On the surface, this looks frighteningly familiar: The men's basketball team heading to College Park to take on fierce rival Maryland, with Duke ranked No. 1 and rolling. The Blue Devils have lost the top spot in the polls two years running--at Cole Field House during the 2002 National Championship run and last January at the cacophonous Comcast Center.
But the Terrapins (10-4, 1-2 in the ACC) have been too inconsistent for their own good this season, and this year it will be Duke (14-1, 4-0) with the veteran cast defending the top seed when coaches Mike Krzyzewski and Gary Williams go tête-à-tête for the 35th time. And no matter how many tables have turned, make no mistake about it: Showdown. Tonight. 9 p.m.
"They kind of gave it to us up there at Maryland," Blue Devil shooting guard Daniel Ewing said Monday. "We weren't at our best. We didn't play well. We didn't play like a Duke team up there. They played really well, and they were the older team back then. They had a couple of seniors who had been to Final Fours. They are a pretty different team now, but they are still going to come after us real hard."
Indeed, it was the senior combination of Drew Nicholas and Ryan Randle that combined for 39 points and handed the Blue Devils their first loss of last season, 87-72, sending Duke into a downward spiral that saw the team lose three out of four conference games. Dahntay Jones was the only solid force for Duke last time around, as nearly every other player struggled from the field and failed at getting to the free throw line.
And the tale of two seasons continues here, as the Terps are heading in the wrong direction of late. A statement win over North Carolina a week ago seemed to return Williams' squad into the national spotlight, but a ten-point loss Saturday night to Georgia Tech set them back.
John Gilchrist, Maryland's sophomore point guard, has been tearing up ACC competition and combined for 47 points against the Tar Hells and Yellow Jackets. He leads a youth movement for a team that carries lone senior Jamar Smith, but it was the older Terrapins who delivered the killer blow to the Blue Devils with a 10-0 run in the second half that saw Duke go 5:55 without a field goal.
"I think experience certainly has something to do with it," said J.J. Redick, who scored 13 points in last year's game in College Park but received co-ACC Player of the week honors Monday after 20-point performances in wins over N.C. State and then-No. 3 Wake Forest. "It seems like the games we won on the road last year were games where we got off to a really good start, and the games that we lost were games where we had some adversity and we were just too immature to overcome that adversity and get a win."
This is the first legit road game for Duke since a blowout win over Michigan State Dec. 3, and tonight begins a stretch of four road games in two weeks against Maryland, Georgetown, Georgia Tech and UNC. The Comcast Center's 4,000-seat student section, however, is quickly becoming a rival in its own right to that of Cameron Indoor Stadium, with 10 rows of Turtle Heads on each side of the court and an angled wall of even louder fans.
With rivals going at each other in this atmosphere, turnovers are bound to make a difference in a gmae that could begin and end with defense. Duke's Shelden Williams had eight blocks in the Blue Devils' win Saturday over the Yellow Jackets that allowed them to jump to No. 1 in the country. But while Duke ranks second in the ACC in blocks, it is Maryland that rests in first place--just another close call between these two evenly matched teams who spread out the scoring.
"A balanced team is usually the most difficult to defend because you end up not being able to defend off of somebody who doesn't shoot as much," Krzyzewski said. "Each game has it's own little game plan without going against your basic principles of how you play defense against everybody."
The two top enemies match up well in the starting five, and both teams go two deep on the bench. But the showdown of the evening might be between Maryland's versatile sophomore Nik Caner-Medley and Duke super frosh Luol Deng, who Krzyzewski praised this week more than he has all season.
"To be honest, I am looking forward to it," Deng, the ACC Rookie of the Week, said of tonight's contest. "I am starting to come along the last two games, so I am really looking forward to it. I know it is going to be tough with the crowd and everything. I am really excited, and I just can't wait to play down there."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.