The men's basketball team came into Thursday's game against N.C. State ranked No. 1 in the country mostly because of its remarkable perimeter play.
But against the Wolfpack, it was the interior game that led to Duke's 108-71 romp, as the Blue Devils scored 62 points in the paint.
Carlos Boozer and Dahntay Jones, who shot 13-for-14 and 7-for-8 from the field, respectively, on mostly dunks and layups, led the inside success. The players attributed their easy shots to great passing by the guards.
"I think we have the best perimeter players in the country right now," Boozer said. "They did a great job passing, and I tried to finish for them."
Before it could worry about scoring its own inside points, Duke had to stop State's. The Wolfpack led the game 13-6 with 15 minutes remaining in the first half, having scored most of its points off easy back-door layups, which Duke allowed by gambling on too many passes.
"I think we came out initially with so much energy... that when they'd cut up, we'd want to go pick off the pass, and then they'd go back-door," Mike Dunleavy said.
Needing to change its on-court demeanor, Duke looked to the bench.
Enter freshman Daniel Ewing.
Ewing connected on a three-pointer on his first possession
"I think what Coach looks for me to do when I come off the bench is come in, get in the passing lanes, and try to get some defensive stops," Ewing said.
The team settled down, and when Carlos Boozer corrected a Jason Williams' miss just before the first half buzzer, Duke walked into the locker room with a 10-point lead.
Returning to the court hungry, Duke began to look like the No. 1 team in the second half, scoring 59 points on 68.8 percent shooting. Coach Mike Krzyzewski attributed his team's phenomenal play to its intense defense.
"We played with a lot of energy tonight," he said. "In the second half, just the combination on how we were swarming on defense--it was just beautiful to watch. And we turned it into some spectacular fast breaks."
Play after play in the second half featured Duke converting an N.C. State mistake into an easy hoop in the paint.
The passing of Jason Williams, Chris Duhon and Daniel Ewing proved to be too much for the Wolfpack to handle, as each player had five assists.
"Our guards made so many beautiful passes," said Krzyzewski. "It's all them. It's not like we draw those things up."
With the passing game so finely tuned, Duke thrived on penetration, rather than settling for jumpshots.
Duke averages nearly nine three-pointers per game, but Thursday the team only connected on five, including shooting 2-for-10 from behind the arc in the first half. Missing all five of his three-point attempts, Dunleavy suffered the worst from the team's cold outside shooting.
"They don't give you many perimeter shots," Krzyzewski said. "They're right up on you. That's why we drove the ball more."
Despite the long-range woes, Duke's guards discovered other ways to achieve success.
"When I was driving, every big guy was coming to me," Williams said. "And by them doing that, it left Carlos open. When you have a guy 6-foot-9, 260, you really can't miss him. We hit him a lot, and he did a great job finishing."
All season, Duke has been badgered for putting too much emphasis on its guard play and its starters. Thursday's game proved that the Blue Devils possess more depth than given credit for, as Carlos Boozer dominated the interior en route to a career-high 32 points, and reserves Daniel Ewing and Nick Horvath played perhaps their best games of the season.
"Hopefully you have more than one weapon," Krzyzewski said. "I think our team has that."
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