Duke was outshot and outrebounded by Boston University Monday night, but it still emerged with a 17-point victory and moved into the second round of the NIT Season Tip-Off.
In their season opener, the No. 1 Blue Devils (1-0) defeated the Terriers (0-1), 64-47, despite an inconsistent offense and no three-pointers from All-American shooting guard J.J. Redick.
"I think our guys sometimes put too much pressure on themselves that they have to be perfect because of what people predict them to be," head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "They just need to play ball. I thought Boston University played outstanding defense, and offensively, we were putting too much pressure on ourselves. There wasn't that flow."
Duke will face Seton Hall at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in Cameron Indoor Stadium for the second round of the preseason tournament. The Pirates were 66-52 victors over Manhattan Monday night
The Blue Devils missed nine consecutive field goal attempts to open the game before freshman Josh McRoberts, who did not start and had come off the bench just 13 seconds earlier, tipped in a missed Redick jump shot four minutes into the contest.
Duke finished the season-opener shooting an uncharacteristic 3-for-16 from behind the arc and just 40 percent from the field.
"It was the first game and first-game jitters, maybe we were a little bit nervous," senior Lee Melchionni said. "I don't want to take anything away from them, but I think we did miss a lot of open shots, and hopefully they'll drop for us in the games to come."
The Terriers took an early lead and were ahead of the nation's top-ranked team until the 12th minute of play.
After missing his first three field-goal attempts, Redick drew the Blue Devils within one when he connected on a jump shot from just inside the extended three-point line, which has been set seven inches back to the international distance for the NIT Season Tip-Off.
Although Duke never managed to extend its lead beyond 20 points as it had in its two blowout exhibition wins, the team never relinquished its lead as it advanced to the quarterfinals of the tournament.
"Overall, I thought it was a great game for us," Krzyzewski said. "I'm not saying we played great, but when the other team plays their butts off, you're probably not going to look great."
With the offense struggling to score consistently all night, the Blue Devils maintained their lead by stifling Boston University on the defensive end. The Blue Devils grabbed six fewer rebounds and shot almost 9 percent worse than the Terriers. But with 15 steals and 26 forced turnovers, Duke easily overcame its offensive woes.
Sophomore DeMarcus Nelson, who shot just 1-for-8 from the field, recorded seven steals, five of which came in the second half, when Duke only outscored the over-matched Terriers by three points.
"I think DeMarcus is the perfect example that you can have a good game and really not do much of anything on the offensive end," Krzyzewski said. "He struggled on the offensive end, but it didn't affect him on the defensive end."
The Blue Devils have won the Preseason NIT twice before, in 1985 and 2000. After winning the tournament in 2000, Duke went on to clinch its third national title later that season.
"Overall, I was pleased with the outcome. I thought it was a really good game for us to play," Krzyzewski said. "That's a great lesson for our team to learn is that you can win against a good team by playing defense when the other team is playing good defense."
NOTES:
Redick passed Jason Williams for second on Duke's all-time list for three-point attempts. With 799, the senior is three shy of Trajan Langdon's record.... With 10 boards, McRoberts is the second player in Blue Devil history to notch double-digit rebounds in his debut. In his first game against Stanford Nov. 11, 1999, Jason Williams also tallied 10 boards.... Nelson's seven steals were the most the sophomore has recorded in a single game and ties him for fourth in Duke history.
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