Duke Pulls Away from the Terps 87-71

Duke, despite some cold outside shooting was able pull away from the Terps in their ACC opener. After seeing an 11 point halftime lead evaporate against the scrappy Terps, Duke and MD went toe to toe until MD ran out of gas on the offensive end. Duke managed to get some key rebounds and some key stops and on the strength of Kyle Singlers 29 points and 9 rebounds outlasted MD. Duke did this with ACC POY Nolan Smith only scoring 7 points on 2-11 shooting. Seth Curry, Mason Plumlee and Ryan Kelly picked up the slack a bit scoring 11 and 10 and 11 respectively. Late in the second half Curry would even assume point guard duties when Nolan Smith went down with a toe injury.

Duke would need every rebound against MD with Duke shooting cold as it has over the past few games.  It’s pretty apparent to me that Duke is still going to have to shoot a lot less 3s in order to get passed tougher teams in the ACC and the NCAA tourney. 3 for 15 is the perfect recipe for teams to stick with and eventually pass Duke. When MD got close Duke went right to trying to force a 3 pointer and that kept MD in the game. Duke, in my humble opinion does need those passes out to 3 point shooters, but when you have the defense running at 3 point shooters, kick it inside to Mason or Miles Plumlee who have shown some ability to finish at the rim or draw fouls. Not one starter hit a 3 in this game, that is a red flag for Duke fans, hoping that Duke utilizes its size in the next outing.

Not much to say about Kyrie Irving he came out warmed up in uniform, but was back in street clothes before the game began…my feeling is if Duke gets past the first round of the NCAA tourney he may be back.