Posted On: February 7, 2009 By: Cliff Comments: (0)

It was another terrible first half for the Duke Blue Devils on Saturday afternoon as they were down 32-19 at half time but in the second half they outscored Miami 49-36 and then 10-7 in overtime as they came from behind to win 78-75. It sure was an ugly win but I’ll give the coaches and team credit for coming out in the second half and getting back in the game. A win is a win no matter how ugly it is.

Greg Paulus started at point guard over Nolan Smith as Coack K tried to spark the team after the loss to Clemson earlier in the week. Paulus opened up the game with a three pointer and finished with four three’s and 18 points. I’d expect to see Paulus to keep the starting position from here on out.

Jon Scheyer got out of his slump as he led the team with 22 points as he knocked down four treys and eight free throws. Gerald Henderson who was held scoreless in the first half scored 19 points while Kyle Singler added 17 points. The only other Blue Devil to score in the game was David McClure who had one basket.

Duke will take the court on Wednesday as they take on North Carolina at Cameron Indoor Stadium. They had better come out in the first half and knock down some shots because Carolina won’t allow them to come back in the second half like Miami did.

Leave a Comment

Category: Duke Basketball, Duke Basketball Game Notes

Posted On: February 4, 2009 By: Cliff Comments: (5)

On Wednesday night the Duke Blue Devils received an old fashioned butt kicking and it came on the home court of the Clemson Tigers. The Tigers dominated the Blue Devils in pretty much every aspect of the game and snapped their 20 game regular season losing streak to the Blue Devils. The final score was 74-47.

The 47 points that Duke put up was the lowest point total since 1994 when they only scored 44 against Clemson. Duke as a team only shot 30% from the floor and only had one shooter score over ten points. Gerald Henderson had 16 points while Lance Thomas added 10. Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith both player terrible for the second game in a row. I really hope fatigue isn’t starting to set in for Singler once again.

Basically what I saw Wednesday night was a Clemson team that wanted it more. They out hustled the Blue Devils and showed that they are a very good team. Their pressure really gave Duke problems all night long and they exposed the Blue Devils in so many ways. It’s back to the drawing board for the players and coaches, it will be interesting to see how they bounce back after this terrible loss.

Leave a Comment

Category: Duke Basketball, Duke Basketball Game Notes

Posted On: February 1, 2009 By: Cliff Comments: (2)

Gerald Henderson continued to play lights out and got some support from Nolan Smith as Duke beat Virginia Sunday afternoon by the score of 79-54. It was a nice bounce back win for the Blue Devls after coming off the two point loss earlier in the week to Wake Forest. Virginia is a very young team but could pull off an upset in the conference if they are knocking down their shots and keeping the turnovers down. On Sunday however, Duke took advantage of 23 turnovers and that was one reasy for the 25 point victory.

The player of the game would have to go to Henderson as he poured in 18 points. Sixteen of the eighteen points came in the first half. Gerald has become the go to player for the Blue Devils when they need a big basket and he is coming up huge this season. Usually Henderson has Kyle Singler scoring right along side of him but on Sunday it was Nolan Smith taking that role. Smith finished with 15 points on seven-of-ten shots. Singler on the other hand was cold from the floor and only finished with five points.

Jon Scheyer was the other Blue Devil to finish in double figures as he scored 11 points.

Birthday boy Steve Johnson played the final two minutes of the game and scored a basket on a layup after getting his defender in the air with a pump fake on the baseline. It was awesome to see the walk on get a bucket on his birthday!

The Blue Devils will next play on Wednesday when they take on Clemson on the road.

Leave a Comment

Category: Duke Basketball, Duke Basketball Game Notes