INDIANAPOLIS -- Facing an early 12-2 deficit just three and a half minutes into Saturday's contest against talented UCLA, Duke came back with with a barrage of three-pointers. Freshman J.J. Redick hit four, sophomore Daniel Ewing added two more and floor leader Chris Duhon drained one of his own, propelling the Blue Devils to a 40-33 halftime lead.
As UCLA head coach Steve Lavin noticed, the outside-oriented attack was consistent with the great Duke teams of the past decade, as players like Christian Laettner, Trajan Langdon and Jay Williams were all prolific shooters from long range.
"They put five players on the perimeter that could all knock down threes, as they've so often done over the last 10-15 years," Lavin said. "That stretched our matchup zone and opened up some gaps."
The damage being done, Duke opened the second half by shifting tactics. Instead of being content to take the first open look from behind the arc, the Blue Devils pushed the ball into the paint first with the pass and then with the drive.
On Duke's opening offensive possession, Duhon found Nick Horvath down on the block for a three-point play, pushing the Blue Devil advantage to 10. For the next five minutes Duke's guards attacked the Bruins through ball-fakes and penetration moves.
"With myself, I knew at halftime that with me hitting four threes in the first half that guys would start flying at me," Redick said. "There were a couple of plays in the second half where I just used a little
Behind Duhon, the Blue Devils also pushed the tempo. Back on its heels, UCLA looked helpless to contain Duke's newfound resolve to attack the lane. The Blue Devils poured in 20 points in under six minutes of play, an offensive explosion that gave Duke to a 60-42 lead.
"Our main focus coming out of the second half was that they had a couple kids in foul trouble," Duhon said. "So, after shooting the ball extremely well from the outside, we knew that would open up the inside."
Resisting the urge to impatiently hoist up threes and continue to feed the hot shooter can be deceptively difficult. Case in point: After jumping to its early 10-point advantage UCLA, said star forward Jason Kapono, found itself too shot-happy; rather than adjust to Duke four substitutions, the Bruins fired up quick shot after quick shot.
Kapono's teammates Ray Young, Cedric Bozeman and T.J. Cummings kept trying to challenge their defenders' one-on-one, and UCLA struggled to match the three-point exploits of Redick and company. Despite its hot start, the Bruins finished the first half just 38.7 percent from the floor and lost eight turnovers.
Already frustrated at his squad's selfish play, Lavin found himself unable to prepare his players for Duke's halftime adjustments. Considering Lavin and his staff had drilled the Bruins coming into Saturday's game on the Blue Devils ability to get to the rim, their defensive letdown was particularly disheartening.
"The main point of emphasis when you play Duke, and it's similar to playing Arizona��they are the two teams that are most effective at spacing the floor and shot-faking you," Lavin said. "We talked about it during our preparation. We talked about it every timeout. In the first half we were better at our defensive stance, staying down and having defensive discipline for the entire shot clock. In the second half... they started getting into gaps, getting into seams."
Duke's aggressiveness manifested itself in a variety of ways. Senior Dahntay Jones shook off a miserable first half to finish with 13 points, 11 of which came in the second half off dribble penetration moves or fast break finishes. Duhon, who finished with 14 points and eight assists, looked especially sharp in the second half. The point guard slashed through the lane for layups and successfully pushed the ball up the court to generate quick baskets.
And then there was Redick, who followed up his first half 3-point display by demonstrating his mid-range game. An example of the team's attacking emphasis, Redick's first second-half shots both came from close range, including an impressive three-point play during Duke's decisive spurt.
"That's something I work on a lot, actually, getting into the lane," he said. "[On the three-point play] I came to a jump stop which I do so I don't pick up a charge or anything, and I just took it up strong."
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