Duke used it’s size inside and stiff defense to put away Cal and former Dukie Jamal Boykin. It was nice to see Jamal doing well and starting. He was a fan favorite in Cameron. He has beefed up and acquired a jumpshot to go along with his already dive-on-the-floor, do anything for team nature. Jamal played well with 13 points and 11 rebounds in a losing effort.
Duke gave the Bears a heavy dose of man-to-man smothering defense. And a heavy dose of Nolan Smith. Smith scored 20 from everywhere on the court. Duke would need that scoring as Jon Scheyer could not find the range in this one. We would have liked to see Jon go inside out, instead Jon went 1-11 from the field. Picking up Scheyers slack, going 6-6 from the floor and 2-4 from the line. Clearly Duke is going to have to be able to get easy buckets as they move further along in the tournament and we are certain that Jon Scheyer will shoot his way out of his slump. If not Duke will need to keep getting scoring from Zoubek and the Plumlees to counteract. They Brothers P did give productive minutes in this game and that is what will carry Duke further in this tournament. Next up for Duke a gutsy Purdue team.
