Foul trouble has forced Duke center Shelden Williams to the sideline early in recent games. In line with this trend, tonight against the Wolfpack Williams committed his third foul with 11 minutes left in the first half. The ACC's No. 1 shot-blocker, in sticking with the so-called "block party" strategy, has more recently been hitting more skin than ball.
Because of his early absence, the ability of Duke's depth inside comes into question. In order to persevere against more threatening teams like the upcoming Wake Forest team--a team deep with go-to players on the perimeter--the Blue Devils will need to anticipate the chance of Williams' absence for a number of minutes.
The team that played tonight was ready for this, and more than made up for Williams' absence in both its alternative big men--Shavlik Randolph and Loul Deng--and its strengthening perimeter players with outstanding performances by J.J. Redick and Daniel Ewing.
"Obviously Shav has been real good throughout the season and Loui [Luol Deng], especially tonight...he played all the time as a big guy just because of the way [N.C. State] played," head coach Mike Krzyzewski commented on the team's depth. "And our perimeter played extremely well. J.J. and Daniel are working really hard coming off screens, getting off shots. They had an extremely efficient offensive game."
Does Duke have depth? They did tonight.
Deng, who is back in the starting lineup, is finding his groove primarily in the big man position which is convenient when you have Williams on the bench. Deng posted nine boards and 11 points, many from layup range, against N.C. State.
Not long after Williams was pulled out, Redick pulled his defender within three point range and made a quick pass down to Randolph at the post. Randolph made a quick turnaround hook over his defender.
"I just did what I try to do every game," Randolph said. "I didn't do anything special. I just tried to rebound, play defense, and alter shots around the basket."
The very next time down the court, Deng drove across the baseline and, with those exceptionally long arms, made a layup from behind the basket that fueled the crowd and pushed the Blue Devils past double their opponent's score (31-15).
Deng and Randolph continued to carry the big man presence on the inside in the second half. Eight minutes into the second half, Randolph pressured N.C. State's Levi Watkins into a turnover in the paint. On the other end of the court, Deng pulled down an offensive rebound from a missed three point shot from Ewing and went right back up for a layup.
The Wolfpack's Scooter Sherrill had a series of successful drives early in the second half. But in N.C. State's very next possession Sherrill was blocked by Redick who gave a lead pass to Deng at half court. With the crowd urging him along, Deng drove in an open court for a slam that put Duke over 60.
"N.C. State is not that much bigger than us," Deng said. "There are other teams out there that are bigger than us when Shelden goes out. They didn't post up that much. Their game was kind of like spreading the floor and with our quickness we took that away."
Williams continues to be a threatening big man, finishing tonight with 10 points and four rebounds. But the performance of Duke's remaining presence down low when Williams is benched showed that even if opponents can get him into foul trouble they are not creating a vulnerability for the Blue Devils' game plan.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.