With one play early in the second half Saturday, the Blue Devils both sent the Cameron Indoor Stadium crowd into its loudest celebration of the season and demonstrated why they were able to dominate Maryland so thoroughly.
Kyle Singler forced a Terrapin turnover on the left wing, then heaved a cross-court pass to Jon Scheyer, who touched the ball back across to Nolan Smith streaking down the right side. Smith left it for a trailing Gerald Henderson-the ball never hitting the floor after Singler's pass-who laid it in to give Duke a 60-20 lead five minutes into the second period.
"I think that's the most excited the crowd has been this year," Scheyer said. "Playing like that is the best way to play. It started with our defense, which lets us get out into transition."
On an afternoon when seemingly everything went right for the Blue Devils, their lockdown defense played a crucial part in keeping the Terrapins, who typically play Duke close no matter the teams' records, from ever making it a contest. Maryland shot just 28 percent from the field, and Landon Milbourne was the only Terrapin to make more than two shots.
The Blue Devils' pressure flustered Maryland, and when the Terrapins were finally able to get a few open shots, they were unable to knock them down. The the rout was on.
"Our defense was outstanding," head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "They had some open looks that they missed.. If the ball doesn't go in the basket, it makes the other team look a lot better. So we played really well, and we looked a lot better because they just couldn't hit shots today."
Maryland was forced to initiate its offense from several feet beyond the 3-point line on almost every possession, and as a result, the Terrapins were never able to settle into an offensive flow, scoring just 15 points before halftime.
Duke harassed Maryland's starting backcourt of Greivis Vasquez, Eric Hayes and Adrian Bowie into a combined 4-for-26 shooting performance from the field. Vasquez, who had been averaging 19 points and 9.5 assists per game in Cameron and bragged before the game that Cameron was "his house," had four points, one assist and four turnovers.
"It starts on the ball with Nolan, his ball pressure, just his ability to take the point guard out of the game and kind of take him out of his comfort zone," Singler said. "[Our defense] is one of our strengths.. We put pressure on the ball [and] we create turnovers."
Even when the Blue Devils were not forcing Maryland to turn the ball over, the Terrapins were largely unable to score on a Duke defense that has become stingier as the season has progressed. Maryland failed to become the first ACC team to crack 60 points against the Blue Devils, and they became the 10th consecutive opponent to score less than 70. Since its 81-73 loss to Michigan Dec. 6, Duke has surrendered just 56.3 points per game, including 51.6 points per game in conference play.
Statistical guru Ken Pomeroy ranks Duke's defensive efficiency, which measures points allowed per 100 possessions, the second-best in the country.
That increase in defensive intensity has coincided with the stiffness of the Blue Devils' competition, and Duke's experience is part of the reason.
"We've played hard in a coordinated matter on the defensive end, and that's a big result of maturity and the ability to communicate," Krzyzewski said. "When you play defense, the lifeblood of your defense is talk. You have to be in really good shape, play hard, but the thing that coordinates everything is your communication, and we've had really good communication."
That has led to low scoring averages for the Blue Devils' opponents, as well as some easy opportunities on offense-such as the one created by Singler's steal-for Duke.
Against the Terrapins, it turned what could have been a close game into a blowout.
"We've been playing great defense," said Smith, who scored eight points and dished out four assists. "To be able to hold teams like Maryland and Georgia Tech and all these good teams who have great scorers on their teams under 50 points, under 60 points is just great team defense. We're talking, we're loving playing defense, and that just leads to offense."
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