CORAL GABLES, Fla. — For one night, Shaquille O’Neal was not Miami’s premier attraction.
Wednesday that distinction belonged to the Hurricanes, the ACC newcomer that captured the attention of the region after winning three of its first four conference games. The football-mad university packed the Convocation Center to see if Miami could upset the No. 4 Blue Devils.
The first 20 minutes of the game were close and although Duke grabbed the early lead, Miami’s strong post play kept the team in the game. The excitement was sucked out of the building at the second half, however, as the Blue Devils went on an early run and compiled a double-digit lead from which the Hurricanes would not recover. Despite poor second-half defense, Duke went on to win, 92-83.
“I think this game ranks up there as one of the best this season,” said junior J.J. Redick, who finished the game with 21 points. “Especially to do it on the road. We did a really good job of executing, especially in the second half. And when you have a player as efficient as Shelden Williams, it makes everyone a lot better.”
Williams led the offense with a career-high 30 points, eight of which came in the first half and allowed the Blue Devils to open up an 18-10 lead. The early advantage came as a relief to a Duke team that has been susceptible to poor first halves.
“We know we’ve been getting off to slow starts and been becoming a second half team,” Williams said. “That was one of the things we’ve been trying to change, and come out strong from the beginning, scoring early, and having our defense complement our offense.”
Although Williams propelled the Blue Devils (14-0, 4-0 in the ACC) to a torrid start, Miami (12-4, 3-2) kept the game close because of gritty frontcourt performances from William Frisby and Anthony King, who combined to score 14 first-half points. The Hurricanes also crashed the offensive boards and came away with eight second-chance points.
Duke was able to effectively neutralize the Miami backcourt of Guillermo Diaz, Robert Hite and Anthony Harris. The trio scored just 14 points in the first half.
“We tried not to let Hite or Diaz touch the ball,” head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “Our younger guys couldn’t guard Diaz. He is so strong and he is a heck of a competitive player.”
In addition to the game’s outcome, a significant amount of pride was at stake when it came to the matchups between Duke’s and Miami’s guards.
“We knew that a big key to this game was to shut down that backcourt,” senior Daniel Ewing said. “We feel that we have a real good backcourt with myself, Redick and [Sean] Dockery, so for them to be a new team in the conference and say that they have best backcourt in the ACC, that wasn’t going to sit well with us.”
When the game resumed in the second half, however, Duke was able to pull away. The Hurricanes started the stanza by pulling to within three points, but Duke went on to score 10 unanswered. Ewing, who had been victimized by Diaz with a humiliating first-half alley-oop, energized his team with a dunk of his own. Duke, which shot 61 percent from the field, went on to build a 17-point lead.
“I got a little mad,” Ewing said of Diaz’s dunk. “It got the crowd into it with the oohs and aaahs.... I think I got a good one back with mine in the second half.”
The Blue Devil defense was not spectacular in the second half—Miami scored 49 second-half points. Diaz led the Hurricanes with 25 points.
“Our assignments got messed up, and [Diaz] got going,” Ewing said. “When he’s going he’s able to take shots anywhere on the court.... You never know what he’s going to do.... We let up a little bit, but that’s just how some games go.”
Duke got strong supporting performances from juniors Dockery and Lee Melchionni, who combined to shoot 5-for-7 from the three-point line. Forward Shavlik Randolph played 12 minutes off of the bench in his second game back after a bout with mononucleosis and helped his team’s effort by drawing a pair of first-half charging penalties.
“It felt good, because I knew I was doing something good for my team,” Randolph said. “It will help overshadow my fatigue a little bit.”
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