Even when Duke was leading by only four points following a 10-0 Wake Forest spurt at the beginning of the second half, it didn't seem like the Blue Devils would lose. Why? This Duke team has a diversity of offensive weapons, many of which were in high gear.
A Duke team that can attack with four starters scoring 15 or more points is very difficult to defend--a force the Demon Deacons team was up against today.
Establishing an inside presence early catalyzed Duke on its way to a 84-72 victory over Wake Forest Saturday afternoon in Cameron Indoor Stadium. Shelden Williams and Luol Deng controlled the inside early in the first half. Both big men scored and crashed the offensive boards, commanding defenders' attention and opening up driving lanes for Chris Duhon and other Blue Devil penetrators.
"We can score from every position," head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "Having Shelden in there more minutes helps for keeping balance. He is really good and he is ready to give us that inside scoring."
Even more significantly, Williams and Deng's hot starts offensively forced the defense to converge on the paint area. The result: Wake was forced to pull its attention away from Duke sharpshooters J.J. Redick and Daniel Ewing. The pair made some shots in the first half but did not heat up until Wake Forest cut the Duke lead to four points at the start of the second period.
Redick finished the game with a team-high 23 points, including a four-of-eight performance from behind the arch. Ewing added 20, also nailing four three-point attempts.
"It's helping me and Daniel out because teams can't overplay us," Redick said. "When we're coming off screens the big guys can't give as much help because Shelden is going to finish down there. It just gives us another dimension."
Although Williams and Deng were the propellant for the Duke offense against Wake Forest, the inside-outside equality is not the only balance that makes this Duke offense potent. Compounding the defensive headaches for opposing coaches is the difficulty teams have guarding the Blue Devils' pair of perimeter shooters.
Some teams may have a player capable of staying with Redick or Ewing and getting a hand in one of their faces when they attempt to hoist up a shot, but rarely does a team have two--Prosser certainly didn't today.
"Other teams can't just focus on one player like me and J.J. out on the floor together," Ewing said. "They can't just focus on him and leave me wide open. Sometimes it happens like that when they focus on J.J.'s shooting and I'm able to get some open shots."
In fact, Ewing hit two of the biggest shots of the game for the Blue Devils to put an end to Demon Deacon runs. Ewing said that he was not the number one option on one of those three pointers. In these instances--as was the case throughout the game--it was impossible for Wake Forest's defense to focus on all of Duke's threats and Ewing found holes and made his shots.
Further evidence of Wake Forest's inability to find an answer from the Blue Devil offense was the ease with which Duke was able to find open shot opportunities. Krzyzewski's team was only forced to take difficult shots on several occasions because the Demon Deacons had no answer for the Blue Devils' balance.
Generating an even attack is something that Krzyzewski is conscious of throughout the contest.
"We'll go to different guys throughout the game to make sure they stay in the game," he said. "That has kind of worked well. We have been a pretty efficient offensive basketball team."
Throughout the Blue Devil's 11-game winning streak, Duke has attacked its opponent from all over the floor. Whether it be Duhon's slashing, Williams' post play, Redick and Ewing's shooting, or Deng's versatility, the offensive diversity has been one of the keys to Duke success.
"You have to respect all guys on our team and that will get the kind of matchups that we want," Ewing said.
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