RALEIGH - College basketball is an unbalanced game. It is a game of runs, where often times the team with the last big run wins the game. It's a game where one player can carry a team on his shoulders and lead it to a victory over a potentially superior opponent.
The Blue Devils, on Saturday, showed why they are considered one of the favorites to win the NCAA Tournament come March. They have balance.
Duke had six players score in double figures against N.C. State, but none had over 15 points. Every time the Wolfpack threatened to get back into the game, Duke responded with calm, efficient offensive sets that quieted what was a very loud and raucous Reynolds Coliseum crowd. Six players collected at least one steal, which led to 25 Duke points off N.C. State turnovers.
Put simply, the Blue Devils couldn't ask for more balance.
"It's a team game," Will Avery said. "We're going to need everybody.... One or two or three men just can't carry the load."
Avery, however, was the one man who threw the knockout punch in the second half, scoring six straight points which quickly turned a six-point lead into a 12-point lead. Avery's run quieted what had become a deafening crowd and fueled one of only two major spurts for either team-a 19-6 Blue Devil run that put the game away.
During the first half when Duke was trying to maintain its healthy lead, Avery ironically was virtually silent. Other players like Shane Battier and Chris Carrawell had to step up, especially with Trajan Langdon suffering through an off night, shooting just 2-of-8 from the field.
Despite Langdon's struggles, it seemed that no matter how close the Wolfpack got, control of the game never slipped away from the Blue Devils.
Battier finished with an impressive offensive and defensive stat line (13 points, nine rebounds, four blocks and two steals), but he was not ready to give himself too much praise.
"I'd have to say [I'd give myself] a B," said Battier, a notoriously tough grader. "Kenny Inge played me pretty tough, and I thought I let him have too many looks on offense."
Inge, who was the game's leading scorer and the lone Wolfpack player in double digits, provides proof that N.C. State was the exact opposite of Duke's balanced attack. No one else scored more than seven points, and the team totaled only seven assists while recording 14 turnovers, a sign that Inge and his teammates were not distributing the ball as well as they would need to knock off a highly ranked team like Duke.
Each time the Wolfpack tried to battle back into the game, it seemed like a different player kept Duke in control; a Battier putback, a Nate James three, a Carrawell drive or a Brand three-point play. Even the cold-shooting Langdon got into the act, hitting a very long three near the end of the first half to push Duke's lead up to four. Someone different every time.
Perhaps the equilibrium in the Blue Devils' offense could at least partially be explained by Duke's conditioning. The Blue Devils looked considerably less exhausted during and after the game on Saturday then they had in their three previous matchups.
"I think every team goes through the doldrums halfway through the season where you have a lot of games and not a whole lot of rest," Battier said. "If we can get through this stretch with fresh legs, we're going to be in great shape."
The stretch ends on Wednesday night with a home game against No. 4 Maryland, a team that can tire an opponent very easily. The Blue Devils feel, however, that they are more fresh and in better shape now then they were coming off the North Carolina game last Wednesday.
"We had a day off Thursday and Friday was a really fun practice," Carrawell said. "The attitude was, hey, have fun out there.... Even though it's been mentally draining these last three games, we came out and had fun tonight. It helped us."
The Blue Devils had fresh legs Saturday afternoon. No one was huffing and puffing down the court. No one was grabbing his knees. It didn't even seem as if they were sweating profusely. And now they had another day off yesterday before they start preparations for Maryland, which lost to Wake Forest yesterday.
If the extra rest leads to more energized play and the same brand of balanced basketball that Duke fans saw on Saturday, perhaps the Blue Devils will be able to handle the pressure that they will get from Maryland with the same ease that they handled the feisty Wolfpack. If that's the case, the Crazies will be in for another treat.
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