In Mike Dunleavy's first two years as a Blue Devil, fans would be hard-pressed to describe him as anything more than slender. Yet at 220 lbs., with a career-high 27 points, Dunleavy looked anything but diminutive Sunday night.
In fact, when the Lake Oswego, Ore., native stepped up to the charity stripe with 16:31 left in the half, he didn't bat an eye as the Wolfpack chanted their nickname for the junior: "Anorexic."
Amidst the roar, Dunleavy sank both free throws and then fed Chris Duhon on the Blue Devils' next trip down the floor to put Duke up by three.
The next five minutes, Duke's lead rose as high as six and dwindled to as little as one, with N.C. State's defense playing the No. 2 team in the nation almost even.
That is, until the "anorexic" junior from Oregon went on a feeding frenzy and made a case for his own personal copyright on what has been touted as the "patented Duke run."
For the previous six minutes, the Blue Devils as a team had outscored the Wolfpack, 8-0, largely due to the scoring efforts of Duhon, Jason Williams and Dahntay Jones. Then Dunleavy took over. With just over four minutes left in the half, Dunleavy found the shooting touch that had eluded him in earlier games and lit up the Wolfpack defense for 15 straight points.
"For the 22 years I've been at Duke, [Dunleavy's] performance is as good as I've seen," coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "He got his 22 first-half points against a top defensive team. It's not like he was doing it against a zone."
In those waning minutes, Dunleavy drained three jumpshots and three treys to confuse the Wolfpack, who, up to that point, thought all they had to survive was a Duke team effort, not a player who himself outscored their entire team, 22-21.
"[Dunleavy] really separated the two teams in the first half with his outside shooting," N.C. State coach Herb Sendek said. "He was sensational."
It was not like Dunleavy had not done this before. His second-half heroics in the national championship game against Arizona last season proved that this slender forward brought more than just intense defense and court sense to the table. The junior scored three straight treys for the difference against the Wlidcats.
Anorexic indeed.
"Mike's capable of going on those type of scoring streaks," Duhon said. "We have all the confidence in the world in him."
This season, Dunleavy has been a quiet presence, often lost in the shuffle amidst flashier players like Williams and Jones. Dunleavy's silence should not be taken as lack of impact, as the small forward ranks third on the team in scoring with 16.9 points per game and second in rebounding, three-pointers and blocked shots.
It is Dunleavy's well-roundedness that makes Sunday night's performance so noteworthy. While the junior was scoring a game-high 27 points, he also maintained his team position with eight rebounds, five assists and three steals. His sole turnover in the game came in the second half when he turned over the scoring reins to Carlos Boozer.
"You want the ball and you want to be invisible out there," Dunleavy said of his run. "You don't want anybody on the defense to see you--you want to hide. You get that feeling, you just want it."
Anorexic indeed.
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