Monday, January 10, 2011

Duke vs. Maryland: 71-64

Duke won a game where it constantly looked like Duke might put Maryland away for good, but Maryland kept it close throughout.

Some thoughts:

In the first half, Ryan Kelly took on four Maryland players, got the rebound and made the shot. On the other hand, he was tossing up blanks on threes. Of course, during the first half, Maryland was playing the guards tight so it wasn't like anyone else was open to make a shot.

Duke came out flat footed in 2nd half and Coach K had to call a time out almost immediately.

An amusing scene in the 2nd half. Nolan Smith does a blow by. Misses. Thinks the ball is going the other way. Figures out ball is behind him. Gets the ball. Makes the basket plus one.

With 6 minutes left, Kyle Singler hit a longer three.

Tyler Thornton got some solid playing time. Good defense. It looks like he might be the equivalent of Lance Thomas, a lock down defender? The guard version, of course.

Andre Dawkins looked like he was in outer space during the early part of the second half, but got it back towards the end.

Duke's interior defense was top notch. Maybe it was my imagination, but I swear it looked like Maryland was just unwilling to challenge them inside and would often pull up. I'm not saying there weren't any defensive breakdowns -- if can remember a couple of them where a Duke player left his man and the guy got a dunk -- but over-all it looked solid.

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