Although many houses were out of power in the Durham area, the powerhouse that is Duke basketball was in full form Saturday.
Through a stifling defensive effort, the Blue Devils (5-0) dominated an over-matched Michigan team (0-6) 81-59. Following the theme of the season, Duke struggled early in the game before breaking it open.
Duke's shooting was as icy as the paths on campus. Finding themselves 3-for-14 from the field with an 11-10 deficit with 12:47 to play in the first half, the Blue Devils went on an 8-0 run following a Shavlik Randolph layup, and normalcy appeared to return to Cameron. But like the X-Men character whose name Michigan shares, the Wolverines clawed back to cut Duke's lead to 20-17 with 9:14 left in the first half.
Still unable to find their shooting touch, the Blue Devils responded to Michigan's gritty style with defense. Stymied by six first-half steals from Duhon, Michigan would score only eight more points in the half.
"It was great to see our guys grow and put a lot of emphasis on the defensive end," Duhon said. "We weren't shooting the ball that well, but we were still in the game."
The last two and a half minutes of the half looked like a SportsCenter highlight reel: Duhon stole the ball to lead to an uncontested lay-up; Daniel Ewing forced a Michigan turnover which created a fastbreak that ended in an earth-shattering one-handed dunk from Dahntay Jones; and another Duhon
The score at the half was 44-25, and Michigan had 19 turnovers.
The Wolverines affirmed that they were no super heroes in the second half as the Duke dominance continued. Michigan started the half with four consecutive turnovers, and Duke continued to get easy shots. The Wolverines would commit only two more turnovers for the remainder of the game, but as Michigan head coach Tommy Amaker said, "It was only because [Duke] took off the press."
The Blue Devils did not stop making highlights, though, as producers of sports news shows had much to work with.
Ewing made a steal that led to his own dunk; Jones tomahawked the ball through the hoop again; J.J. Redick threw an alley-oop pass that ended in a Casey Sanders dunk over three defenders; Sanders dunked again after a creative pass from Duhon; and freshman Shelden Williams slammed home the ball in traffic, after which he triumphantly screamed, as if releasing the frustration that naturally occurs from being a freshman on a top-25 college basketball team.
Randolph, who was averaging 20 points per game after the the first two games of the season but only collected a combined two points in games three and four, once again showed his scoring touch, netting 11 points in 17 minutes. Randolph scored infrequently in the two previous games, not because his offense struggled, but because of defensive woes. After struggling to slow offensive players, Krzyzewski limited Randolph to 15 minutes combined time in the games against Ohio State and UCLA. Krzyzewski matched Randolph with Michigan's premier player LaVell Blanchard to challenge him.
"He did all right," Krzyzewski said. "We're trying to get ready for some games, and in that matchup against UCLA, he wasn't prepared for that. So just playing against Blanchard today would prepare him for a future guy like that."
Things could have been much worse for the Wolverines, as Duke's three-point touch, arguably its forte, struggled immensely. The Blue Devils shot 3-for-18 from behind the arc, and Redick shot only 1-for-6 from the field.
"On the offensive end we may not hit all the time, but our defense is something that can stay consistent no matter what," Duhon said.
The win was a bit bittersweet for Krzyzewski, as Amaker is a former Duke player and assistant coach.
"I'm glad that it's over," Krzyzewski said. "Once the game starts, I don't even think of anything like that, but the few days before it's not good for me just because I love Tommy--I don't like Tommy--I love Tommy. Tommy is a part of my heart and a part of my family."
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