Posted On: January 31, 2008 By: Cliff Comments: (0)

It was another letdown in the first half for the Duke Blue Devils as they fell behind 46-37 at halftime to the North Carolina State WolfPack.  Once the second half whistle blew though, it was all Duke as they completely dominated the second half of the game as they won 92-72 to move to 6-0 in ACC Conference play.

Greg Paulus was the sparkplug for the Blue Devils on Thursday night.  He had the hot had from beyond the three point line going 5-8 on three point attempts.  Paulus finished the game with 22 points and six assists.  Great job by Mr. Paulus!

Not too far behind Paulus in the scoring column was Kyle Singler, Gerald Henderson, and DeMarcus Nelson.  Singler had a quite 19 points, while Henderson and Nelson both had 18 points for the Blue Devils.  Once again more then one player contributed and that is what happens when you put up 92 points on the scoreboard.  The Blue Devils would have easily scored 100 if their shots were falling in the first half of the game.

The Blue Devils will now play on Saturday against Miami.  Tip-off is set for 3:30 eastern time and can be seen on ABC in a regional broadcast.  Hopefully Duke doesn’t look ahead to the big game against North Carolina next week, and they take control of Miami.  No more first half slumps please!

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Category: Duke Basketball, Duke Basketball Game Notes

Posted On: January 28, 2008 By: Cliff Comments: (0)

Sorry for the late post, I was in Vegas for the past four days and just got home.  Anyways, it was nice to see the Duke Blue Devils come back and defeat the Maryland Terrapins on their home court on Sunday.  The Blue Devils were down nine points at halftime, but outscored the Terrapins 51-33 in the second half to win the ballgame 93-84.  This was a great test for the team, and to battle back in the second half shows they have what it takes to have a really good team this year.

DeMarcus Nelson once again stepped up for the Blue Devils as he scored 27 points, 19 of them coming in the first half.  Gerald Henderson also had a good game as he chipped in with 23 points.  Could these two players be the 1-2 punch for the Blue Devils to contend for a National Championship?  I sure thinks so!

Greg Paulus and Nolan Smith also scored in double figures for the Blue Devils.  Paulus had 12 points, while Smith had 14 points.  I really like how Smith is stepping up his play during ACC play and is knocking down some shots.

Up next for the Blue Devils will be a game against the North Carolina State Wolfpack.  The game will be played at Cameron Indoor Stadium and tip-off is set for 9:00 p.m. eastern.  Go Devils!

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Category: Duke Basketball, Duke Basketball Game Notes

Posted On: January 24, 2008 By: Cliff Comments: (0)

Duke played a young Virginia Tech team on Thursday night and came away with a 81-64 victory over the Hokies.  Once again there was a lot of talking, a lot of cheap fouls, and a very physical game between the Blue Devils and the Hokies.  They really just don’t like each other.

Kyle Singler was the leading scorer for the Blue Devils as he finished with 16 points.   Gerald Henderson added 12 points and DeMarcus Nelson and Greg Paulus both had 10 points for Duke.  As you can see it was another balanced scoring attack by the Blue Devils.

Duke will next play against a very tough Maryland team on Sunday.  Maryland recently knocked of North Carolina, so the Blue Devils are going to have to step up and play lights out to get another win in the ACC conference.

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Category: Duke Basketball, Duke Basketball Game Notes

Posted On: January 19, 2008 By: Cliff Comments: (3)

It was a high scoring game at Cameron Indoor Stadium Saturday night as the Duke Blue Devils were able to get by the Clemson Tigers 93-80.  Duke actually had a double digit lead in the first half but Clemson came back strong in the second half and actually took the lead a few times.  That was when Duke went on one of their classic runs to close out the ballgame.  Good teams figure out how to win games and that is exactly what the Blue Devils did.

Senior DeMarcus Nelson led the Blue Devils with 24 points.  Great Senior leadership out of Nelson who has really stepped up the past week or so.  Great job Mr. Nelson!

Freshman Kyle Singler had another good game finishing with 17 points.  Gerald Henderson was right behind Singler as he had 16 points.  Other double digit scorers were Nolan Smith and Jon Scheyer.  Smith and Scheyer both had strong first halfs and finished the games with 13 and 12 points each.

Duke should move into the top 3 as North Carolina and UCLA both lost on Saturday.  With the tought ACC play happening, it will be exciting to watch this Blue Devil team try to keep moving up in the rankings.

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Category: Duke Basketball, Duke Basketball Game Notes

Posted On: January 16, 2008 By: Cliff Comments: (0)

In a scary game for the Duke Blue Devils, they were able to come out with a win against a fiesty Florida State team.  Duke had 20+ tournovers in a sloppy game, but down tehe stretch Greg Paulus made some key shots to secure the 70-57 victory for the Blue Devils.

Jon Scheyer once again came off the bench to have a great game for the Blue Devils.  Scheyer had most of the offense for the team and scored 21 points.  The next closest scorer was Gerald Henderson with 12 points, and then Kyle Singler with 10 points.

DeMarcus Nelson had his worst game of the season as he only scored seven points.  There were others to pick up the slack however, and that is what this Duke team is going to have to do through out the year if they want to make a long run in March.

Duke will next play on Saturday night when they will have another tough ACC game against Clemson.  Both teams will be ranked in the top 25, so it is really going to be a battle!  Hopefully the Blue Devils come out to play, and get another ACC Win!  GO BLUE DEVILS!

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Category: Duke Basketball, Duke Basketball Game Notes

Posted On: January 14, 2008 By: Cliff Comments: (0)

Senior DeMarcus Nelson led the Duke Blue Devils past the Virginia Cavaliers on Sunday night by the score of 87-65.  The Blue Devils dominated the game pretty much the entire game.  Nelson who began his last run for another ACC Championship got the Blue Devils off to the right start as he had 20 points and four rebounds.  It was the third time in the last five games that Nelson has scored atleast 20 points.

Gerald Henderson and Kyle Singler also had good games for the Blue Devils.  Henderson scored 18 points while Singler chipped in with 13 points.  Henderson and Singler are both playing some pretty good basketball right now, and they are really helping out the team in more ways then just scoring.  Great defense and rebounding is really making their stats look great.

Jon Scheyer once again came off the bench and scored in double figures.  Twelve points on 5-9 shooting for Scheyer against the Cavaliers. I think this is a really good role for Scheyer right now.

Duke will next play on Wednesday night against Florida State.  The game is in Tallahassee so you can expect it to be a very tough game for the Blue Devils.  Florida State and Duke seem to always play really tough games and I don’t see why this wouldn’t be the same.  My prediction is Duke wins by 8 points.

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Category: Duke Basketball, Duke Basketball Game Notes

Posted On: January 9, 2008 By: Cliff Comments: (0)

Duke played a sloppy second half but a strong first half helped them get a 10 point victory over the Temple Owls in Philadelphia on Wednesday night.  Duke took a 39-23 lead heading into the lockeroom, but in the second half it was the Temple Owls doing most of the scoring.  Temple was able to outscore the Blue Devils 41-35 in the second half to make this game look a lot closer then it actually was.

Taylor King finished the game with a team high 15 points.  It is pretty funny that we blogged about King not getting enough playing time in the last game, and the next game he comes out and scores 15 to lead the team.  Goodjob Taylor, keep up the hard work!

DeMarcus Nelson and Greg Paulus each scored 13 points for the Blue Devils.  Jon Scheyer also chipped in with 10 points.

With the victory which moved Dukes record to 13-1 on the season, Coach K moved into third place on the active coaching list for wins.

Duke will now open up ACC play this Sunday against Virginia.  Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. and will be seen on FSN.

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Category: Duke Basketball, Duke Basketball Game Notes

Posted On: January 9, 2008 By: Cliff Comments: (1)

Brian Zoubek is indefinately out of the Duke Blue Devils roster while he recovers from a broken toe that he suffered in practice on Monday.  This will be the second time that Zoubek as broken the toe.  Last time he had surgery two days after the injury, but he is hoping that he will not need surgery this time.

Coack K told reporters that Zoubek will be back playing when he physically is able to, but he will be given the time off and not asked to put much pressure on it for a while.

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Category: Duke Basketball, Duke Basketball Injuries