Clemson came into Saturday's contest with what was supposed to a threat to Duke's Achilles heel: talented big men. That's why the most impressive part of the Blue Devil's decisive victory was not their resilience against an inspired Tigers comeback effort or the thunderous dunks and timely threes that thrilled the packed crowd inside Cameron Indoor Stadium.
It was their defense.
Duke employed an array of defensive looks that frustrated post players James Mays and Trevor Booker, who are 6-foot-9 and 6-foot-7, respectively. Through double-teams, traps along the boundary lines and switches off ball screens, the Blue Devils made it difficult for Clemson's guards to get the ball down low. Much of the duo's combined 23 points came from easy put-backs off their nine offensive rebounds, which equaled Duke's entire total.
Guard Gerald Henderson called the two Tigers beasts. Head coach Mike Kryzezwski said that Duke won many different segments of the game, but Clemson's rebounding, especially on offense, was almost enough to secure a win.
"Once the ball went up on the glass, they imposed their will. They are very, very good," Kryzezwski said. "They are the best team we've played."
Given that, the Blue Devils' response to surrendering a 12-point first-half lead was particularly impressive. Clemson pulled into a 58-58 tie with 11 minutes left in the game, and it looked as though Duke was playing back on its heels.
But after expending so much energy clawing back, the Tigers simply did not have enough left in their tank to keep up with Duke. It also didn't help Clemson when the Blue Devils began to play some of their best defense of the season.
Over the next five minutes, Duke forced five turnovers and drew four fouls en route to a 23-7 run that essentially put the game out of reach.
"They had to work hard to get back into the game," Jon Scheyer said. "Ultimately, we want to wear teams down. By the end of the second half, I thought they got a little tired and we were really feeling pretty strong. Building that lead, they had to work really hard to get back into it."
The Blue Devils' quick hands and smart anticipation of passes enabled them to gather live-ball turnovers that led to easy layups or dunks on the ensuing fast breaks.
"For our defense to be effective, we need to get out into the passing lanes and get some steals and make every pass tough for them," Scheyer said. "That should be a signature thing for our team. We can have explosive stretches where many guys can hit shots and get hot, and when guys get hot, we need to find them."
This was exemplified by two different stretches in the first half when Nolan Smith and Scheyer scored seven and 10 points straight, respectively. But the greatest contributor was captain DeMarcus Nelson, whose strong offensive and defensive performances epitomized Duke's overall team effort.
"He's scoring [24 points] while busting his butt on defense," Kryzezwski said. "That makes the performance, to me, even better."
With this serving as yet another example of the Blue Devils' ability to handle skilled frontcourt teams-along with wins over Wisconsin and Florida State-Duke continues to tear through its ACC schedule with a full head of steam. After North Carolina's upset loss to Maryland Saturday and close wins in the two previous games, Duke has built a strong case as the best team in the conference.
Even with scorers like Henderson, Nelson and Kyle Singler on their side, though, the Blue Devils' best chance at running the table from here on out will be relying on their best source of offense: their defense.
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