Duke over Miami 81-71

Miami is one of those teams that is always primed to upset the Blue Devils, especially in Miami and in the first few minutes of this game the Hurricanes got that kind of start, quick lead, early Duke fouls…things were looking pretty good, even Dukes star guard Nolan Smith had to sit with a combination of injury and foul trouble for a number of minutes. But Duke would not that stand, Miami was going to give Dukes Ryan Kelly the mid-range jumper in the lane and hitting that shot time after time kept Duke close to Miami in the early going and eventually would keep the lead for Duke when Miami got within a possession or two. So while 9 points doesn’t exactly scream monster game, watching the game and understanding when those points materialized is important. When Duke had no options on the perimeter that was open in the miami zone. The other area Duke exploited against the lightening fast Hurricanes was the middle Mason Plumlee found himself open for easy buckets inside to the tune of 12 points, he also had 9 rebounds as wetland 3 assists. The most encouraging news is that he was 2-2 from the foul line and looked comfortable shooting it (knock on wood).

Where the Devils won this game was at the free throw line, looking at all of the other stats, you would think that they left with a loss. Miami made one more shot than Duke, even at the 3 point line. Miami outrebounded Duke by 1. The difference in the game was at the foul line Miami was 5 of6, while the Devils went 17 of 21. With Miami making one more basket than the Devils, the free throw line provided the only major difference in stats. Duke was more aggressive trying to get into the lane, which Miami did some as well, but Dukes defense proved stout and ready and well prepared.

Overall this was a well-played game by both teams, ultra competitive. Miami was one run away from closing the gap in this game but it never came to fruition. Miamis trio of guards are deadly from the outside, but ultra athletic and also a threat to drive you and while they hit some big shots, never really mounted a credible threat to the Devils in this game. Druand Scott, and Malcom Grant are always deadly coming off of screens and curls and Reggie Johnson as usual was a load on the interior but for some reason Miami did not go to him as often as one would expect, he finished with 16 points on 7-9 shooting but thats about 5 touches too few if you ask me. You got the sense that Duke just eventually wore them down. Good road win by the Devils coming off of the high of beating Carolina. More a little later…