CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- Even before the 2003-2004 season began, Luol Deng was being compared to last year's super freshman, Carmelo Anthony. And though Deng has shown several flashes of brilliance in his brief college career, he has been struggling with his consistency--run-of-the-mill freshman mistakes--a situation that has been augmented by a reputation and potential that is larger than his current game. Deng has recently found himself in a rut of sorts that head coach Mike Krzyzewski is determined he will work out on the court.
"It takes a little while to get used to conference play," Krzyzewski said. "It's just a different game. It's a higher level game and he just needs to get accustomed to that. But he got eight rebounds, double figure points. And he's playing more of a big guy for us than the perimeter."
Tonight's matchup against the Cavaliers showed Deng in the middle of this process. From both ends of the court, Deng showed his vulnerability almost as much as his versatility, and Krzyzewski kept with him for the good and the bad with the confidence that the latter would eventually show through.
In the first half, Deng committed three of Duke's six turnovers and was just 4-for-11 from the court. Virginia played a surprisingly tough game in the first half, trying Duke's intensity on offense. When the Cavaliers tied things up at 28 midway through the first half, Chris Duhon let his frustrations loose on Deng after the 6-foot-8 forward allowed a loose ball to roll out of bounds, thinking a Virginia player had touched it last. The following Cavalier inbound led to a pair of free throws by Elton Brown to put Virginia ahead 30-28.
"We can't be loose," Duhon commented later about the confrontation with his teammate. "We have to make it happen. I didn't want to get him into a relaxed mindset."
Despite his shortcomings, Krzyzewski left Deng on the court, testing to see if his offensive and defensive prowess would come alive with a different chemistry. Nick Horvath entered the game with eight minutes left and tipped in Deng's next shot attempt and put up a block that helped Duke pull away again.
From the time Duhon got in his face, Deng played with a renewed intensity. As the Blue Devils began to pull away again on offense, Deng drove from half court around a flat-footed Cavalier defense for a breakaway layup that bolstered Duke's lead to seven.
Just three minutes later, Deng ended the half with a buzzer-beating shot. After missing a three pointer with eight seconds on the clock, Deng charged the offensive boards and--in the same leap--sank a jumper from the elbow as the clock ran to zero.
Deng's improvement continued with success early in the second half. Just four minutes in, Shelden Williams put up a layup that didn't fall, but Deng slammed it in to quiet the crowd and push the point spread to 61-45.
Deng finished the game with 12 points and did not record any more turnovers after the first half. All of his second half rebounds were offensive boards, which allowed Duke to total 18 second-chance points to Virginia's 15, despite the fact that after 30 minutes of play Duke had scored only six to the Cavaliers' eight.
While his overall play may not regain him his starting position--Duke's current starting five is clearly getting the job done--he nonetheless was awarded some redemption in his own mind and the minds of his teammates and coach. Krzyzewski gave Deng 27 minutes to live up to his reputation, and at times the McDonald's All-American did just that. His challenge now is to play consistently with the dominance he had against Princeton and Davidson, scoring 18 points in both contests.
"He's a great player but he's still just a freshman," Duhon said. "He's going to go through some growing pains.... He just needs to keep asserting himself."
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