North Carolina State University Athletics
Gary Hahn's Scouting Report: Duke
1/31/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
NC STATE (13-6, 2-3) at No. 3 DUKE (17-1, 5-0)
DATE: Thursday, January 31, 2008 @ Cameron Indoor Stadium,
TIME: Tip-off: 9:00 p.m. EST
RADIO: Wolfpack Radio Network.
AIRTIME: 8:30 p.m. EST
TELEVISION: Raycom/Lincoln Financial (ACC Network) and espn2
OPPONENT DeMarcus Nelson and Gerald Henderson are stepping up and Duke is moving up in the national polls. The Blue Devils come-from-behind 93-84 win at
Showing great character and resilience, the Blue Devils overcame their largest deficit of the season in
Duke launched its comeback at the outset of the second half by making three straight baskets, two by Nelson. A three-point play by Nelson got the Blue Devils to 57-55, and minutes later a three-pointer by Kyle Singler put Duke up 64-63.
With the Blue Devils leading by two, baskets by Henderson and Nelson ignited an 8-2 spurt that made it 83-75. A three-pointer by James Gist got
Nelson was named Co-ACC Player of the Week, sharing the honor with Georgia Tech’s Matt Causey. Nelson averaged 18.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 3.5 steals last week in victories over Virginia Tech and
The senior guard has also been named one of 30 mid-season candidates for both the Naismith award and the John R. Wooden award. Both honors go to the nation’s top college player and will be presented at the end of the season.
Duke uses a simple, but effective strategy and has the players to execute it. The Blue Devils suffocate opponents on defense and bomb away on the other end of the floor.
Pressure man-to-man defense is the hallmark of Duke Basketball. The Devils are great at taking opponents out of what they do best with great pressure on the ball. They’re outstanding at taking away passing lanes, forcing turnovers and delaying or denying opponents the opportunity to initiate their offense.
As a result, Duke leads the ACC in scoring defense in league games (70.0)
Good shooting performances against the Blue Devils are hard to come by. Duke has not allowed more than four made three-point field goals in any of its five ACC games. The Devils are holding opponents to an ACC-low .266 (17-of-64) three-point field goal percentage.
Inside the arc, opponents are fairing a little better. Duke is ninth in the ACC in league games in field goal percentage defense (.453).
In the last three games, Duke has scored 91 points off 65 turnovers. The Devils had a 37-12 advantage in points off turnovers against Clemson, a 25-9 edge at Virginia Tech and outscored
Eight players have at least 11 steals this season, but the most aggressive Duke defenders are Nelson,
Duke is very hard to guard because the Blue Devils almost always have at least four players on the floor at the same time that can drive the ball, create shots and shoot from 3-point range. 37 percent of Duke’s shots come from 3-point range.
ACC competition has apparently cooled the hot shooting Devils a bit. They’re connecting on only 32.5 percent of their shots from the bonusphere in league games (39-of-120) after hitting 42 percent in non-conference action.
The top 3-point bombers are Nelson (.423), Paulus (.405) and reserves Jon Scheyer (.406) and Taylor King, a freshman with unlimited range (.435). Henderson and Singler must also be respected as 3-point shooters.
When the three-point shots aren’t falling, the Blue Devils don’t panic. With Nelson, Henderson, Paulus, reserve guard Nolan Smith and others create scoring opportunities with dribble penetration Duke can still be very effective.
Against
Duke has made almost as many free throws as its opponents have attempted this season (306-to-314). The Devils get to the line an average of 24 times a game and shoot nearly 70 percent. If there’s a chink in the Duke armor, it’s the lack of a powerful inside presence.
Seven-footer Brian Zoubeck is out with a fractured left foot, but Singler has done a nice job. He can play in the paint or outside which makes him a tough match-up for many ACC big men. Plus, Henderson, Nelson and Scheyer are all good rebounders, so Singler does not have to be a one-man force on the boards.
Here’s the bottom line. Against league opponents, the Blue Devils lead the ACC in field goal percentage (.486) and are No. 2 in scoring (84.8). They’re outscoring league foes by a whopping 14.8 points a game.
In 2006, Duke beat State 81-68 in
PROBABLE DUKE STARTERS
No. Name Pos. Ht. Class PPG RPG APG
21 DeMarcus Nelson G 6'4 Sr. 14.8 5.9 3.0
15 Gerald Henderson G/F 6'4 So. 13.6 4.7 1.7
03 Greg Paulus G 6’1 Jr. 9.3 1.9 3.4
42 Lance Thomas F 6'8 So. 4.3 2.8 --
12 Kyle Singler F 6'8 Fr. 12.9 5.9 1.3
TOP RESERVES:
30 Jon Scheyer G 6'5 Fr. 10.7 4.2 2.1
14 David McClure F 6'6 Jr. 1.1 2.0 --
02 Nolan Smith G 6’2 Fr. 6.9 1.9 2.1
20
* Blocked shots per game
A WINWould give the Pack a victory over a Top-10 team for the first time this season and give State back-to-back ACC road wins for the first time since 1987. The Pack would improve to 14-6 overall and 3-3 in the ACC and win for the first time at Cameron Indoor Stadium since 1995, breaking a streak of 10 straight Duke wins in Durham. State would snap Duke’s overall 7-game winning streak, hand the Blue Devils their first ACC loss, and drop them to 17-2 overall and 5-1 in the league. State would improve to 3-3 this season against ranked teams in the Top-25. The two teams will meet again on March 1st at the
A LOSSWould be the fourth in the last six games for State and drop the Pack to 13-7 overall and 2-4 in the
ROOKIE OF YEAR CANDIDATEJ.J. Hickson has been chosen as the ACC Rookie of the Week for the third time. In games last week against Georgia Tech and
FANTASTIC FELLS Courtney Fells has been a standout for the Pack since the start of the ACC season. In five league games, the junior guard has averaged 17.6 points (88) and 3.2 rebounds (16) while shooting 33-56 from the field (.589) and 17-32 from the 3-point arc (.531). His clutch 3-pointer with 18-seconds to play in overtime was a big part of State’s come-from-behind victory over
SHARPER AT THE POINT Due to a season-ending knee injury to Farnold Degand on December 23rd, the Wolfpack has been forced to rotate two inexperienced point guards. Freshman Javier Gonzalez and sophomore transfer Marques Johnson are learning the hard wayon the job. In the last 3 games, all of Gonzalez’s numbers have improved. During that stretch, he’s averaged 7.3 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals and only 1.3 turnovers while coming off the bench.
GRANT LEADS THE FINAL CHARGE Three times this season, Gavin Grant’s heroics in the final seconds have won games for the Wolfpack. A steal and layup by the senior with 2.1 seconds left in overtime gave State a 79-77 victory over
STARTING FLUID In its last 3 games, State combined to average 35 first half points and shot 14-29 from three-point range (.483). That was a big improvement over the previous four games. In the first half of those contests, State averaged only 20.3 points (81) and shot 3-of-32 from the 3-point arc (.093).
NOTHING FOUL ABOUT THIS Free throw shooting has been a big weapon for the Wolfpack. State has made more free throws this season than its opponents have attempted (334-to-254). Overall, State is 71 percent from the stripe (334-472).
DIFFERENT COMBO With
CAN I HAVE LONG DISTANCE, PLEASE? After shooting only 9-of-27 (.333) from the 3-point arc in its first three ACC games, State is finding the range. In its last 3 games, the Pack has shot .446 from the bonusphere (25-56). However, no active State player is shooting more than 39 percent from the arc.
INSIDE THE ARC The Wolfpack has connected on 51 percent of its 2-point shots (326-634) this season.
ACC LEADER Freshman center J.J. Hickson leads the ACC in field goal percentage (.632), but is shooting only .469 in league games. The rookie leads the Pack in scoring (15.3), rebounding (8.0) & blocks (1.7). He tied a career high with 4 blocks at FSU on 1/26.
STOP THE BOMBING ACC opponents have combined to shoot 42 percent from the 3-point arc against the Wolfpack this season (31-74). UNC shot the best long-range percentage against the Pack (.545) on 6-11 from the bonusphere. Overall, State is giving up 77 points and 47 percent field goal shooting in ACC games.
BETTER NUMBERS In the last 12 games, State has 9 wins. During that stretch, the Pack has held its opponents to 65.1 points (781) and .356 shooting from the field (299-838). The Pack has won the rebounding battle in 8 of those games and outscored the competition 212-107 at the foul line.
-0-
