In the first half against Holy Cross Wednesday, Duke couldn't seem to find any way to spark its offense.
So in the second half, the Blue Devils decided to just use their defense.
Duke scored 14 points off turnovers and was able to push the tempo as it forced the Crusaders into 7-of-24 shooting in the second period.
The faster pace did not allow Holy Cross to consistently set its defense, resulting in a number of open looks from three-point range. The Blue Devils knocked down 5-of-9 three-pointers in the second half, making up for the fact that the Crusaders outscored them in the paint.
In an ugly game in which both teams had more turnovers than field goals, the young Blue Devil squad once again used its defense to mask an offense that has yet to find its rhythm. Wednesday marked the fifth time in nine games that Duke held its opponent under 50 points.
"If you play defense, you're always going to give yourself a chance to win the ballgame," junior DeMarcus Nelson said. "Our defense has kept us in a lot of games and won a lot of games for us."
The Blue Devils' offense looked stagnant and inept in the first half as the seventh-ranked team in the nation appeared in danger of becoming another top team to fall to a veteran mid-major squad. Duke shot 8-for-25 from the floor and committed 12 turnovers while tallying just two assists.
The Blue Devils' six-point halftime deficit could have been even greater, except that they grabbed nine offensive rebounds and Holy Cross missed a number of open threes late in the first half.
"Their defense was not a pressing defense, but it forced us into standing," Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "We didn't attack it well, and to their credit, they played it well."
Duke quickly went to work erasing the deficit in the second period, led by the defensive efforts of Dave McClure and Gerald Henderson. The two athletic wings closed up the passing and driving lanes that had been present in the first half and helped the Blue Devils turn that defensive effort into an offensive attack.
Henderson shut down Keith Simmons, who had sparked the Crusader offense in the first half with seven points and three offensive boards. Simmons' only score with Henderson on him after the break was a layup off a steal.
With Henderson locked onto Simmons, Nelson was able to pick up point guard Torey Thomas, providing more pressure to slow the Crusaders from initiating their offense.
"It helped a lot, because their guards were extremely fast and quick," Nelson said. "That was the first time we had seen that style of offense, so when they came out strong, it kind of set us back a little bit, and we just had to make adjustments."
Henderson was the spark for the Blue Devils on both ends of the floor. With Duke down 34-30, Lance Thomas was stripped inside to start a three-on-one break the other way. Henderson ran to the left block and drew a charge on Lawrence Dixon.
"That was a big momentum builder for them-it got the crowd into the game," Holy Cross head coach Ralph Willard said. "Playing in this building, you have to keep them from gaining momentum, and that play was a deflater for us and an inflater for them."
Less than two minutes later, Henderson grabbed the rebound off Brian Zoubek's missed free throw and kicked the ball out to Nelson, who knocked down the open three to put the Blue Devils up four. Henderson hit two threes of his own over the next three minutes as Duke went on a decisive 16-2 run.
Duke's second-half comeback, however, came against a team whose most impressive win so far may have been against Harvard. With a matchup against No. 18 Gonzaga looming, the Blue Devils know they have to improve their offensive production.
"We've got to keep getting better," Krzyzewski said. "This 20 turnover-nine assists, 18 turnover-12 assists-somewhere along the line, you've got to pay the piper for that, and you usually pay the piper in losses."
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