The most familiar face to Duke fans on the EA California Sports All-Stars team was a no-show. The Cameron Crazies came to the Blue Devils' first exhibition game Saturday night prepared to heckle and harass Ed Cota, the former North Carolina point guard, but alas, the ex-Tar Heel was not in the All-Stars' lineup.
Cota probably could not have done much to help the All-Stars' effort, and his absence did not dampen the spirits in Cameron where Duke won, 99-61.
With senior Shane Battier a spectator thanks to a foot sprain sustained last week in practice, the youthful Blue Devils looked poised, if not a little excited, without their leader.
"I think we rushed to begin with," Mike Krzyzewski said. "Part of it is not having Shane just as a calming influence. Once we settled down, we took good shots."
Krzyzewski credits his staff with settling his players down, reminding them to pass in the half court offense and not to hurry shots. On the court, though, it was definitely sophomore night.
The second-year trio of Mike Dunleavy, Jason Williams and Carlos Boozer-all starters Saturday night-were Duke's double-digit scorers, adding 19, 13 and 22 points, respectively. Dunleavy and Boozer grabbed 10 rebounds apiece for double-doubles, while Williams needed one additional assist for his own double-double.
Their classmates Nick Horvath and Casey Sanders contributed quality minutes off the bench. Horvath played tight defense and swatted three blocks while Sanders scored eight points, including a slam dunk in the second half.
"It was an overall good outing," Krzyzewski said. "We're a very young basketball team with Shane out. A lot of times there's four sophomores and a freshman out there. We can get better as these kids mature."
The freshman out there for most of the game Saturday night was guard Chris Duhon, who started surprisingly cold, going 0 for 5 from the field in the first half.
Duhon opened the second half, though, with four solid minutes of offensive potency and hustle. The freshman hit a three-pointer to open the second half, then followed that trey with another attempt.
Duhon missed that try but scrapped for his own rebound and passed to Nate James, who was fouled on the play. Within the next two minutes, Duhon had hit yet another three and a driving layup in which he was fouled. As the ensuing free throw fell, Duhon-whose nine points all came in this four-minute stretch-finally gained some confidence.
"I had a rough offensive night," Duhon said. "It felt good to know that I can score. This is also the first game, and I know that I was maybe a little more excited tonight."
Consequently, the All-Stars stayed with Duke-as close as 10 points-for most of the first half. The All-Stars never led the Blue Devils, but their three-point shooting ability kept it close.
"The good thing about tonight was that coming in we knew that half their shots were going to be three-pointers," Krzyzewski said. "We wanted to make three-point shooting difficult. We also wanted to rebound missed three-pointers. We thought our perimeter would get a lot of outside rebounds. I thought that's what we did best."
While it's no surprise that Boozer would pull down 10 boards, Dunleavy's matching statistic reflected a met goal for the Blue Devils as Duke outrebounded its opponent by almost 20 boards.
The Blue Devils were able to pull away late in the first half, though, when they went on a run. Led by veterans James, Boozer, Williams, and Dunleavy, in which they were able to convert both offensive and defensive rebounds for points. With an injured Battier on the sidelines, Duke suffered a scary moment in the second half when Duhon limped off the court and did not return. His injury proved only to be a bad cramp.
Tweaking his deep lineup, Krzyzewski was able to play almost everyone, subbing frequently and in bulk-often three or more players at a time-to test out on-court combinations and connections.
"Subbing can hurt your continuity a little bit, but I wanted to see what guys could do in game situations," he said. "Andre Sweet had some very good minutes. He played good defense."
Sweet, who is only a freshman, played 15 minutes.
As for Cota's mysterious absence, All-Star coach Phil Bryant also did not know where the former Carolina point guard was.
"He did not show up for our game [Friday] night," Bryant said. "He left the practice with his family and did not return. We hope everything's okay."
Duke's Williams, though, did not miss his former rival. For he and the Blue Devils, finally playing an opponent was most important.
"We did a lot better in the second half," Williams said. "In the first half, it was clear it was our first game and our first time playing together. A lot of people led in different ways tonight. Chris Duhon is very composed and hustles his butt off. Casey Sanders had a dunk over somebody, which was unexpected. I was just excited to play basketball."
Note: Although Battier did not play Saturday because of a sprained foot, but does intend to resume practicing Monday. Also, students who plan to attend the game against Army over Thanksgiving break need to go by Cameron and have their DukeCards validated starting tomorrow.
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