ATLANTA - Last Sunday showed that, despite playing with three guards and two forwards instead of a center for most of the game, Duke still had life without Carlos Boozer. Friday night in the Georgia Dome, the Blue Devils proved their interior play also has life without Boozer.
Sophomore Casey Sanders received his second starting nod at center and only picked up three fouls in 20 minutes, while reserve Reggie Love saw the most minutes of his collegiate career as Duke (27-4) won easily, 76-61, over N.C. State (13-16) to advance to the semifinals of the ACC tournament. Although they contributed only six combined points, Sanders and Love gave Duke a steadiness inside that has not existed this season with Boozer out of the lineup.
Love played 13 minutes down low and collected two steals, in addition to creating a handful of other N.C. State turnovers that led to transition scoring chances during a first-half run that blew the game open. Along with the presence of Sanders, Love's play enabled Shane Battier to minimize his time at center, a position the senior unsuccessfully attempted to play in losses against both Stanford and Maryland.
"When Reggie came in, he gave us a big boost," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "His play was unbelievably instrumental in the win , and it's good to see that people are coming off the bench and doing that for us. For Reggie to give us those minutes in front of 40,000 people, that's the best experience you can have."
Matt Christensen, who only played three minutes for Duke, would have seen more
"We decided we would start our "good-hands" team, so to speak, to diminish the possibility of starting the game with a flurry of turnovers," said Sendek, who made the decision after watching how the Blue Devils used their transition defense to bury the Wolfpack early in both previous meetings.
The strategy paid dividends early on for State, which held its own and eventually took a three-point lead with 8:24 to play in the opening half off of a tip-in basket by big man Ron Kelley. But after a silent beginning to the game for Jason Williams, Duke's dominating point guard took over. In less than three minutes, Williams directed a bewildering barrage of pressure defense, transition layups and three-pointers that built Duke a lead that the Wolfpack never returned to single-digits.
Williams began the 15-0 Duke spurt with a layup, and then put the Blue Devils in front with a three-point bomb from right in front of the N.C. State bench. On Duke's next possession, he blew by the Wolfpack defense and converted an up-and-under move that gave him seven unanswered points.
"The only thing going through my mind was defense, getting stop after stop," said Williams, who punctuated Duke's run by slamming home his only steal and by dishing out one of his four assists to Shane Battier for a wide open three-pointer. "Defense is the most important thing. Scoring will take care of itself, especially with our team."
Williams finished with a game-high 16 points, and Battier turned in three steals and four blocks to lead Duke on the defensive end. Duke's captain also grabbed eight rebounds and scored 16 points, despite enduring a terrible 2-for-11 first half of shooting.
With Battier struggling on the offensive end and Mike Dunleavy missing 10-of-12 shots, Williams and Chris Duhon picked up the slack while Nate James began to break out of his recent slump. James continued to struggle from three-point range, but he hit 4-of-5 shots from inside the arc and scored in double-digits. Duke's collective effort, in which seven players received at least 13 minutes of floor time, solidified the team's claim that it can win big games without Boozer.
"It has been people outside the program that have predicted our demise," Battier said. "We have remained confident. The last two games have just reaffirmed that we have a lot of talent and great coaching."
With N.C. State out of the way, the Blue Devils will play Maryland Saturday at 4 p.m. The two teams split the season series, as both squads picked up come-from-behind victories on the road. Maryland advanced to the semifinals by blowing out sixth-seeded Wake Forest.
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