DUKE 78 MIAMI 75--FINAL: Duke closed it out, against the odds. Shooting just 33 percent for the game, it was Duke's second-half and overtime defense which put them over the top. Miami made just one-quarter of its baskets in extra time.
DUKE 68 MIAMI 68--Overtime: Heroics from McClinton have given the Hurricanes a shot in overtime. He lofted a deep three with 14 seconds left over Kyle Singler and McClure to tie the game at 68. Scheyer had a clean look from beyond the arc and Singler had a clean second chance before the buzzer sounded, but it didn't matter. I still think Duke has the momentum. Let's see if it matters.
DUKE 63 MIAMI 62--2:40 2nd Half: Despite McClinton's best efforts, Duke is still clinging to the lead with less than three minutes to go. Scheyer has been a clutch shooter for the Blue Devils as he's racked up 19 points so far, five of them in the last three minutes. Duke really needs to feed the ball to Henderson as time winds down though. He just drew a foul on a nice and-1 play and is waiting at the line to try and give the Blue Devils a two point lead. An unheralded hero of this game so far is without question Dave McClure,who came in for Lance Thomas early in the half, and has registered 11 rebounds in helping to ease Duke's woes on the glass.
DUKE 51 MIAMI 49--7:24 2nd Half: Duke has been switching its defensive scheme from man to zone frequently in this last stretch. It seems like they should stick with the zone, though it is an anti-Krzyzewski tactic. Apparently its something Duke picked up while Coach K was in Beijing--the team calls the zone "Orange" after Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim who is the scheme's leading proponent in college basketball.
DUKE 46 MIAMI 42--11:57 2nd Half: My how things have changed. A 17-2 run in less that four minutes has not only put the Blue Devils back in this game, but back on top. Henderson is back to prime form, he has 13 points in the contest. But it has been Greg Paulus spearheading this spirited effort on Duke's part. He stole the ball on a full-court press then was intentionally elbowed in the face by Miami's DeQuan Jones, who was ejected from the game. Scheyer hit on of the resulting free throws and then buried a 3-pointer from the corner on the follwoing possession to put the Blue Devils up by four.
DUKE 29 MIAMI 40--15:51 2nd Half: Gerald Henderson had just one point at halftime, but he's added six more to a slight Blue Devil scoring surge out of the break. Duke has switched to a zone defense that mirrors Miami's, but it hasn't stopped the Hurricane scoring attack yet. Even if the Blue Devils keep up this offensive resurgence, it may be too little too late with this Miami squad, which cannot be stopped as of right now.
DUKE 19 MIAMI 32--Halftime: The stats for this half are some of the worst the Blue Devil squad has seen all season long. Duke's 19 points mark its lowest total for any half this year. And its largely because the Blue Devils are shooting even worse than I had expected--a dismal 19.4 percent from the floor, including a 2-for-15 clip inside the three-point line.
The Blue Devils have had 13 more chances than the Hurricanes, but Miami is shooting lights-out, having sunk almost 50 percent of their attempts. Again, the real problem for Duke is its inside presence both offensively and defensively. The lack of any game under the hoop, in either facet of the game, is starting to cost the Blue Devils especially on the glass. Exhibit A: Duke is being out-rebounded 25-14 so far. If that doesn't change, there's little hope for this squad to win the game.
DUKE 15 MIAMI 27--3:03 1st Half: It has been six minutes since Duke has last scored, and as the scoreboard indicates, it is costing them. The Blue Devils have just five baskets this half, thanks to the Hurricanes' defense, which continues to be effective against the Blue Devils. Nothing is falling for Duke and if I had to guess I would say its shooting percentage is below thirty-percent. Coach K does not look very happy on the bench and at one point after no Duke player went for a ball trickling out of bounds he got up, and screamed at Brian Zoubek for his lack of effort. Henderson is at the line now, so we'll see if he can end this debilitating drought.
DUKE 15 MIAMI 20--7:04 1st Half: The Cameron Crazies are calling on "Crazy Towel Guy" to get the team and the crowd fired up before the Blue Devils fall too far behind in this one. James Dews, not Jack McClinton, has been lighting it up for Miami--he already has 8 points including two clutch treys. Coach Mike Krzyzewski called a timeout about 3 minutes ago when Duke was down 17-13, a moment reminiscent of one at Clemson no doubt. You could see that he just wanted his players to look at the scoreboard. Unfortunately things haven't gotten much better.
DUKE 11 MIAMI 14--11:28 1st Half: It started to get out of hand for the Blue Devils in that short stretch as Miami put together a quick 6-0 run in just over two minutes. Paulus was guilty of trying to do just a bit too much, launching a deep three-pointer in the middle of setting up a half-court offense. It air-balled and he was clearly unhappy with himself. Part of the problem for Duke has been its defensive rebounding. When Miami isn't sinking its jumpers (and it has been), the Blue Devils have seemed out of position and the Hurricanes are getting way too many second chances.
DUKE 6 MIAMI 6--15:06 1st Half: Maybe the biggest surprise at the tip-ff was to see Greg Paulus on the floor starting in place of Nolan Smith, who looked unsettled versus Clemson. Paulus hit a big three to kickoff the Blue Devil offensive game just twenty seconds in. He's also been all over the place on defense, disrupting the Hurricane offense for about the first three minutes. But Duke has struggled to get much else done, as Miami has run a 2-3 zone on defense in hopes of forcing the Blue Devils to make and take the outside shot.
Pregame: Wednesday's 27-point loss to the Clemson Tigers doesn't seem to have affected the Duke faithful. They're here in full force, Cameron is packed and students are being stopped at the door.
I have to agree with Britton, Duke will need to start hot to prevent another embarrasing defeat and keep this Miami team at bay. The Hurricanes are looking to become the only unranked team ever to defeat two top-six teams consecutively. The last thing the Blue Devils want is for things to get ugly early.
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