The big question facing Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski this season was how he was going to spread playing time to all of his players. Krzyzewski gave his skeptics the answer in last night's home-opening 100-65 victory over Davidson.
Duke (2-0) used 13 players in its victory over the Wildcats (0-1), with nine of those players reaching double figures in minutes. Following a Duke timeout with 13:11 remaining in the second half and the Blue Devils maintaining a narrow 57-49 margin, Duke broke the game open with a 37-7 run to which Davidson could not respond.
"We used everybody tonight, Krzyzewski said. "Everyone's saying how we're going to use them and that's how.
Keying the second half-run was Duke's tenacious defense, which forced 22 steals, 32 turnovers and blocked eight shots during the game. The Blue Devils were able to force turnovers and make the quick outlet passes to start fast breaks that ended up wearing the Wildcats down.
"I think we got good drives and we were able to push it up and get some easy buckets so I think our defense keyed our offense," senior Steve Wojciechowski said. "When we were real aggressive defensively we ended up getting good aggressive baskets on the offensive end. "
One sequence typical of Duke's defensive play occurred at the 7:34 mark in the second half, when freshman forward Shane Battier blocked a shot at the defensive end, stole the ball to begin a Duke fast break, rebounded the missed Blue Devil shot and passed the ball out to the perimeter to a wide-open Will Avery, who nailed the open three-point shot.
Battier was one of many players who stood out in Duke's defensive effort.
"He must have had about 30 steals tonight," senior forward Roshown McLeod said. "[Battier]'s a hustler, he does everything. That's a big plus for our team. As long as he continues to do that, he'll be successful."
McLeod, who finished the game with 13 points in 16 minutes, also keyed Duke's second-half surge, hitting a key three-pointer and delivering a baseline dunk over a Davidson player that fired up the Cameron Crazies. McLeod was one of six Blue Devils who scored in double figures, a group that included Chris Carrawell, Elton Brand, Trajan Langdon, Avery and Wojciechowski.
Although Duke defeated Davidson by a 35 point margin, the Blue Devils were forced to overcome a sluggish first half in which a tenacious Wildcat team took advantage of the Blue Devil's slow transition defense. Duke held a narrow 45-34 margin after a tightly played first half.
"You don't know until you get into games just where you're at defensively," Krzyzewski said. "As far as us trying to press, they can just do their thing quicker than we can do ours. That's their system and we're learning a system. They were like a foreign team coming down the court."
Fortunately for the Blue Devils, their depth simply wore the opposition down as Davidson could not run with Duke all game. In the second half Duke got back more quickly on defense and took advantage of its size to shut down the Wildcats in their half court set and used its depth to run away with the game.
"I thought our guys played hard," Davidson coach Bob McKillop said. "Unfortunately 40 minutes of basketball against Duke is 40 minutes of basketball against 10 players who play at an intensity level that is impossible to duplicate in practice and rarely can you find as a college coach."
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