfortunately, Duke did not seem comfortable with its shooting for the majority of the first period. Particularly concerning was their long-range performance—the Blue Devils simply could not find any momentum from beyond the arc. With 1:44 remaining, they were shooting 4-of-13 from 3-point range.
“We didn’t attack the zone right because, we, I don’t know,” Krzyzewski said, unable to explain his team’s early troubles. “We were a little bit whacked-out with all the energy.”
These struggles allowed the Tigers to be competitive in a game in which they were heavy underdogs, much to the surprise of the 9,314 fans in attendance.
With 2:38 left in the half, Princeton found itself in an 11-point deficit, 34-23. However, the Tigers were unwilling to let the game get out of their hands so quickly. Taking advantage of Duke’s defensive weaknesses, forward Kareem Maddox found himself open under the glass to dunk, cutting the lead to nine. Then, after forcing a turnover, Princeton found an open T.J. Bray, who sunk a 3-pointer to force their deficit to six.
Then the Blue Devils responded, appropriately at the heels of their two veteran stars, Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith.
On the next possession, freshman Kyrie Irving found an open Smith, who hit a 3. Merely 23 seconds later, Singler hit a 3-pointer of his own, and suddenly, Princeton’s six-point gap turned into twelve. Irving then hit two free throws to close the half and further inflate Duke’s lead to 14.
It seemed that the momentum was suddenly back on the Blue Devils’ side, and it was there to stay. Duke returned from the locker room with a renewed confidence in itself.
“For the first half, everybody had some jitters,” Curry said. “In the second half, we kind of settled down, and focused on the offense.”
It barely took seven minutes for them to build their lead to 24, the largest of the game at that point, and they did so in spectacular fashion. Forward Josh Hairston, after stealing the ball, ran down the length of the court and finished with a resounding dunk, scoring his first two points as a Blue Devil. The freshman was clearly happy with himself, wearing a big smile afterwards.
“I knew those were my first points as a Duke player. To have it be a big dunk like that was pretty exciting,” Hairston said. “I was glad to have that opportunity.”
And though Krzyzewski allowed his bench players more minutes during the second half, the Blue Devils saw their statistics improve in every category. One stands out above all others—3-point shooting. The Blue Devils went 8-of-11 from beyond the arc in the second period, including a trio of 3-pointers for both Dawkins and Curry.
“I was definitely comfortable with myself today. The teammates did a good job of setting screens for me to get me open,” Curry said. “That’s my job—to go out there and knock down shots.”
That statement extends beyond just Curry. The Blue Devils seemed like a well-oiled machine in the second half, setting screens perfectly, finding the open man and hitting an impressive fraction of open shots.
They had left few doubts in the minds of even the most pessimistic fans—and they couldn’t have asked for a better start to the season.
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