ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Blue Devils simply could not stop Arizona’s Derrick Williams Thursday night.
But for the first 20 minutes of play, Duke could tolerate allowing the stellar sophomore to carry the Wildcats’ offense by himself: The Blue Devils maintained a six-point lead at halftime, even though Williams had scored 25.
William’s ability to single-handedly keep Arizona in the game, however, ultimately came back to haunt the Blue Devils in the second half. While Duke contained the 6-foot-8 forward for most of the final period, Williams found ways to involve the rest of his teammates in the offense. With the Arizona attack firing on all cylinders, the Blue Devils never recovered.
“The first half, Derrick’s individual play allowed us to have a chance. I mean he scored 25 points in one half,” Wildcats’ head coach Sean Miller said. “We could have had a huge deficit at halftime, but he gave us a chance.”
Miles and Mason Plumlee prevented Williams from scoring with his back to the basket for the majority of the first half. After Mason swatted Williams as he attempted to drive to the hoop, it seemed as if Duke would be able to neutralize the Wildcats’ best inside threat. Indeed, Williams would only score one of his eight first-half baskets with a traditional post move.
Realizing he would have difficulty scoring over a 6-foot-10 Blue Devil in the post, Williams simply brought the Plumlees out to an area of the court where they were not comfortable—the perimeter.
The sophomore, who entered the game shooting 58 percent from beyond the arc, took advantage of the Plumlee brothers’ reluctance to defend him tightly around the 3-point line. The Blue Devils clearly wanted Williams to beat them with the deep ball rather than wreak havoc in the paint, and the Wildcat responded to the challenge. Williams nailed 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions with about four minutes remaining in the first, cutting a 7-point Duke lead to four. But his biggest basket from long range came with only one second left on the clock before halftime.
On Arizona’s final possession of the period, with the 6-foot-11 Ryan Kelly playing the Wildcat closely, Williams rose up for a shot, his vision to the basket obscured by the long arms of Kelly. The ball sailed through the net, making the sophomore a tremendous 5-for-6 from 3-point range in the period.
Although the Blue Devils were still up by six at halftime, Williams’s last-second shot gave the Wildcats the momentum they needed to start the second half. And despite Williams only scoring seven of his career-high 32 points in the final period, his offensive rebounding and deft passing from the post helped fuel Arizona’s surge out of intermission.
Singler assumed the primary defensive responsibility for Williams in the final period, and the veteran had no problem matching the Wildcat’s physicality, even while playing with four fouls. But with Singler occupied down low, Duke’s taller players drifted from the hoop, and Williams found ways to exploit the Blue Devils’ defense.
“I though Kyle did a decent job on [Williams] in the second half, but that means our bigs are guarding a little bit away from the basket and you’re spread out,” Krzyzewski said.
Given this defensive arrangement, it was no surprise that both of Williams’ assists in the period came when he picked out a wide-open Kyle Fogg and Jamelle Horne for 3-point buckets.
Drawing the Plumlees out to the perimeter also gave Arizona several more opportunities to crash the glass. The Wildcats capitalized on these chances, grabbing 11 offensive rebounds to Duke’s two in the second half. The Blue Devils’ defensive adjustments ultimately played right into the hands of Arizona players who did not make an impact at the beginning of the game.
“The first half they were trying to choke off the wings, so it was one-on-one [for Williams at the top of the key],” Wildcats’ forward Solomon Hill said. “In the second half, they tried to change up a little bit and… they didn’t pressure the wing. So we were able to make plays, and we didn’t have to rely on [Williams] in the second half because they kind of abandoned their defense.”
It was no wonder that Krzyzewski marveled at the many facets of Williams’ game afterward.
“With Williams, he gives you confidence. You always know that you have that guy on the court,” he said. “Even when he’s not scoring, he spreads you out.... He’s a beautiful player.”
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