Though Duke played the EA Sports All-Stars Wednesday night, the men's basketball team took its time "getting into the game."
After a slow start, the Blue Devils eventually ran away from EA Sports for a 105-74 victory, led by junior Daniel Ewing's 23 points and four three-pointers. Five other Duke players scored in double figures, and Chris Duhon added 10 assists. Mark Jones and Johnny Parker led the pesky EA team with 20 and 18 points, respectively.
Six minutes into the game with the score tied at nine,Duke had already accumulated seven turnovers. But the jittery Blue Devils quickly settled down, and found themselves with a comfortable 25-15 lead with 9:10 remaining in the first half after J.J. Redick hit his second of four three-pointers.
After a short abatement, Duke generated another run, this time outscoring EA Sports 13-3 over a three-minute period to increase the Blue Devil lead to 17 with two minutes remaining in the first half. The unwavering All-Stars were not deterred, however, and ended the first half on an 8-0 run, crunching Duke's lead to nine at halftime.
The Blue Devils blasted out of the gates in the second half, beginning the interval on a 12-4 run and pushing their lead to 60-43 with 17:15 remaining in the game. Duke continued to build on this momentum, and found itself with a 30-point lead with 11:17 left in the half. Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski felt Duhon was greatly responsible for the improved play in the second half.
"At halftime he took responsibility for [the first half] and he said, 'let's go,'" Krzyzewski said about the 6-foot-1 guard. "He led us in that second half."
Duhon scored 11 points and had zero turnovers in the second half after netting zero points and accumulating five giveaways in the first 20 minutes of the game.
"Last year I probably would have come out [after my poor first half], probably would have gotten seven more turnovers and [Krzyzewski] would probably have to sit me down for the rest of the 12 minutes," Duhon said. "But in the locker room [at halftime] I was very positive, knowing that [we] had 20 minutes left. [The first half] was just water underneath the bridge and I just concentrated on the second half. That's what it takes for us to be successful."
Despite the lopsided score, Krzyzewski was not satisfied in his team's performance.
"I'm not real pleased with how we played," he said. "We were too loose with the ball. We had 24 turnovers. Effort wise we played hard, there's no question about it. And when we were on a break, especially in the second half, we did some really good things. We need to communicate better as a team out on the court."
Krzyzewski also expected more from his big men in the exhibition game. Last season the guards carried the team for much of the year; Krzyzewski anticipated the guards to be the strength again this season, but felt the team would be more balanced in 2003-04.
"I expected more than that tonight," Krzyzewski said. "I expected to have more of an inside presence than we had tonight. "[The inside game is] something we have to keep working on because we have the talent to do it. These kids want to do it."
The EA Sports exhibition game also saw the debut of highly touted freshman Luol Deng. Unlike the rest of the Blue Devils, Deng had a strong start, scoring eight of the team's first 15 points. But the 6-foot-8 phenom shot only 2-for-5 in the second half and committed a total of five turnovers.
"I thought [my first performance] was decent," Deng said. "There's a lot of other stuff I need to work on. I had a lot of turnovers. That comes also with communication. That would be the number one thing--communicating. It was just exciting to get out there with the guys and play someone other than us."
J.J. Redick was second on the Blue Devils in scoring with 16, and the inside triumvirate of Shelden Williams, Shavlik Randolph and Luol Deng each added 12 points. Sean Dockery came off the bench to compile five steals, many of which led to the Duke transition points that created several of the Blue Devils' runs.
"In a fast break opportunity where it's instinctive, where you just go, there are some really great plays," Krzyzewski said. "We have to learn how to do that in half court."
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