Once again Mason Plumlee is a big reason why the Blue Devils were able to hang on to beat a staunch and upset-minded VCU squad. Plumlees 10 rebounds and 17 points were key ingredients for the Duke win, and his 7-8 from the free throw line were impressive as well. It was also important for Plumlee to stay out of foul trouble and he did that, only committing 3.
Also important for Duke was handling the pressure that VCU puts on via its press. Quinn Cook was great with the ball going for 9 assists and only turning the ball over 3 times. Duke utilized it’s Bigs to help break the press of VCU which worked well and relieved the pressure and allowed Duke to play at the pace it wanted.
Seth Curry once again had a good game for Duke and even though he miss all four of his 3 point attempts he went 9 for 10 on free throws and scored 15 points overall, Curry was integral along with Cook and Plumlee to breaking the VCU press. Ryan Kelly was his steady self giving Duke an extra ball-handler and also 11 points and 5 blocked shots.
VCU is definitely a team that will be there in the end and this was a great test, probably the toughest so far for Duke who did not fold under game pressure. This is definitely a game that Duke can build off of and use going forward. There were a lot of things Duke did well, and plenty that Duke did not well. Duke gave up way to many offensive rebounds to the smaller Rams and shot the 3 horribly, coming off of a 80% showing against Minnesota Duke shot under 20% against the Rams.
Next up for the Devils is the finals against either Louisville or Missouri.
Official Basketball Box Score
Duke vs VCU
11/23/12 7:00 p.m. at Atlantis, Paradise Island, Bahamas
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VISITORS: Duke 5-0
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
05 Mason Plumlee....... f 5-9 0-0 7-8 0 10 10 3 17 1 2 1 0 36
34 Ryan Kelly.......... f 4-9 0-3 3-3 1 3 4 3 11 2 0 5 0 38
02 Quinn Cook.......... g 3-7 0-2 3-4 0 3 3 2 9 9 3 0 0 39
14 Rasheed Sulaimon.... g 4-12 2-5 2-2 2 5 7 1 12 0 0 0 1 34
30 Seth Curry.......... g 3-9 0-3 9-10 1 5 6 3 15 0 2 1 1 31
03 Tyler Thornton...... 1-2 1-2 0-0 0 0 0 4 3 1 1 0 2 14
15 Josh Hairston....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 2 0 1 0 1 0 6
21 Amile Jefferson..... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
TEAM................ 3 3
Totals.............. 20-48 3-15 24-27 4 30 34 18 67 14 8 8 4 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 11-28 39.3% 2nd Half: 9-20 45.0% Game: 41.7% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-9 22.2% 2nd Half: 1-6 16.7% Game: 20.0% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 5-6 83.3% 2nd Half: 19-21 90.5% Game: 88.9% 3
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HOME TEAM: VCU 3-2
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
15 Reddic, Juvonte..... f 8-15 0-0 0-3 5 8 13 1 16 0 1 1 1 36
33 Haley, D.J.......... c 1-1 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 3 2 0 1 0 0 5
10 Theus, Darius....... g 3-13 1-4 0-2 0 0 0 4 7 2 2 0 1 34
21 Graham, Treveon..... g 5-12 1-2 5-6 5 3 8 1 16 0 1 0 0 33
30 Daniels, Troy....... g 2-7 2-6 2-3 1 5 6 3 8 0 2 0 0 27
02 Weber, Briante...... 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 2 2 4 0 1 0 0 3 17
05 Okereafor, Teddy.... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5
11 Brandenberg, Rob.... 2-9 0-5 5-5 2 3 5 1 9 1 2 0 0 26
23 Guest, Jarred....... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 5
31 Tuoyo, Justin....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0+
32 Johnson, Melvin..... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 9
34 Hinton, David....... 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 1 0 0 1 0 0 3
TEAM................ 2 2 4
Totals.............. 21-63 4-18 12-19 17 24 41 21 58 4 10 1 5 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-31 32.3% 2nd Half: 11-32 34.4% Game: 33.3% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 4-11 36.4% 2nd Half: 0-7 0.0% Game: 22.2% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 4-4 100 % 2nd Half: 8-15 53.3% Game: 63.2% 2
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