Maybe you can chalk it up to the celebration of his 21st birthday. Or maybe it was just shear luck.
But when walk-on Andy Borman, nephew of Mike Krzyzewski, scored more points than two of Clemson's starters combined, the Tigers had to know they were in trouble.
Not surprisingly, the trouble began from the start for Clemson (9-6, 0-2 in the ACC) Sunday against the Blue Devils (13-1, 2-0), as the Tigers fell behind early to the nation's then-third-ranked squad and never overcame an overwhelming 56-27 halftime deficit. Propelled by a swarming full-court defense and balanced scoring from its starters, Duke took the improved, but still undermanned, Tigers out of the game quickly and never looked back, cruising to a lopsided 115-74 victory.
"We played great today, that's obvious," Krzyzewski said. "After watching Clemson play Maryland, we knew that they could put points up on the board. We really practiced hard defensively and tried to take some things away from them, and I thought we did. After the first few minutes, we played great defense."
Trailing 7-5 only two minutes into the contest, Duke went on its first of many large runs during the game, as sophomore Mike Dunleavy slammed home a dunk off a breakaway steal. Senior forward Shane Battier followed his teammate's throwdown with one of his own after intercepting Clemson's ensuing inbounds pass. These back-to-back dunks ignited the Cameron crowd and initiated a 17-4 spurt over the next six minutes.
However, the Blue Devils did not stop there. Only two minutes later, Duke commenced its second run of the opening stanza, a 22-2 eruption which spanned six minutes. In this run, Duke received balanced scoring from its six primary players, as sophomores Carlos Boozer and Jason Williams, seniors Shane Battier and Nate James and freshman Chris Duhon all chipped in.
James was especially effective, scoring five of his 21 points during this stretch while applying suffocating defense on Clemson's leading scorer Will Solomon. The performance was a welcome sign for James, who suffered a tailbone injury only days earlier in Duke's romp of Florida State. In fact, the Washington D.C. native was held out of practice Friday and hardly competed in the Blue Devils' Saturday workout. But James felt much better Sunday, as he scored more than 20 points for the third straight game and held the versatile Solomon to a mere three first-half points on 1-for-4 shooting.
"I thought Nate James did a phenomenal job on Will Solomon," Battier said. "Solomon is as tough a player in the country to defend as you're going to find. He had 13 points [overall], but he had to work for every one of them."
James also paced the Blue Devils in the second half, scoring 16 points and knocking down seven free throws. But Duke's biggest offensive contributor in the second period was Carlos Boozer, who turned in a Laettner-like performance, going 8-for-8 from the field and 9-for-9 from the charity stripe. His point total of 25 was only one shy of his career-high performance against the Temple Owls Nov. 24, when the 6-foot-9 center posted 26 points in Duke's narrow 63-61 victory.
While Boozer's return to his early-season dominance was obviously reassuring for the perimeter-oriented Blue Devils, possibly the most important frontcourt performance came from junior Matt Christensen, who has emerged as Duke's clear seventh man in recent games. The 6-10 center's contributions hardly show up on the stat sheet, but his hustle, tenacious defense and physical interior play adequately compensated for Boozer, who was in foul trouble throughout much of the game.
In fact, one might say that Christensen did exactly what the Duke coaching staff asked of him. Last week, Krzyzewski presented his post players with six "absolutes" that they should strive for, such as setting solid screens, rebounding effectively, protecting the basket and playing with energy and enthusiasm. In Duke's last three games, and especially against the Tigers, Christensen has provided these intangibles, even though he is not sure why.
"I can't quite explain why I haven't been playing this way all the time," Christensen said. "If the 'absolutes' were handling the ball, guarding the point guard, then I'd be in really big trouble. But [the real absolutes] are things that I like to do and things that I can do."
Borman, a sophomore, also proved he can do something efficiently as well. Entering the game with only two minutes remaining, the two-sport athlete abruptly completed two three-point plays to further humiliate the Tigers. The first of these was a jumper from the top of the key and the second was an "old-fashioned" three-point play, as Borman sank a free throw after being fouled on a layup.
Despite his solid performance Sunday, however, Borman will be hard-pressed to garner playing time in Duke's matchup tonight at N.C. State. The Wolfpack, who struggled in the early part of the season, have been bolstered by the addition of senior forward Damon Thornton, who celebrated the New Year by returning from his suspension. Furthermore, N.C. State is in need of a victory after falling to Virginia Saturday in Charlottesville. The tipoff for tonight's contest is at 9 p.m. in the Raleigh Entertainment and Sports Arena.
Note: Freshman Andre Sweet has been declared academically ineligible and can not be reinstated before the beginning of March.
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