Duke 87, Hampton 45, FINAL: Forget about what I said earlier, Irving is back.Irving continued to amaze, as he grabbed a steal around midcourt and finished for the layup. He then drained back-to-back 3-point shots. He now leads the team in scoring A big smile was across his face as he waited around halfcourt to play defense. Casey Peters came into the game at the 1:59 mark for Andre Dawkins.
Check back here later for a few more posts analyzing the game in a bit.
Duke 75, Hampton 39, 4:22 REMAINING, 2nd HALF: Funches, who may have the best name of any Duke opponent this year, had a nice block on a shot by Smith. Duke is in the bonus due to Hampton's seven team fouls. Once again, the Blue Devils substituted their entire lineup—Kelly, Dawkins, Hairston, Irving and Thornton came in the game at the 6:38 mark. This is extremely a-typical of how the Blue Devils typically handle their rotation. It's interesting that Irving is getting the most minutes with this second team versus with the starters. He looked fantastic, though, on a drive he took the length of the court, and the crowd cheered in appreciation. That's his first field goal of the game.
Duke 67, Hampton 38, 7:44 REMAINING, 2nd HALF: Dawkins drained a 3-point shot. Thorton had a nice assist on a pass down to Kelly. As the starters—all five of them—made their way to the scorer's table, Dawkins finished with a slam on a fast break. Kelly committed a charge on an attempted drive and stopped the clock. Duke's five starters came back on the floor with 9:30 remaining. Mason wasn't looking for a pass from Nolan and committed a turnover in the process. Hampton won't go down without a fight—the Pirates keep hitting a few shots, though obviously not at the same rate as Duke.
Pellum leads the pirates in scoring, as he has all year, with nine points. Morgan still continues to struggle and is 1-of-4 from the floor for three points. Looks like the Duke game plan to shut them down is working.
The attendance was just announced: there are 16,829 people in attendance. There are a fair amount of empty seats—I bet they are all full for the North Carolina game tonight.
Duke 55, Hampton 28, 11:51 REMAINING, 2nd HALF: Duke doesn't have any starters on the floor right now, and sophomores Ryan Kelly and Andre Dawkins and the oldest players out there. This lineup, though, is having problems finishing once around the basket. That will, hopefully, come with time. Hairston took a charge, much to the delight of his older teammates. Irving started to drive down the lane and couldn't hit on a pull-up jumper, but he did hustle down the court and block Hampton's shot.
Irving said yesterday that it wasn't fair to expect him to be at the same level he was before he was hurt in Dec.—and I'd say that's a valid statement. He is getting good looks and hustling on defense, but his shot isn't falling as frequently as I remember.
Duke 55, Hampton 25, 15:56 REMAINING, 2nd HALF: An errant pass from Singler led to a turnover. Morgan (finally) scored his first points of the game for the Pirates on a long 3-point shot. Curry answered with one of his own. Singler made a 3-point shot off of an inbounds pass—it breaks his 1-for-19 slump. Mason seems to be rather confident on the offensive end—he has fed his brother two behind-the-back passes in the first few minutes of the half. Duke got a bit sloppy when Smith caught a pass out of bounds, but he erased that by taking a steal all the way in for a dunk. Hampton called another timeout, this one for 30 seconds. Tyler Thornton, Kyrie Irving and Josh Hairston are coming in for Duke.
Duke is shooting 54 percent from the field so far in the game—it's pretty easy to leave your opponent in the dust when you are connecting that often.
Duke 47, Hampton 22, 18:58 REMAINING, 2nd HALF: Singler opened the scoring in the second half with a jumper. Smith found Mason Plumlee underneath, and Mason put the ball in the basket and drew the foul on Duke's next possession. He made the and-one, and now is 2-for-3 from the line this game (bettering his 43 percent average this year). Seth Curry drained a 3-point shot, and Hampton was forced to call a full timeout to try to stop Duke's 8-0 run.
Duke 39, Hampton 22, HALFTIME: The Pirates' Christopher Tolson made a tough shot for Hampton with a Duke defender in his face, but Singler answered with a pull-up jumper of his own. Smith added a highlight worthy bucket as he drive to the hoop and finished with a reverse layup. A buzzer beater by Hampton was too long, and halftime is here in Charlotte.
It was a different-looking half for Duke. I can't remember any other time this season when the scoring was as balanced as it is now. Nolan Smith and Mason Plumlee lead the way with seven points, and Miles, Singler and Dawkins have six as well. Duke, led by the Plumlee brothers, is dominating on the boards 21-13, and also has eight assists to Hampton's zero. That assist total helps explain how the Plumlee brothers have been able to make a difference on offense—they're being fed beautiful passes.
Irving's line from his first half of basketball since Dec. 1: 0-for-1 from the field and 2-for-2 from the charity stripe for two points. He had one defensive rebound, one foul and one turnover.
Duke 33, Hampton 18, 3:50 REMAINING, 1st HALF: Singler scored his first bucket on a drive to the basket. Miles grabbed another defensive rebound, and Seth Curry found his fellow guard Andre Dawkins down low for an ally-oop. Dawkins connected on that and the ensuing foul shot. Kyrie Irving checked in around the 5:50 mark. He is still guarding on the ball on defense. Curry took a hit to his jaw but was called for the foul. He atoned for that quickly, picking up a steal and drawing a foul as he pushed up the court. Singler missed another 3-point shot: he is now 1-for-19 behind the arc in his last 20 attempts. Smith, Singler and Mason Plumlee all attempted to block Hampton player Koron Reed's shot, and their collapsing onto him in midair resulted in a foul against Mason. Reed fell on Irving as he drove to the basket on the next possession. Irving got up and hit both free throws for his first two points of the game. Reed answered by making one of his two free throws on the other end. The media timeout came as Smith bobbled a pass from Irving, resulting in a Duke turnover.
Duke 26, Hampton 14, 7:19 REMAINING, 1st HALF: Irving went to the bench after Duke broke its huddle. He appears to have a cut on his knee and was looked at by the staff. Mason Plumlee gathered a defensive rebound and converted on a shot under the basket at the other end to push Duke's lead to 12. Smith missed a floater—he only has three points so far—on Duke's next possession. Smith to Mason Plumlee on the next possession, though, resulted in an ally-oop in a return to Duke's flair earlier this half.
Mason Plumlee is leading the Blue Devils with seven points. His brother, Miles, is next with six. Who would have thought?
Duke 20, Hampton 12, 10:20 REMAINING, 1st HALF: Nolan Smith went to the bench as Kyrie Irving took over the point. On the first possession, Andre Dawkins nailed a 3-pointer. Irving drew an offensive foul on the next Blue Devils possession. Hampton is just overmatched—one of its bigs tried to drive on Miles, and his shot was blocked. Ryan Kelly missed a hook shot, and the Pirates took the rebound to the other end for a score. Kyle Singler airballed his first shot attempt of the day.
Irving is playing defense on the ball, as Krzyzewski said he would yesterday. Smith rejoined him on the floor, and the immediate result was a Mason Plumlee reverse dunk. Irving couldn't finish on a tough drive and went to the floor—he got up fine though.
Hampton's offensive production has picked up, but the Blue Devils' guards are passing inside so effectively that Duke got a dunk almost every time. Ryan Kelly shot a stop to Hampton's drives to the basket on the last possession by securing Duke's second charge call.
Hampton's leading scorer, Pellum, has 4 points on the day. His offensive partner Morgan, though, has none.
Duke 13, Hampton 4, 15:19 REMAINING, 1st HALF: Darrion Pellum came out of the timeout and scored his team's first bucket with Kyle Singler's hand in his face. Duke answered promptly—after Curry missed his 3-point attempt, Nolan Smith made one of his own. Hampton answered with a two-point shot. Mason Plumlee missed one of his trademark hook shots, but gathered the rebound and drew a foul. The 43 percent free throw shooter made one of the two.
On Duke's next possession, Miles showed some of that improvement that I alluded to in the pregame notes. He collected an offensive rebound, settled himself and made the shot.
Kyrie Irving will be on the floor after this media timeout.
Duke 7, Hampton 0, 17:55 REMAINING, 1st HALF: And we're off! Hampton gathered control of the opening tip. Charles Funches attempted a long two, but Miles Plumlee collected the rebound. Duke's first shot on its next position was a 3-pointer from Seth Curry. The Charlotte crowd showed support for its native son. On Duke's next possession, Nolan Smith found Miles down under the basket for two more. Miles then collected his brother's miss on the Blue Devil's next possession for another easy basket. Nolan Smith committed what looked like an unnecessary foul as Hampton brought the ball up the court, and Hampton coach Edward Joyner, Jr. took the opportunity to call a 30-second timeout and try to stop Duke's 7-0 run.
PREGAME: Welcome, folks, to this edition of The Blue Zone's live, on-site coverage of Duke basketball. I'm here in Charlotte, N.C., sitting two rows up from the floor, even with the basket currently being used by Tennessee. But enough about that game, let's look at the one that should start in about 30 minutes.
I wrote a short preview for the Hampton game that appeared today's paper. More words were devoted to the fact that Kyrie Irving will return to the floor for Duke. He and Coach K confirmed yesterday that the freshman will appear on the floor today for the Blue Devils. Another point of interest for Duke fans is the play of Miles Plumlee. The elder Plumlee shook off a so-so regular season and turned up the heat in the ACC Tournament where he garnered all-tournament second team honors. Over his last four games, he is averaging 8.3 points per game and 7.8 rebounds per game.
Here's the anticipated starting lineups for each team. For Duke:
#2 Nolan Smith, G
#30 Seth Curry, G
#5 Mason Plumlee, F
#12 Kyle Singler, F
#21 Miles Plumlee, F
For the Hampton Pirates:
#1 Darrion Pellum, G
#5 Brandon Tunnell, G
#32 Kwame Morgan II, G
#4 Danny Agbelese, F
#20 Charles Funches, F
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