GREENSBORO - If the Cameron Crazies had been at the Greensboro Coliseum in full force Thursday night, they could have chanted "J.J. and Shelden won!" at the completion of Duke's 70-54 victory over 16th-seeded Southern.
After all, First-Team All-ACC honorees J.J. Redick and Shelden Williams combined to score 58 of Duke's 70 points-four more than the Jaguars scored all night. Even though their stars carried the Blue Devils to what became a relatively easy win, two players likely won't be enough to get them to Atlanta, let alone Indianapolis.
During the ACC Tournament just last week, several players other than seniors J.J. Redick and Shelden Williams were instrumental to Blue Devil success. Josh McRoberts and Greg Paulus did enough to earn All-ACC Tournament Second-Team honors. DeMarcus Nelson hit several three-pointers, including one in a clutch situation during the final minutes against Boston College.
Thursday night against Southern, however, it appeared as though many of Duke's role players forgot to show up. Guess how many points Blue Devils not named Redick or Williams notched? 12. 12 measly points in the entire game on 12 field goal attempts.
Excluding McRoberts, not a single one of Duke's other role players notched a field goal.
"They're good players, we have confidence in them," head coach Mike Krzyzewski said of his freshmen phenoms Josh McRoberts and Greg Paulus. "They didn't play as well tonight for a variety of reasons. They'll show up and I'm sure they'll play well on Saturday."
Guards Paulus, Nelson and Sean Dockery combined for a paltry 4 points while they recorded 11 turnovers. Sure, Paulus delivered eight assists, but most of them were easy entry passes to Williams who dominated the interior.
"We need to have everybody else contributing in one way or another," Paulus said. "It doesn't have to be scoring-long rebounds, steals, whatever it may be. We need everybody to contribute."
Put simply, they will need more from players three through seven if they hope to beat George Washington Saturday afternoon to advance to the Sweet Sixteen in Atlanta next weekend.
The Colonials are an athletic, deep group who loves to run the floor. They have strength inside in Pops Mensah-Bonsu, a high-rising 6-foot-9 senior forward. On the perimeter, George Washington has several long and quick guys-exactly the type who has been able to slow down Redick so far this season. Guard Danilo Pinnock, last year's A-10 sixth man of the Year, is a quick defensive stopper who will likely key on Redick.
During the second half of their game Thursday, the Colonials employed an effective 2-2-1 full-court press that stifled UNC-Wilmington and led to a 19-0 run that propelled George Washington to the victory. If GW uses a similar approach against the Blue Devils, Redick and Williams won't be able to help all that much. The ball will be in the hands of Paulus, and he simply cannot afford to have a performance nearly as poor as his one Thursday.
"Obviously we'd like to have more guys enter into the offense," Krzyzewski said. "We're probably going to have to handle the ball a lot better against them."
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