North Carolina State University Athletics
Gary Hahn's Scouting Report: Duke
2/29/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
NC STATE (15-13, 4-10) vs. No. 7 DUKE (24-3, 11-2)
DATE: Saturday, March 1, 2008 @
TIME: Tip-off: 12:00 p.m. EST
RADIO: Wolfpack Radio Network
AIRTIME: 11:30 a.m. EST
TELEVISION: CBS
OPPONENT Good basketball teams can win with defense when shots aren’t falling. Duke is a very good team and defense was the story Wednesday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
The Blue Devils held Georgia Tech to 38 percent shooting from the field, forced 20 turnovers and was competitive on the boards against the more physical Yellow Jackets in a 71-58 victory that moved Duke into a first-place tie with
The lock-down defense was necessary on a night when the Blue Devils had trouble making shots from the perimeter. Duke missed 12 of its first 13 attempts from 3-point range before Greg Paulus connected from the key with 9 minutes to play to give the Devils a 56-44 lead.
Georgia Tech made things interesting when Anthony Morrow bombed in a 3-pointer with 2:40 remaining to cut the margin to 65-57. About 30-seconds later, DeMarcus Nelson assisted on Gerald Henderson’s layup that restored Duke’s double-figure lead.
Henderson and Nelson both finished with 15 points while Kyle Singler added 13 and Paulus 11 to help the Blue Devils to their second straight win following back-to-back road losses to
Anthony Morrow was a target of Duke’s defense. The Jackets leading scorer, who entered averaging 14.3 points, was held to only 9 on 4-of-9 shooting. Matt Causey and Gani Lawal led Tech with 10 points each.
Duke outscored the Jackets 17-8 on points off turnovers and also did a good job keeping Tech off the foul line. Georgia Tech did not attempt a free throw until 9:30 to play and finished 7-of-11 from the stripe.
The Blue Devils led 33-27 at halftime after holding Tech to 32 percent shooting.
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 Duke’s hallmark. 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.
Particularly impressive is Duke’s ability to create turnovers and avoid getting hurt by three-point shots. In ACC games, Duke is forcing opponents into 19 turnovers a game while holding them to 33 percent shooting from beyond the arc.
On only three occasions this season has Duke has allowed an ACC team more than four, 3-point field goals in a game. The Blue Devils lost two of those contests (
Inside the 3-point arc, opponents are fairing a little better. Duke is in the bottom fourth of the league in field goal percentage defense (.464) against conference opponents.
Five players average at least one steal a game, but the most aggressive Duke defenders are Nelson, Henderson and Paulus. Inside, Singler continues to play well. He recorded 4 steals against Georgia Tech.
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. In conference play, 40 percent of Duke’s shots come from 3-point range.
The top 3-point bombers in Duke’s spread offense are Nelson (.418), Paulus (.415), Singler (.372) and reserves Jon Scheyer (.400) and Taylor King, a freshman reserve with unlimited range (.390).
When the threes aren’t falling, the Blue Devils don’t hit the panic button. They use Nelson, Henderson, Paulus and others to create scoring opportunities from the field or the foul line with dribble penetration.
Against Georgia Tech, Duke was only 2-of-15 from three-point range, but outscored the Yellow Jackets 21-7 at the free throw line. The Devils average 27 free throw attempts a game against ACC opponents and shoot 68 percent.
Duke’s need for a more powerful inside presence was evident earlier this season, but the return of Brian Zoubeck from a fractured left foot and the improvement of Lance Thomas have helped. Zoubeck recorded 11 points and 13 rebounds against
Singler, who is 6-8, 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. Duke has outrebounded 3 of its last 5 opponents.
To beat the Blue Devils, you have to outscore them and that’s a challenge. Against conference opponents, they average 84.5 points with a +10.8 scoring margin.
On January 31st, State shot 58 percent in the opening half and led Duke by 9 points in
Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski is one victory shy of becoming only the sixth coach in NCAA history with 800 career wins.
PROBABLE DUKE STARTERS
No. Name Pos. Ht. Class PPG RPG APG
21 DeMarcus Nelson G 6'4 Sr. 15.3 6.0 3.1
15 Gerald Henderson G/F 6'4 So. 12.4 4.7 1.6
03 Greg Paulus G 6’1 Jr. 10.6 2.0 3.5
42 Lance Thomas F 6'8 So. 4.6 3.3 --
12 Kyle Singler F 6'8 Fr. 14.3 6.0 1.4
TOP RESERVES:
30 Jon Scheyer G 6'5 Fr. 10.9 4.3 2.3
14 David McClure F 6'6 Jr. 1.0 1.9 --
02 Nolan Smith G 6’2 Fr. 6.6 1.8 1.6
20
* Blocked shots per game
A WIN Breaks a Wolfpack 6-game losing streak and improves State to 16-13 overall and 5-10 in the ACC with one regular season games remaining. The Pack would improve to 11-5 at home (4-4 ACC) and beat Duke for the second time in the last 3 games of the series. State would earn its first win this season over an opponent ranked in the nation’s Top-10 and would gain a split in the regular season series with Duke for the first time since 2004 (the last time the teams played twice in the regular campaign). The Wolfpack would assure itself of a non-losing overall recordno matter what happens between now and the end of the season. Duke would drop to 24-4 overall and 11-3 in the ACC and would fall out of a tie with UNC for first-place in the ACC. The Blue Devils would lose for the third time in their last 5 games.
A LOSS--Extends State’s losing streak to 7-games its longest since 2000 when the Pack dropped seven-straight regular season games. The Wolfpack would drop to 15-14 overall and 4-11 in the ACC with one regular season game remaining. Duke would sweep the regular season series with the Wolfpack and improve to 25-3 overall, 12-2 in the ACC and move a half-game ahead of UNC atop the ACC standings.
State ends its home regular season record at 10-6 (3-5ACC). Duke would improve to 7-2 on the road (5-2 ACC) and win it third straight game after back-to-back losses to
FERGIE FIRES AWAY Trevor Ferguson has played sparingly this season, but lately he has been the Pack’s most consistent scorer. The redshirt sophomore has come off the bench to lead State in scoring in back-to-back games. He recorded a career high 17 points against
BEAT EM BENCH With Trevor Ferguson and Tracy Smith leading the way, the Wolfpack’s bench outscored
STOP THEM...PLEASE -- During its 6-game losing streak, State’s defense has allowed an average of 78.5 points (471) a game. Opponents are shooting .485 from the field (174-359) and .440 from the 3-point arc (37-84) during that stretch.
“70” IS THE NUMBER State is 3-1 against ACC opponents when holding them to 70 points or less, but only 1-9 when yielding 71 points or more.
CAN’T TURN IT OVER State is 3-2 in ACC games when recording as many or fewer turnovers than its opponents. The Pack is 1-8 when losing the turnover battle in conference play. In the last 4 games, opponents have outscored the Pack 79-19 in points off turnovers.
F-I-N-I-S-HState has won 3 ACC games this season after enjoying a halftime lead (
SECOND HALF ISSUESDuring its 6-game losing streak, State has allowed opponents an average of 38.5 second-half points (231) as well as .530 shooting from the field (89-168) and .489 from 3-point range (20-41) in the final 20-minutes.
SENIOR DAY Saturday’s game against Duke will mark Gavin Grant’s final regular season home appearance. There’s no doubt he would like to duplicate the performance he had against Duke earlier this season. Grant exploded for a career-high 26 points on Jan. 31 at Cameron Indoor Stadium. The senior forward is State’s top scorer in ACC games (13.8) and he has made some big shots. Three times this season, Grant’s heroics in the final seconds have won games for the Wolfpack. His steal and layup with 2.1 seconds left in overtime gave State a 79-77 victory over
CLOSE CALLS The Pack’s four ACC wins have been decided by an average of only 4.3 points.
ACC ROOKIE CANDIDATE --J.J. Hickson leads all ACC freshmen in rebounding (8.5) and double-doubles (9) while holding down No. 2 in scoring (14.7). The
ACC RECORD J.J. Hickson set an ACC single game freshman record with 23 rebounds in a loss to Clemson on Feb 16. If he continues to rebound at his current pace (8.5) he will break the NC State single season freshman record for rebounding average set by Kenny Carr in 1975 (8.2).
WANTED: REBOUNDING Despite J.J. Hickson’s rebounding numbers, the Pack has outrebounded only 4-of-14 ACC opponents. In the last 6 games, State has been outscored 83-54 on second chance points.
BOMBS AWAY State is shooting a very respectable 39 percent from 3-point range in conference games. However, during the 6-game losing streak that number has dipped to 36 percent (40-111).
DOUBLING UP Courtney Fells has scored in double-figures in 12-of-14 ACC games this season and is the team’s No.2 scorer in league games (13.4) while shooting .519 from the field and .46from the 3-point arc. His clutch 3-pointer with 18-seconds to play in overtime was huge in State’s victory over
RANKED RECORD State is 2-5 this season against foes ranked in the nation’s top-25. The Pack has faced more ranked opponents than any ACC team and is the only league team to face Duke & UNC twice.
GET FOULED...GET POINTS State is getting to the foul line an average of 20 times a game against ACC opponents and is shooting .714. The Pack has made 202 free throws in ACC games while its opponents have attempted only 253.
AT THE POINT Freshman Javier Gonzalez and sophomore transfer Marques Johnson have been getting plenty of on the job training since a season-ending knee injury to starting point guard Farnold Degand on December 23rd. The progress has been slow, but Gonzalez has earned more playing time. In his last 12 games, Gonzalez has averaged 5.2 points (62), 2.3 rebounds (28), 3.6 assist (43) and 2.3 turnovers (27). He recorded a career-high 11points and 5 rebounds against Va.Tech on Feb 5. Fifteen days later, Gonzalez dished out a career high 9 assists vs. UNC.
ELEVATOR RIDE Brandon Costner’s season has been a battle for consistency. He played 15 minutes against FSU on Wed. and tallied 3 points, 2 rebounds and 3 assists. At
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