Duke’s win over St. John’s Saturday afternoon was not a pretty one. 31 total fouls. A 43.1 percent shooting clip for the Blue Devils. Incredibly physical play that knocked Red Storm forward Justin Burrell out of the game after its first minute and that sent Jon Scheyer to the floor multiple times in the second half.
Part of the reason for the beatings that players on both teams took was ferocious defensive play. Duke’s big men especially, bumping down low with the athletic frontcourt of St. John’s, performed admirably well.
Losing your last game can provide that motivation.
“We didn’t play as good defensively [against Wisconsin] as we should have,” said Lance Thomas, who scored 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting along with eight rebounds. “We took that personally. [Today], we went out and tried to defend the complete opposite of how we defended [last game].”
Just like in wins over Connecticut and Arizona State, it was the Blue Devils’ defense that kept them in the game. Constant pressure on the ballhandler forced 13 Red Storm turnovers, and head coach Mike Krzyzewski’s willingness to constantly switch from man-to-man to zone kept the opposition confused.
According to Nolan Smith, the defense was even responsible for the 17-point run that Duke went on early in the first half. The Blue Devils found themselves down by one after seven minutes of play. They turned on the full-court press, though, forcing turnovers that led to easy baskets on the other end. Duke pulled ahead, and St. John’s never regained the lead.
“That long stretch started with our D,” Smith said. “We were able to get some easy shots and that helped a lot. They’re a very tough team to beat.”
Kyle Singler led all players with four steals in the contest. He also played superb defense on Red Storm leading scorer D.J. Kennedy. Matched up with him for much of the game, Singler—who didn’t slack off offensively either, finishing with 17 points—completely shut down the gifted scorer. Kennedy came into the game averaging 17.7 points per game, but didn’t score once in the first half before finally finding his rhythm in the second and finishing with 18 points.
“St. John’s has eight guys who can put it on the floor,” Krzyzewski said. “As a result, they test your defense. Kennedy’s one of the better players that we’ll play against all year. He’s capable of 20, 25 points in any ball game.”
Kennedy’s absence from the stat sheet during the first half allowed Duke to build a lead that it would never relinquish. Kennedy, who bragged to a group of fans before that game that he would drop 20, almost got there in the end, but by then the Blue Devils defense had made the figure meaningless.
In what has become a familiar story, Duke had trouble scoring. The 3-point shot, always one of the cornerstones of any Blue Devil team, hasn’t been falling for the perimeter players, as Smith and Scheyer are shooting a combined 36.6 percent from beyond the arc. Duke has had to rely on other factors, like offensive rebounding and, of course, its defense, to win games. Saturday was no different.
“I think our offense hasn’t really been clicking since the beginning of the year when we were scoring 90,” said Smith, who had 16 points and three assists. “When our offense starts clicking, our defense is still going to be there.”
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.