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Duke will take the 10 mile trip to Chapel Hill on Wednesday night to take on the 13-10, 2-6 North Carolina Tarheels. There is little to say when it comes to this rivalry as the records don't matter. The game will be hotly contested on both ends.
Here are the starters and key reserves.
6-9 Sr. Deon Thompson 14.4 points, 6.5 rebounds
6-10 Soph. Ed Davis 14.0 points, 9.5 rebounds
6-6 Jr. Will Graves 9.3 points, 4.7 rebounds
6-2 Soph Larry Drew 9.1 points, 2.7 rebounds,6.2 assists
6-5 Sr. Marcus Ginyard 8.0 points, 3.6 rebounds, 3.3 assists
6-3 Fr. Dexter Strickland 5.8 points
6-10 Fr. Travis Wear 3.6 points
6-10 Fr. John Henson 3.5 points
The Tarheels average 80.0 points a game and give up 73.9 points. They shoot 47.3% from the field and allow their opponents 41.8% They shoot 36.4 % from three on 5.1 made and give up 33.0% on 7.1 made per game. They out rebound their opponents by 7.4 and commit 16.3 turnovers while forcing 14.8 per game.
Notes: The game is scheduled for 9pm Wednesday and will be televised locally by Raycom and on ESPN2 nationally.
The Duke coaching staff are not leaving any stones unturned as they pursue players for this year and for years to come. Here is a list of players Duke is taking a look at in the 2010,2011, and 2012 classes. The Duke coaches want to bring in at least one more player this year.
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BOSTON (AP)—The Duke Blue Devils didn’t make as many free throws as they usually do. They just made the ones they needed most.
Jon Scheyer and Nolan Smith scored 21 points apiece, each hitting two foul shots in the last 26 seconds after No. 10 Duke nearly squandered a 10-point halftime lead and the Blue Devils held on to beat Boston College 66-63 on Saturday.
Duke (19-4, 7-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) missed five straight free throws in the middle of the game and two more in the final minute, helping BC cut the deficit to 64-63 on Reggie Jackson’s long, high-arcing 3-pointer with 16 seconds left. Scheyer was fouled after he received the inbound pass, then made both free throws to force BC to try another 3 for the tie.
But Jackson couldn’t get a clear look at the basket and passed off to Joe Trapani, who was momentarily open. Seven-foot-1 Brian Zoubek ran out to put a hand in front of the 6-8 Trapani and made him put the ball on the ground before sending a long 3-point attempt off the front of the rim at the buzzer.
“I saw Trapani wide open. It’s the last thing you want to see when you’ve got a three-point lead,” Zoubek said. “He made one dribble, a pump fake and shot it off balance.”
Said Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski: “We didn’t want Jackson to take the last shot. Let’s put it that way.”
Duke, which entered the game with a 76.6 percent free throw mark that was the fifth-best in the nation, finished the game 15 of 26 from the line.
“Up until the last few times, we were 11 of 20 from the free throw line,” Krzyzewski said. “That’s not very good, for those of you that don’t have a calculator.”
Corey Raji had 15 points and eight rebounds for BC (12-11, 3-6), which has lost seven of its last 10 games. Among them was a 20-point loss at Duke on Jan. 13.
“We came a long way (since then),” Raji said. “The next day in practice, the intensity changed. That was an embarrassing loss. But if we play with this effort, I feel like we will put ourselves in a good place for the ACC tournament.”
It was the second straight payback win for the Blue Devils, who were coming off a victory over a Georgia Tech team that had beaten them earlier this season. BC upset then-No. 6 Duke in Chestnut Hill last season, sending the crowd storming onto the court to celebrate just its second win ever over the Blue Devils.
“It’s our second win in 43 hours. I’m proud of our guys, playing a very good Georgia Tech team and then coming up here to face a Boston College team that was well prepared for us,” Krzyzewski said. “We got better this week.”
Duke plays archrival North Carolina on Wednesday.
Two nights after making 12 of 18 3-point attempts against Georgia Tech, Duke missed its first six tries from beyond the arc; the Blue Devils finished 5 of 17 from 3-point range in all.
But they closed the first half with seven straight points to open a 35-25 lead.
Tyler Roche hit two free throws for BC to cut the deficit to 58-53 with just under 2 minutes left. But Smith drove to the basket and hit a hooking layup off the backboard and, after free throws left it 62-60 with 28 seconds left, Smith hit two foul shots to make it a four-point game.
Jackson hit a 3 to cut the deficit to 64-63 with 16 seconds left. Scheyer hit his free throws, then neither Jackson nor Trapani could get a clear look at the rim before Trapani had to fire up a shot at the buzzer.
Kyle Singler, who had a season-high 30 against Georgia Tech, was 4 of 14 from the field for 12 points.
DURHAM, N.C. (AP)—Kyle Singler went to the bench and clutched his banged-up right wrist. Then he came back onto the court, rattled in a 3-pointer to beat the halftime buzzer and kept making those long-range shots during the second half.
That pesky wrist injury certainly couldn’t slow the Duke star. Georgia Tech’s defense didn’t stand a chance, either.
Singler had career highs of 30 points and eight 3-pointers to lead the 10th-ranked Blue Devils past the 21st-ranked Yellow Jackets 86-67 on Thursday night.
“I just got into a rhythm,” Singler said. “I took open shots … and started knocking them down.”
Jon Scheyer added 21 points for Duke (18-4, 6-2), which was strong inside and outside—hitting nearly 67 percent of its 3s and dominating Georgia Tech’s foul-plagued front line. Duke held a 40-32 rebounding edge and remained atop the Atlantic Coast Conference by claiming an easy win in a matchup of the league’s only ranked teams.
“In this type of game,” coach Mike Krzyzewski said, “it’s a spectacular shooting performance.”
Zachery Peacock scored the Yellow Jackets’ first 11 points, but was shut out after that. Leading scorers Gani Lawal and Derrick Favors were in foul trouble all night for Georgia Tech (16-6, 4-4), even though coach Paul Hewitt refused to use that as an excuse.
“I don’t think the fouls had anything to do with anything,” Hewitt said. “We had three days to prepare. I was sure we were ready. We spent more time preparing for them than we did anybody this year, and obviously, it didn’t do any good.”
Nolan Smith had 14 points for Duke, which led by double figures for the entire second half in bouncing back from an embarrassingly lopsided loss at Georgetown and avenging last month’s 71-67 loss to Georgia Tech.
“We wouldn’t be 18-4 unless we played really well,” Krzyzewski said. “We’ve had a couple of poor games, and we’re not going to define ourselves by a poor game. We’re going to define ourselves by the full body of work, and we’re just in a situation where a lot of people like to define us by whatever we don’t do well. Our kids have done a lot really well, and tonight, they even did it a little bit better.”
The Blue Devils shot nearly 45 percent against the nation’s fourth-best field-goal percentage defense, and Singler—who was just 2 for 13 in that defeat in Atlanta—was the main beneficiary of a newly installed motion offense designed to give him the freedom to create open looks for himself.
He finished 8 for 10 from 3-point range, scored 20 points in the final 20 minutes and shook off that sprained wrist on his shooting hand to lead the way in a dominating second half that carried the Blue Devils to their 15th straight win at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
“Kyle Singler made us pay, big time,” Hewitt said.
Duke was a late Georgia Tech free throw away from its 11th 20-point win at home this season, and entered outscoring its visitors by an average of 28.9 points.
Singler hit his first three 3s of the second half to help push Duke’s lead well into the teens. Then, he helped the Blue Devils take their first 20-point lead when he took off downcourt after his steal and dumped a behind-the-back pass to Smith, whose layup attempt was swatted away on the rim and Brian Oliver was called for goaltending to make it 63-43 with 11 1/2 minutes left.
“We didn’t do a good job of staying poised,” Lawal said. “We got rattled a little bit.”
Duke’s three S’s—Singler, Scheyer and Smith—entered as the nation’s most productive scoring trio, averaging 53 points, and they were simply too much for a talented but young Georgia Tech team.
Lawal picked up two fouls in the first 33 seconds and played just 16 minutes; he and Favors logged six minutes apiece in the first half. Duke was in the double-bonus 10 minutes into the game—prime position for the nation’s top free-throw-shooting team—and made 24 of 36 attempts from the line.
“They’re our two big men and our two people who draw a lot of attention in the middle,” Peacock said of Lawal and Favors. “With them not in the game, that definitely hurt us.”
Singler’s only two baskets of the first half were big ones, and overshadowed the brief scare he gave the Blue Devils.
His 3 with 12 1/2 minutes until the break put Duke ahead to stay. Then, after his short trip to the bench to check his wrist, he came back moments later and hit the 3 just before the buzzer—“a silent kind of dagger,” he later called it—that capped a half-closing 15-6 run and gave the Blue Devils their first double-figure lead, 45-33.
The Yellow Jackets were denied their second victory at Cameron since 1996.
DURHAM, N.C. – Duke University head football coach David Cutcliffe and his staff announced on Wednesday that 19 student-athletes have signed national letters of intent to join the Blue Devil gridiron program.
The class includes two quarterbacks, eight backs and nine linemen. A total of eight states are represented in the group as Duke signed a class-high nine student-athletes from North Carolina. The group includes four student-athletes from Georgia and one apiece from California, Illinois, Mississippi, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.
The nine in-state prospects include back Issac Blakeney (Monroe), quarterback Anthony Boone (Monroe), back Brandon Braxton (Charlotte), back Kelby Brown (Matthews), lineman Takoby Cofield (Tarboro), back Braxton Deaver (Charlotte), lineman Nick Sink (Kernersville), back Josh Snead (Smithfield) and back Quan Stevenson (High Point).
Blakeney helped Monroe to 20 wins over his final two seasons and is the two-time reigning state champion in the triple jump while Boone compiled over 9,000 yards of total offense and accounted for 81 total touchdowns in his career at Weddington High School. Teammates at Providence High School, Braxton (50 receptions, 792 yards, 9 TDs) and Deaver (72 receptions, 1,002 yards, 13 TDs) led the Panthers to eight wins and a state playoff berth in 2009.
Brown, who played in three state championship games – winning the title in 2008 – for Charlotte Christian, is rated as the 36th-best outside linebacker in the country by Rivals.com while Cofield helped Tarboro High School to a 15-1 ledger and the state crown as a senior. Sink had 60 tackles and six sacks for Forsyth Country Day in 2009 while Snead rushed for 1,932 yards and 27 touchdowns at Smithfield-Selma High School. After posting 70 tackles as a senior at Andrews High School, Stevenson joined Cofield and Snead on the North Carolina squad that defeated South Carolina, 24-14, in the annual Shrine Bowl of the Carolinas.
Georgia is represented by Woodward Academy teammates Will Bryant (Atlanta) and Juwan Thompson (Fairburn) along with lineman Jamal Bruce (LaGrange) and back C.J. France (Columbus). A lineman, Bryant had 60 tackles during his senior season while Thompson, a back, rushed for 1,622 yards and 22 touchdowns last fall and is listed as the 38th-best running back in the nation by Rivals.com. A two-time all-region pick, Bruce helped Callaway High School to consecutive 10-win seasons in 2008 and 2009 while France, who was chosen for the Georgia Coaches Association North-South All-Star Game, guided Carver High School to 37 victories over three seasons including the 2007 state crown.
Quarterback Brandon Connette, a native of Corona, Calif., joins the Blue Devils after throwing for 1,961 yards and 18 touchdowns as a senior at Santiago High School.
Five linemen round out the class including Steven Ingram (Southaven, Miss.), Dezmond Johnson (Nashville, Tenn.), Jordan Ondijo (Prairie View, Texas), Laken Tomlinson (Chicago, Ill.) and Jamal Wallace (Virginia Beach, Va.). Ingram carded 90 tackles as Southaven High School won nine games in 2009 while Johnson had 18 sacks in his final season and was named to the Dream Team by The Tennessean. Ondijo secured all-district honors after helping Waller High School to a state playoff berth this past fall.
Tomlinson, a SuperPrep All-America selection and the 23rd-top offensive guard in the nation by Scout.com, was a four-time all-conference choice at Lane Technical High School. Wallace helped Green Run High School to back-to-back 10-win seasons and is charted as the 41st-best strongside defensive end in the country by Rivals.com.
Connette and Snead both enrolled at Duke last month.
WASHINGTON (AP)—Chris Wright and Georgetown put on a show for the commander in chief.
With President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden seated in the front row, the No. 7 Hoyas literally stole the game from No. 8 Duke, forcing five turnovers in a two-minute, first-half spurt on the way to an 89-77 victory Saturday.
It couldn’t have been a much bigger day for Georgetown: the president attending his first Hoyas game, the first sellout of the season in the 20,000-seat Verizon Center, a crowd mostly sporting “We Are Georgetown” T-shirts in a school-sponsored “gray out,” the 200th win for coach John Thompson III, the launch of an initiative for Darfur schools, and, of course, a dominant program from the Atlantic Coast Conference in the building.
Wright seemed pumped for it all, scoring 21 points on 8-for-9 shooting and making two defensive plays that helped ignite an 18-3 run and gave the Hoyas the lead for good in the first half. Greg Monroe also scored 21, and Austin Freeman added 20 points for Georgetown (16-4), which shot 77 percent in the first half and 72 percent for the game.
Nolan Smith scored 19 points, Kyle Singler had 18 before fouling out with 2:10 to play, and Jon Scheyer added 17 for the Blue Devils (17-4), who shot 37 percent.
Duke committed 15 turnovers—one fewer than Georgetown—but they came in bunches in rare series of breakdowns from coach Mike Krzyzewski’s team.
The key first-half sequence began when Wright blocked Smith from behind on an outside jump shot, then seconds later stole the ball from Smith under the basket. Then came turnovers by Miles Plumlee, Smith and two by Scheyer, including a charging call. Jerrelle Benimon and Hollis Thompson each got a steal during the run, a needed boost from the thin Georgetown bench.
By the time it was over, Duke had gone nearly four minutes without a field goal, and Georgetown led 34-20.
Georgetown went 17 for 22 from the field in the first half and led 46-33 at the break.
The Blue Devils tried in vain to make a game of it in the second half. A pair of 3-pointers in the first couple minutes cut the lead to seven, but two more turnovers led to a 6-0 run and restored Georgetown’s 13-point lead.
The Blue Devils cut the deficit to seven once more at 52-45, but Monroe stopped that momentum with a spin move in the paint and a big pump of the arm to celebrate. There were plenty of free throws from there in a game that had nearly as many fouls (52) as rebounds (54).
The game provided a tough break for both schools from their demanding conference schedules. It was their fourth meeting in five years, with the home team winning each time.
Thompson improved to 200-97, including six seasons at Georgetown and four at Princeton.
The schools used the game to help publicize a new initiative to raise money for schools in refugee camps in the Darfur region of Sudan. NBA star Tracy McGrady, who has traveled to Darfur and helped start the campaign, also attended the game.
The Duke Blue Devils will make the trek to Washington D.C. tomorrow in preparation for Saturday's show down with the 15-4, 6-3 Georgetown Hoyas. John Thompson 111 has his team rebounding from a 16-15 season that ironically started going south with their loss at Duke in mid January last year. Coach Thompson who is 131-55 in his 6th season at Georgetown has his Hoyas poised for a return to the NCAA tournament next year after missing it last year.
The Hoyas play a short bench that most times encompasses only 7 players and in their loss on Monday night to Syracuse the bench did not score. Here are the starters and key reserves.
6-3 Jr. Austin Freeman 16.0 points, 3.9 rebounds, 2.4 assists
6-11 Soph. Greg Monroe 14.8 points, 10.1 rebounds, 3.1 assists
6-1 Jr. Chris Wright 14.6 points, 2.7 rebounds, 4.2 assists
6-2 Soph Jason Clark 10.8 points, 3.7 rebounds
6-9 Jr. Julian Vaughn 8.2 points, 5.3 rebounds
6-7 Fr. Hollis Thompson 3.5 points, 2.4 rebounds
6-7 Fr. Jerrelle Benimon 1.3 points
The Hoyas average 72.1 points, and give 62.0 per game. They shoot 49.4% from the field and give up 40.2%. They shoot 39.7% from three on 6.3 made and give up 32.6% on 6.1 made per game. The are out rebounding their opponents by 4.2 per game and they commit 14.6 turnovers , while forcing 13.7.
Notes: The Hoyas and Blue Devils have a common opponent in St. Johns. Both teams defeated the Red Storm, the Hoyas 66-59. The Hoyas have a good win at Pittsburgh and a bad loss against Old Dominion. The game is scheduled for 1 pm and will be televised on CBS.
DURHAM, N.C. (AP)—Jon Scheyer scored 22 points, Kyle Singler added 20 and No. 8 Duke held off Florida State 70-56 on Wednesday night
The Blue Devils (17-3, 5-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) shot 43 percent against the nation’s toughest field-goal percentage defense and forced 22 turnovers but needed a late 15-4 run to seal their 14th straight win at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Solomon Alabi had 14 points and 10 rebounds and Chris Singleton added 14 points for the Seminoles (15-5, 3-3). They outrebounded the Blue Devils 40-30 and held them without a field goal for more than six minutes to erase most of a 16-point deficit, but were denied their second straight victory against a Top 25 opponent.
Singleton made things interesting late, hitting a free throw to make it 51-47 with 8:56 left, before the Blue Devils pulled away down the stretch with seven straight points.
Scheyer hit a 19-footer, Brian Zoubek added a stickback and Singler knocked down a 3-pointer with 5:45 remaining to get the decisive run rolling and restore Duke’s double-figure lead.
It wasn’t until then that the Blue Devils were assured of extending a few streaks at Cameron. They claimed their 39th straight victory there against unranked opponents—a string that dates to the Seminoles’ win in February 2007 — and improved to 12-0 this season at home, winning 10 of those by at least 20 points.
At least Florida State can take solace in this: The only team to keep things this tight against Duke here was St. John’s, an 80-71 loser in December.
For a while, though, this one was shaping up as yet another blowout for the Blue Devils, who seemingly took control early in the second half. A 12-2 spurt gave them a 51-35 lead on Singler’s free throw with 13:55 left.
But a scoreless drought of nearly six minutes allowed Florida State to creep back into the game. The Seminoles reeled off 12 straight points—nine by freshman reserve Michael Snaer—to make it a four-point game late.
Worse for the Blue Devils, Florida State was simply outhustling them, with the Seminoles missing three straight foul shots in 20 seconds—and beating Duke to all those rebounds but having trouble converting them into points.
Nolan Smith finished with 11 points on 4-of-15 shooting for Duke, which led for all of about three minutes of this one despite scoring runs proving hard to come by against a defense that allows teams to shoot just 35.5 percent.
Florida State had more turnovers (14) than field goals (13) at halftime, while Scheyer had 13 points in the opening 20 minutes. But it wasn’t until there were 70 seconds before the break that the Blue Devils took their first double-figure lead. Singler rattled in a 3-pointer from the corner to make it 37-27.
But the Seminoles had Alabi, and that meant they still had a chance. The 7-footer showed his dominance during one memorable sequence midway through the half, blocking Scheyer’s layup attempt and then beating everybody back downcourt for a layup.
Snaer finished with 13 points for Florida State, which was coming off a 68-66 victory three days earlier against then-No. 19 Georgia Tech.
The surprising Florida State Seminoles who are 15-4, 3-2 coming off their second win of the season against Ga. Tech will invade Cameron Indoor Stadium on Wednesday night hoping to derail a Duke team who has been close to invincible at home this year. Leonard Hamilton who is in his 8th year in Tallahassee and sports a 146-100 record with the Noles has a young team that plays only one senior in his nine man rotation.
Here are the starters and key reserves.
7-1 Soph. Solomon Alabi 12.6 points, 6.9 rebounds
6-9 Soph. Chris Singleton 11.1 points, 7.5 rebounds
6-4 Jr. Derwin Kitchen 8.3 points, 3.9 rebounds, 3.9 assists
6-8 Sen. Ryan Reid 7.1 points, 4.1 rebounds
6-5 Fr. Micahel Snaer 8.2 points
6-7 Jr. Xavier Gibson 5.9 points, 3.3 rebounds
6-7 Jr. Jordan Demercy 3.8 points
6-5 Soph. Luke Loucks 3.1 points
The Seminoles average 72.6 points and give up 60.2. They shoot 47% from the field and relinquish 35.5%. They shoot 34.3% from three on 6.0 ,made and give up 32.5% on 7.1 made a game. They are out rebounding their opponents by 5.7 per game. The commit 17.4 turnovers and force 16.9.
Notes: The game is scheduled for 9pm and will be televised on ESPN.
CLEMSON, S.C. (AP)—Nolan Smith scored 22 points and No. 7 Duke wiped out an ugly memory from last season with a 60-47 victory over No. 17 Clemson on Saturday night.
It was last February when the Blue Devils (16-3, 4-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) suffered their most lopsided defeat in nearly two decades, falling to the Tigers 74-47 at Littlejohn Coliseum.
Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski called time out in the final moments of that game, wanting his players to soak in the cheers of Tigers fans.
In this one, Smith and Duke’s defense ensured the Blue Devils a much happier finish.
Smith had 9 points during a 14-2 second half run that put Duke ahead 43-30 with 12:33 left. Clemson could not get closer than 6 points the rest of the way.
Trevor Booker led the Tigers (15-5, 3-3) with 22 points.
It was Clemson’s fewest points at home since a 52-47 loss to Maryland on Jan. 25, 2003. Booker got little help from his teammates—while Clemson’s star made 10 of 14 shots, the rest of the Tigers were just 8 of 34.
Duke broke free from a 23-all halftime tie with six straight points to open the second half. After Clemson cut the lead to 29-28, Smith helped the Blue Devils take control.
Kyle Singler started the run with a 3-pointer, then Smith added another from long range. After Singler’s driving basket, Smith scored the next six points to put Duke ahead by 13.
Lance Thomas added 13 points, Singler 12 and Jon Scheyer 11 for Duke, which bounced back from a midweek defeat at North Carolina State.
Clemson lost its second straight to a ranked ACC opponent after falling at Georgia Tech this past Tuesday.
Clemson fans were ready for this one, even if their team wasn’t.
ESPN College GameDay broadcast from Littlejohn and about 4,000 orange-clad early risers turned out 10 hours before tip-off. A sign in the crowd before gametime summed up the mood: “Breathe if you hate Duke.”
After all, many in the crowd were still jacked up from the Blue Devils’ last visit—the 27-point Clemson victory here last winter was Duke’s most lopsided defeat since the 1990 national championship loss to UNLV.
Before losing here last season, though, Duke had won 22 straight over Clemson, including nine in a row on the Tigers’ home floor.
Duke got a measure of payback earlier this month, a 74-53 win over the Tigers at Cameron Indoor Stadium to open ACC play. In that one, Clemson was a miserable 5 of 30 in the opening half to fall behind 30-12.
This time, both teams struggled to find offense early. The Blue Devils were 2 of 6 from 3-point range and made just one of four foul shots.
Clemson did even worse from the outside, going 1 of 6 behind the arc. While Booker was 5 of 7 in the half, his teammates were a combined 3 of 15.
Each team committed 11 turnovers against lockdown pressure.
Duke’s Smith hit a 3-pointer with 1:29 left in the period to tie things at 23.
Clemson did its part to keep the atmosphere going. One of the Tigers all-time greats, center Larry Nance was introduced during a timeout. Football star C.J. Spiller got an award at halftime, telling the cheering crowd to help the Tigers pull out a victory in the second half.
The Blue Devils avoided their first 0-4 slide on the road since 1981-82, although they’re 4-0 this season at neutral sites.
Before the game, Clemson held a moment of silence for Gaines Adams, the former Tigers and 26-year-old Chicago Bears defensive end who died of an enlarged heart last Sunday. The Greenwood native was buried Friday after a funeral service about 20 minutes from campus.
