Duke-Georgia Tech: Slideshow by Anthony Cross
As the first half came to a close Saturday afternoon in the semifinals of the ACC Tournament, it appeared Georgia Tech would once again be able to outmuscle and outmaneuver Duke, as the Yellow Jackets went into the locker room with a 36-34 advantage. The Blue Devils, meanwhile, were strapped with foul trouble for the second straight game, as J.J. Redick, Shavlik Randolph and Chris Duhon each had two fouls, and Daniel Ewing had recorded three.
Duke managed to keep pace with Georgia Tech at the onset of the second half, however, mostly due to fewer mistakes—after committing six first-half gaffes, the Blue Devils had zero turnovers in the final 20 minutes.
But with the game tied 48-48 around the 13-minute mark, Duke seized the momentum and its seventh consecutive ticket to the ACC Tournament title game with a 17-4 run and a lead head coach Mike Krzyzewski’s squad refused to relinquish.
“In the second half our offensive efficiency was great,” said Krzyzewski, whose teams have now won a record 17 ACC tourney games in a row dating back to 1998. “It seemed like there was an assist on almost every play. Because of our foul trouble, we went to our motion [offense] away from the basket. The execution of that was very good.”
That perpetual movement proved advantageous for a Duke team that fell to Georgia Tech just over a week ago due to the Yellow Jackets’ extremely physical style of play, and their subsequent squashing of Luol Deng, who was an uncharacteristic 1-for-14 in that contest. Conversely, Duke was able to penetrate the Ramblin Wreck defense with both dribbling and passing, which opened up its offensive options. But at the same time, the Blue Devils flexed some muscle of their own in the paint, scoring 46 in the interior, production that was led by Shelden Williams in what is becoming an ACC Tournament MVP-type effort.
“We were stronger without he ball in the second half,” Krzyzewski said. “We found an incredible amount of guys open after driving. It is really as efficient as we have been all year. To me it was beautiful basketball. We played great offensive basketball. I told my team after the game I didn’t even know who scored. It was because you had so many connecting plays.”
Williams was often the punctuation on those plays, as the sophomore from Oklahoma earned 20 points and 18 rebounds against the Yellow Jackets just a night after he went off for a career-high 27 points and eight rebounds in a win over Virginia. He also accumulated three blocks, giving him 98 on the season, enough to break Mike Gminski’s long-standing Duke single-season blocks record.
“I knew coming in it was going to be a big, physical game throughout the whole game,” Williams said. “I knew if I put myself in a position where I don’t pick up any cheap fouls, I can help my team in the long run. That’s one of the things I was concentrating on. That helped [my] rebounding and playing defense and that contributed to our game.”
Williams’ performance was complemented by that of Luol Deng, whose inside-outside presence added to Duke’s offensive arsenal, particularly in the second half.
The impetus of Duke’s scoring was two-fold, however. A Daniel Ewing fast break turned into a hard foul by Georgia Tech’s Ismail Muhammad that sent Ewing sprawling to the floor. When no intentional foul was called, Duke went on its big run, which was orchestrated by its floor general, Chris Duhon.
“We feel that they take cheap shots at us,” Duhon said. “It was a really hard foul. Everybody responded to it. The only problem with that is we can’t wait for those things to happen for us to come out and play with a lot of energy. We have to be prepared before the game and come out at the start of the game with that type of energy.”
Duhon led by example, then, pulling his weight by scoring on multiple body-twisting drives to the basket and assisting on drives and dishes to his choice of interior and perimeter players. He scored 17 points while doling out eight assists, outperforming Georgia Tech’s Jarrett Jack, who was a game removed from nailing a last-second shot to beat North Carolina in the quarterfinals of the tournament.
“This game, I don’t think you saw Georgia Tech basketball,” Jack said. “Defensively we weren’t really charged up the way we normally are.”
Hewitt recounted the game differently.
“Shelden Williams is probably the single biggest difference in the ballgame, along with Chris Duhon,” he said. “They had more energy and made tougher plays down in the post.”
Duke will need to corral enough energy to repel the Maryland Terrapins in today’s championship game. The Terps, who were considered an NCAA Tournament bubble team at the start of the league tourney, are now looking to clinch the automatic bid that comes with winning a conference championship. Maryland upset N.C. State with a comeback win in the other semifinal Saturday. But if the Terrapins are to stop Duke’s ACC Tournament championship streak at five, they will have to shut down Williams.
“There is no question he has played unbelievable basketball,” Krzyzewski said. “Shelden has had a great year. I just think you get worn out playing in this conference. For him, he has carried the load inside. I just think during the last part of our regular season he got worn out. The thing that Shelden did, that we all should do, is that he took responsibility.”
That responsibility will fall on Duke’s broad shoulders today at 1 p.m. against the Terrapins. A win would all but ensure Duke a No. 1 seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament, not to mention a new ACC record—six successive ACC Tournament championships, tying UNC with 15 overall tournament championships.
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