There’s an old adage in basketball: Live by the three, die by the three.
Against No. 9 Duke Saturday, Radford played a zone for the majority of the contest, forcing the Blue Devils’ hand and hoping that they would die by the three. Unfortunately for the Highlanders, Duke’s hot shooting allowed the team to coast to an easy victory.
“We wanted to try and protect [our] two big guys [Joey Lynch-Flohr and Art Parakhouski] by playing zone, but obviously, it wasn’t very effective,” Radford head coach Brad Greenberg said. “With any team, when that ball starts going in, that basket gets bigger and bigger for them. I think they saw a huge basket. They know they’ve got to be able to make some shots to match up against the zone, and they’re not afraid to shoot.”
The Blue Devils had quick triggers from the get-go, attempting from long range on six of their first nine shots. Sophomore Nolan Smith was the only player to connect from beyond the arc in that opening stretch, however, and it appeared that the Highlanders’ zone defense might frustrate Duke after all as Radford jumped out to a 13-10 lead.
But good shooters keep shooting. The Blue Devils did just that.
Midway through the first half, Duke connected on three consecutive 3-pointers from Smith, Kyle Singler and Andre Dawkins to open up a double-digit advantage, 26-15. The Blue Devils—especially Dawkins—were just getting started.
Duke attempted a whopping 22 3-pointers in the first period and drained 13 to tie a school record for threes in a half, and Dawkins was responsible for four of those. The rookie took four shots in the opening period and connected on all four from beyond the arc, including three in a span of 1:28 as the Blue Devils’ lead ballooned to 24 near the end of the half. Most of those shots were wide open looks as Duke passed effectively around the perimeter to combat the zone.
“We made passes, we found open people and we took good shots,” Singler said.
“We connected on passes. We were connecting shots,” head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “There was rhythm, a really good rhythm.”
Dawkins, in particular, had no difficulty finding his shooting stroke. He made his first five 3-pointers and finished 7-of-9 shooting for 20 points. His six 3-pointers tied a school record for threes by a freshman. More importantly, all of Dawkins’ scores were assisted on, as the Blue Devil starting backcourt made an effort to find the freshman for open shots.
The trio of Singler, Smith and Jon Scheyer passed well all game and the three finished with seven assists apiece compared to five total turnovers.
They all had their hand in scoring as well. Smith started the Duke onslaught with two 3-pointers in the first three minutes and finished with four. Scheyer also chipped in four scores from long range and Singler added three of his own, and all three scored in double figures.
Despite the team’s success facing the zone, Singler said he expected to see similar defensive looks as the season progresses.
“A lot of teams have been playing zones against us,” he said. “I would imagine teams would want to man us and put pressure on us.... But we’re playing well against the zone. We’re shooting the ball well. We just have to keep taking good shots.”
Which means that, in spite of the Blue Devils’ litany of big men, Duke may very well continue to live and die by the three.
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