Coming off first loss, No. 2 Duke unleashed better-looking offense to pound SC State
The ugliness that was Duke’s second-half performance at Ohio State lingered with the Blue Devils for exactly two weeks.
No. 1 in the nation when they saw a 15-point lead wither away and disappear while losing 71-66 to the Buckeyes on Nov. 30, the Blue Devils hadn’t played a game since then.
The players had finished semester-ending projects and taken final exams. The coaches schemed ways to improve the half-court offense for the times when Duke, now ranked No. 2, is unable to unleash its lethal transition game.
All the while, they longed to move on to the next play, learning from their first loss and working to be even better the rest of the season.
On Tuesday night, South Carolina State was the unlucky recipient of all that pent up anger.
Duke made a season-best 15 3-pointers, making the extra pass with regularity to open up better shots. The Blue Devils shot 55.9% overall and scored 24 points off Bulldogs turnovers to post a 103-62 win at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
“We shot the ball really well, shared it.” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said.
Now, no one will confuse Ohio State, from the mighty Big Ten, with S.C. State. The Bulldogs, from the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, saw their record drop to 3-8.
Still, Duke manhandled them with the ease it should have, never letting the underdogs get their footing. The Blue Devils never trailed and needed less than even minutes of play to push their lead to double-digits. It never dropped into single digits again.
“Coming off of exams, I was very pleased with the intensity we played with and the speed,” Krzyzewski said. “Four of our kids had exams from 7-10 last night. Four of our starters. These last two weeks, we really didn’t get a lot of practice time. It’s intense. really, the academics.”
Working with shorter practices due to all the off-court requirements, the Blue Devils did work on new plays to help that half-court offense. They had to after shooting just 22.6% during the second half at Ohio State.
The way the game was played Tuesday night, though, they didn’t use any of them.
“We put in some stuff but we really didn’t use it much tonight,” Krzyzewski said, “because it was a fast-paced game. We were working on sets we can run in the half court. But if we can run, we’re gonna run. But when we get stopped we can’t just dribble the ball. We’ve got to have movement. I would hope our guys could move without having the sets. But sometimes you need to call a set to get that movement.”
Even without those sets the Blue Devils were strong and together, posting 23 assists on their 33 made field goals.
“We wanted to try to get 25 assists all together and just really try to share the ball and play as a team,” said Duke freshman AJ Griffin, who scored a team-high 19 points and had four assists. “You see the open guy and it’s a great feeling hitting the guy and just seeing the shot go in for your teammate.”
The Blue Devils have two more games this week to continue to hone and improve their play. Appalachian State comes to Cameron for a 7 p.m. game on Thursday night before Cleveland State visits for a 2 p.m. game on Saturday.
After that, it’s nothing but ACC play the rest of the regular season, beginning with Virginia Tech at home on Dec. 22 at 9 p.m.
The season remains young, but important games will be arriving fast.
Duke played big-time games last month, beating Kentucky, 79-71, and Gonzaga, 84-81, before losing at Ohio State. But still, Tuesday night was just the ninth game for the Blue Devils.
“For me,” Krzyzewski said, “beating Kentucky, Gonzaga, losing to Ohio State, that’s like a year ago. We have to be in this moment. The main thing is getting back in shape. Our guys were excited to play tonight and were excited at the shoot-around this morning. I’m proud of that and hope we keep that going.”
This story was originally published December 15, 2021 at 7:00 AM with the headline "Coming off first loss, No. 2 Duke unleashed better-looking offense to pound SC State."