Pealing out of the locker room and into the second-half, the Blue Devils proved why they are in the driver’s seat to repeat as national champions: They know how to close big games.
Dictating tempo to end the first half and begin the second, Duke bullied an overmatched Owls squad. Throwing down dunks, knocking down threes and exerting their height advantage, the Blue Devils continued the second-half precedent they set against North Carolina two weeks ago.
“Two big parts for us have been the very end of the first half and the beginning of the second,” sophomore Ryan Kelly said. “It’s important to end the half strong, go in with some confidence, and then also to start a half strong and get into the other team’s head a little bit. We’ve done that really well these last few games.”
Using the momentum of a last-second three by sophomore Seth Curry to end the half, the Blue Devils came out with a new fire under them in the second. Turning the tables on the Owls, who managed to set a slower pace in the first half, Duke began to set the rhythm of the game with slightly faster offense. Pushing the ball more and running the break, the Blue Devils took advantage of easy layup opportunities.
On top of changing the tempo of the game, the Blue Devils managed to finally find their feet in the paint. Sophomore Mason Plumlee took control of the boards with eight rebounds in the second, paralleling his nine second-half rebounds against N.C. State and five against North Carolina. Adding to the strong board play by Plumlee was his incredible sequence of scores. Slamming home two powerful dunks on consecutive possessions midway through the half, Plumlee brought Cameron to its feet and broke the hearts of the Temple faithful.
“Mason really started rebounding in the second half,” head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “Sometimes it takes you a while [to think], ‘What can I do against these guys?’ Thank goodness he can do that.”
Duke also impressed in the second half by the variety of ways it put points on the board. Typically relying on high numbers coming from behind the arc, Duke successfully displayed its ability to put the ball on the floor and get to the basket. Driving hard around Owl defenders and feeding the ball down low to the Plumlee brothers and Kelly, the Blue Devils showed last night that they were more than just a perimeter scoring team.
“They ran it down our throats a couple of times on some easy run outs,” Temple head coach Fran Dunphy said. “And then Kyle Singler… he was terrific tonight. He had a couple really hard drives to the rim that just were not to be denied.”
A final area that went relatively unnoticed, but was nonetheless important for Duke in the second half, was the team’s ability to remain calm in the presence of strict referees. Following a three-minute stretch in the first period in which nine fouls were called between both teams, the Blue Devils played relatively clean defense to open the second. Aside from a tough streak for freshman Tyler Thornton, in which he received three fouls in three minutes midway through the half, no Duke player registered more than two fouls in the second period.
Moving forward into ACC and NCAA tournament play, the Blue Devils will need to expand their second half play into the first if they are to make their way back to the title game. As Kelly reiterated, it’s about playing strong for 40 minutes.
“[Playing good in the second half is] a good thing and a bad thing, because we need to do it from the jump,” Kelly said. “If you can expand that to the entire game, then you’re going to be a tough team to beat.”
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