Beyond the Arc: Duke basketball vs. St. John's

Another milestone for Mike Krzyzewski occurred in the World’s Most Famous Arena Sunday afternoon. After trailing for a large chunk of the contest, No. 5 Duke was able to mount a furious comeback and beat St. John’s 77-68, earning Krzyzewski his 1,000th career win at Madison Square Garden in New York. He is the first Division I men’s basketball coach to win 1,000 games in a career.

Revisiting the three keys to the game:

  • Play in the moment: There were plenty of moments in the middle of the contest where Duke seemed to be playing too fast. The St. John’s guards were controlling the tempo of the game and pushed up and down the court as fast as they could, forcing the Blue Devils to stretch out defensively and keeping them uncomfortable. And it showed. From the end of the first half to the latter stages of the second half, the Red Storm appeared to be completely in control. But something clicked with about eight minutes remaining for Duke. The Blue Devils regained their composure, started winning the 50-50 balls and began to hit contested shots that had not been falling for most of the game. The poise that Duke was able to show down 10 points was impressive and revealed that it has grown quite a bit in the last two weeks.
  • Don’t let Harrison heat up: For the most part, Duke was successful Sunday in this respect. Harrison, St. John’s leading scorer on the year by far, finished just 5-of-14 for 12 points. But that didn’t stop the other Red Storm players from giving the Blue Devils fits. Senior Sir’Dominic Pointer created problem after problem for the Duke defense, finishing with 21 points—he had 13 in the first half alone—on 9-of-17 shooting. Sophomore Rysheed Jordan also had a great day shooting the ball. He finished 6-of-14 for 18 points. The final starting guard for St. John’s, senior Phil Greene IV, finished with 13 points of his own on 6-of-12 shooting. Fortunately for the Blue Devils, Harrison couldn’t find a rhythm, but his teammates did more than enough to pick him up.
  • Be strong with the ball: Although the Red Storm were able to create 10 steals and 16 total turnovers against the Blue Devils, they were only able to come up with four blocks. Duke was strong with the ball when it went up for shots and although throughout the game St. John’s was able to alter shot attempts by the Blue Devils, it was never able to get in front and force blocks. Duke’s strong shooting late helped spread the defense as the game wound down and Okafor and Marshall Plumlee were able to work inside and create problems late. The Red Storm's leading shot blocker, Chris Obekpa, recorded zero blocks for one of the few times in his career.

Three key plays:

  • 17:14, first half: As the game opened up, the Red Storm hung around with the Blue Devils, even taking a small 7-5 lead on a jumper by Obekpa. But about three minutes into the contest, Okafor got the ball in the paint and tipped the ball into the basket after missing his first attempt. This play was the start of a 16-3 run that Duke used to create a little bit of space between it and St. John’s. By the end of the run, the Blue Devils held a 21-10 lead and although the Red Storm would fight back, this run gave Duke a nice cushion to play with at the start of the game.
  • 0:04, first half: After Cook hit a three-pointer with about 40 seconds remaining in the half, St. John’s took the ball down the court with the hope of holding for the final shot of the first period. Duke let the Red Storm dribble in the corner to run the clock and with about five second left on the shot clock, guard Rysheed Jordan drove the lane and found it stuffed with Blue Devils. He kicked the ball out to Harrison, who caught the ball well behind the 3-point line and Harrison let the shot go. The ball sailed into the basket but not before the horn had sounded, signaling that the shot clock had reached zero. Each replay showed that the ball was still well within the Harrison’s grasp when the clock hit zero, but the referees counted the shot and did not even review it. The blown call gave the Red Storm a 43-39 lead and a whole mess of confidence going into the half.
  • 6:35, second half: With 6:44 remaining in the contest, Okafor was fouled in the paint to put him on the line and attempt a 1-and-1. He missed the front end, but Matt Jones was able to secure the rebound and attempted to put it right back in the basket. The Red Storm defense forced him off his mark and the ball bounced off the rim and fell into the hand of Cook. The senior slung the ball out to a waiting Jones on the perimeter to attempt at triple but his second shot of the possession was also off the mark. Okafor was able to grab the rebound despite four white jerseys surrounding him, and he forced up a one-handed shot that fell into the basket as he was fouled. This frantic sequence all happened within the span of nine seconds and with the made free throw by Okafor, Duke found itself down just one and with all the momentum after being down by as many as 10 points several different times in the half. On the next possession, Cook drained a contested trey to give Duke a 63-62 lead—its first since 4:33 remaining in the first half—and the Blue Devils never looked back.

Three key stats:

  • Zero bench points for the Red Storm: St. John’s came into the game a team that leaned heavily on its starters, with 85.2 percent of the offensive production coming from the starting lineup. Sunday against Duke, however, the bench did not provide a single point for the Red Storm. In fact, only three players saw time off the bench for St. John’s in the entire contest and they combined to play just 15 minutes for the team and take just one shot, a missed 3-pointer by guard Jamal Branch. The Red Storm are talented and clearly conditioned enough to have their starters all play close to 40 minutes per game, but it may have been the rotational depth of the Blue Devils that helped spark a comeback while St. John’s had to rely on the same five guys throughout the game.
  • St. John’s shoots just 26.7 percent from beyond the arc: When Duke regained the lead late in the contest, St. John’s was forced to try and grab points back quickly but the Blue Devils defense stymied the Red Storm shooters from the perimeter. Although St. John’s does not normally have a proclivity for long range shooting, it performed worse than normal from deep, only hitting four triples in the entire contest. In contrast, Duke shot a respectable 36.8 percent from 3-point range including some big shots by Cook and Tyus Jones in the final six minutes of the game.
  • Duke shoots just 66.7 percent from the free throw line: When a team gives you opportunities for free points by putting you at the charity stripe you have to convert. The Blue Devils, however, failed to do that throughout most of the game Sunday. Duke hit only two-thirds of the free throws it attempted against St. John’s despite being at the line 11 more times than the Red Storm. Fortunately, Tyus Jones was able to knock a series of big free throws late in the game to ice the win, and he finished 10-of-10 on the night from the line but outside of Jones, the Blue Devils shot a dismal 8-of-17. Free throw shooting will continue to be a stat to keep an eye on as Duke jumps back into conference play.

And the Duke game ball goes to… Tyus Jones

The kid shows up when the lights are brightest. Jones finished the day with a game-high 22 points on 5-of-11 shooting, was 2-of-5 from long range, 10-of-10 from the stripe and added six assists and four rebounds for good measure. As Duke attempted to mount the comeback, Jones led them up the court, driving the lane and distributing as necessary and then hitting shots of his own when called upon.

Jones’s biggest shot came with 1:17 to go as he knocked down a highly contested triple from the corner in front of his own bench to give the Blue Devils a 72-65 lead and essentially put the game away for Krzyzewski and Duke. He also knocked down five free throws and forced an important turnover in the final three minutes as the Blue Devils got their coach a historic win.

And the St. John’s game ball goes to… Sir’Dominic Pointer

He would have been the player of the game if Duke hadn’t found a way to get the win. Pointer played all 40 minutes for St. John’s and finished with a team-high 21 points. He was the player that the Blue Devils had the most trouble containing throughout the contest and was a large reason why the Red Storm continued to hold a 10-point lead throughout the majority of the second half.

Pointer averages just 11.3 points per game—fourth on a team which usually gets most of its scoring from Harrison, Greene IV and Jordan—and his 21-point total is his second highest mark on the year, just behind his 24-point game against Tulane Dec. 28. Versatile forwards that can attack off the bounce continue to pose problems for Duke and Pointer took advantage of his quickness against the Blue Devils all afternoon long.

Discussion

Share and discuss “Beyond the Arc: Duke basketball vs. St. John's” on social media.