With the handle of an agile point guard, the athleticism of a star forward and the size of a bulky center, Greg Monroe is not a force easily contained.
The 6-foot-11, 250-pound stalwart, who ultimately chose Georgetown over Duke in a tight recruiting race last year, flowed freely into the lane on offense and made the day a living nightmare for Blue Devils who dared to drive into the lane.
So who could take him out of the game? It wasn't Kyle Singler, Gerald Henderson, Dave McClure or any other individual Duke defender. It wasn't going to be any scheme the Blue Devils' coaching staff drew up because of his unique talents and skill set, head coach Mike Krzyzewski said.
And it sure wasn't going to be Georgetown head coach John Thompson III, who played Monroe with two fouls in the first half and four fouls over the last 11 minutes of the contest.
Instead, it was referee John Cahill, who slapped Monroe with a technical foul, his fourth personal, with more than 15 minutes remaining in the second half. Monroe insited he didn't say anything to Cahill-let alone enough to earn a technical-and after the game, a fan sitting behind the bench claimed he yelled at the referee.
Either way, the foul trouble prevented Monroe from dominating as he had earlier and also enabled Duke to stretch a four-point game into a lead that never dipped below five for the rest of the contest.
"The technical was a key part of the game. Let's not try to run from that," Thompson said. "On top of everything, now Greg has four [fouls]. It clearly altered how they attacked us and what we could do, but that's not the reason that we ended up with less points than them tonight."
That may be true from Thompson's perspective-if the Hoyas had found a way to contain Henderson or Greg Paulus, the outcome might have been different-but the statistics strongly suggest otherwise. Monroe finished with 12 points on 6-of-7 field goal shooting, pulled down seven boards and blocked two shots. Perhaps most importantly, when he roamed the floor, Georgetown outscored Duke 54-44.
But thanks in large part to the bizarre sequence that happened five minutes into the second period, Monroe had to sit for long stretches with foul trouble, and in those intervals, the Blue Devils held a 33-13 edge.
After Austin Freeman fouled Jon Scheyer before he crossed halfcourt, Thompson expressed his displeasure with the call. Cahill came over and lectured him for several moments, making the crowd antsy as boos from fans of both teams came down. Singler in-bounded the ball while Thompson and the bench watched silently. Meanwhile, an insult aimed at Cahill came from the area around the Hoyas' bench, which prompted a retreating Cahill to turn around and slap Monroe with the technical.
Guilty as charged?
"No," Monroe said softly. "A lot of people were saying things. I don't even believe he was looking at the bench, but I know I definitely didn't say anything. I can't say if I heard someone else, but I know I definitely didn't say anything."
The impact was immediate. At that point, a 40-29 halftime advantage had been narrowed to a four-point Duke lead, in large part thanks to Monroe's contributions. After the call, however, the Blue Devils went on a 15-3 run as Monroe could only stew on the bench, still visibly upset five minutes later. He returned at the 11:10 mark, but by then, the game was comfortably in the Blue Devils' favor.
"We were really horrible on three straight offensive possessions in transition, where we could have gotten six points and I think they ended up getting seven off of those, and that's a huge swing," Krzyzewski said. "[The technical] just kind of stopped the game for a while... [and] we righted the ship."
With a little help from, of all places, the bleachers.
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