Duke Smears the Turtle

A big win at MD was just the medicine the Blue Devils needed after an embarrassing lost at St. Johns. How the Devils played against MD would show whether that performance in New York was an aberration or if the Devils were more pretender than contender. Suffice to say Duke had something to prove in this game, and they answered the bell and then some. Duke has had some of it’s toughest games against MD, and specifically at the Comcast Center. MD was coming off of 3 wins and looking to build off of the fight they gave the Devils in Cameron. The stars seemed to be aligned and MD seemed primed for an upset win. Duke would have none of that and pulled it together to give one of their best performances of the year, and to do it away from home in a touch environment was the perfect scenario for a team that has not played well on the road.

This could have very easily been the Jordan Williams show, and for MD he was the only real spark offensively. Scoring 20 points and pulling down 10 rebounds, but for MD to be competitive and really threaten Duke on this game it would need a secondary scorer and they really didn’t get that. Adrian Bowie scored 11 but to counter Dukes Singler and Smith, who scored 22 and 21 respectively, they would need someone else to step up. Duke on the other hand was aggressive on both ends of the floor. Offensively in addition to Smith and Singler, Duke got 12 from Mason Plumlee who’s offense had been pretty anemic of late and 11 from Andre Dawkins who went 3-5 from three, numbers that are refreshing considering his scoring output of late. Duke got 22 from its bench which allowed Nolan Smith and Kyle Singler to get much needed rest in this game, although some of that was due to foul trouble which nearly allowed MD to get back into this game. Md is as scrappy a team as there is in the league and beating them at home is no small task, this definitely affords some positives to build on in the run toward the acc tournament. It was also good to see Tyler Thornton get his first start at Duke, he had four turnovers but the experience playing in an environment like this will pay important dividends going forward in the tournaments to come.

The next stretch of games will not be an easy road for the Devils. NC State and UNC come to Cameron, both tough teams that are capable of going toe to toe with Duke. Then at Miami ad UVA, both could be trap games for Duke both played Duke tough for stretches.