Classes resume with ACC tests

After a winter break where No. 7 Duke turned in a series of strong performances, an unexpected January slipup in Atlanta was a rude awakening to the Blue Devils that their vacation is over as ACC play gears up this month.

By and large, Duke’s peformance in its seven games over winter break indicated that they are among the top handful of teams in the nation. Outscoring their opponents by over 28 points per game en route to a 6-1 record over break, the Blue Devils showed that they could win in a variety of ways, producing victories out of both offensive onslaughts—like they one they applied to a hapless Penn squad in a 59-point victory on New Year’s Eve—and airtight defensive efforts.

With guards Nolan Smith and Jon Scheyer leading the way, Duke (13-2, 1-1 in the ACC) has surged to a lofty position in a wide variety of scoring rankings. The Blue Devils are currently ranked eighth nationally in points per game, and Scheyer’s individual play of late has drawn some analysts to advocate the 6-foot-5 point guard as a candidate for ACC and National Player of the Year honors. Scheyer started off the winter break slate of games Dec. 15 with a career-best 36 points against Gardner-Webb and turned in another 30-plus point performance in a Chicago homecoming game against Iowa State Jan. 6. Heading into the Gardner-Webb game, Scheyer averaged 15.3 points per game, but over the seven winter break games the senior guard has posted a stout 25-point average. Scheyer’s scoring emergence has buoyed a squad that entered the season with a thin guard unit, and how he fares against tougher ACC defenses will significantly impact his team’s performance heading into March.

Defense has also has been a key attribute to Duke’s success over the past month. The team has been able to both neutralize top opposing scorers like Iowa State’s Craig Brackins (12 points) and Gonzaga’s floppy-haired sharpshooter Matt Bouldin (4 points), and also play effective team defense. Gonzaga was held to 1-of-10 shooting from three-point range and a woeful 28.7 percent field goal percentage in Duke’s 76-41 rout of the then-No. 15 Bulldogs Dec. 19 But an even more impressive feat was Duke’s early defensive effort against No. 21 Clemson Jan. 3 in the teams’ ACC opener at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Due to a double-overtime game between Wake Forest and Xavier, the FSN broadcast of the game was preempted for nearly the entire first half, depriving a national audience of one of the sharpest defensive halves played all year in college basketball. The visiting Tigers were held to a measly 12 first-half points on 5-of-30 shooting and turned the ball over nine times, providing Duke with a comfortable 30-12 halftime lead that it mainained en route to a 74-53 win. Duke isn’t the first team this season to hold an opponent to 12 points or less—Florida State, Pitt, Texas A&M and Kansas are just a few of the teams this year to replicate or best that defensive feat—but none of those efforts came against ranked opponents or in a conference game.

But the defensive blueprint that fueled those two wins didn’t translate to the Blue Devils’ first foray on the road in conference, as Georgia Tech outworked Duke in the second half and sealed a stunning 71-67 upset in Atlanta Saturday. It didn’t help that Duke’s red-hot scoring trio of Smith, Scheyer and Kyle Singler turned colder than the ice that blanketed Atlanta’s streets last weekend, but nonetheless the game remained within reach for Duke throughout all 40 minutes. The crucial failing for the Blue Devils was their inability to contain Georgia Tech’s Gani Lawal, who along with his teammates dominated the glass and the paint in the second half. The Yellow Jackets effectively willed their way to a win over a Duke team that looked fatigued and played accordingly.

The challenge of shutting down skilled big men won’t let up this week, as Duke hosts  Boston College’s Joe Trapani tonight and four days later Wake Forest’s Al-Farouq Aminu. The Blue Devils may have failed their first test of the spring semester Saturday, but they’ll have a pair of retakes this week.