BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - In the loudest college basketball arenas in the country, there is a specific noise that no coach wants to hear on his home court. It happens when a roaring crowd is silenced by a big shot from an opposing player. There is a sudden intake of breath, the sound level drops, and then 17,343 people murmur all at once.
J.J. Redick lives for that moment. And against Indiana Wednesday night, the sharpshooter silenced the raucous Hoosier crowd over and over in Duke's 75-67 win.
"It's the best feeling in the world," Redick said. "When I hit that three coming off the screen and when I got that three-point play, or I had a couple passes inside to Shelden that quieted the crowd down-it felt great."
All four of those plays came during a span of 5:17 that decided the game. With 7:37 to play, the Blue Devil offense had stagnated. Duke had not scored in more than four minutes, and an 11-0 Hoosier run had given the home team a 59-58 lead.
The sold-out Assembly Hall crowd was ecstatic and boisterous through the ensuing media timeout-"Hoosier Hysteria" was in full force. Cheerleaders carrying flags spelling out "Indiana" and "Hoosiers" whirled around Duke's players as they stood on the court; Redick and forward Shelden Williams stood still in the sea of cream and crimson.
Just before play resumed, Redick jogged upcourt and in the midst of the din, glanced at the Blue Devil bench and nodded slightly, letting them know he would take care of business.
Redick received the first pass of the next Duke set, which eventually ended with a layup by Williams. Two possessions later, Redick drove to the basket, feeding Williams for an easy layup. Indiana called timeout.
The Hoosier faithful were almost silent.
After the timeout, Duke's All-American guard again fed Williams for a layup. Redick's three-pointer off a screen on the next possession pushed the Blue Devil lead to four, and his old-fashioned three-point play two and a half minutes later put Duke in command, 70-65 with 2:20 to play. The once roaring Indiana crowd had been reduced to a murmur.
"That's what makes him a true champion," Indiana guard A.J. Ratliff said about Redick. "He was screaming at the players on the court, 'Give me the ball! Give me the ball!' We face-guarded him at one point, and he still hit the shot.
"J.J.'s last three when we were down one-that was like the worst dagger you could probably get when you're beating the No. 1 team. That's what makes him a great player, because he wants the ball in those situations."
But Redick-who played all 40 minutes and scored 29 points-did not just make big plays in the second half.
With fewer than four minutes to play in the first half, Indiana cut Duke's lead to 36-32 on a break-away layup by guard Earl Calloway. The Blue Devils' 16-2 run to open the game had threatened to take the Hoosier fans out of the game, but after Calloway's bucket, Assembly Hall was in a frenzy.
The Blue Devils' four senior captains-Redick, Williams, Lee Melchionni and Sean Dockery-led the team through a hostile situation in Bloomington.
Melchionni found his stroke, hitting 5-of-8 shots, including a crowd-silencing three-pointer with 14:41 to play and the Hoosiers' within six. Dockery was all over the court in the game's final minutes grabbing loose balls and offensive rebounds to extend possessions. Redick said the Blue Devils probably controlled 90 percent of the loose balls in the game's final four minutes and that Dockery played a large role in doing that.
But in the end, the night belonged to Redick, just as many Blue Devil wins likely will this season. It was Redick who called for the ball, Redick who took and hit the big shots and Redick who tossed the ball to the referee as the game's final seconds ticked off.
"It's something we talk about," Redick said. "As an older player and as one of the team leaders, you've got to say in the huddle, 'Get me the ball the next time down the court; play off me.'"
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