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At first glance, Duke’s offense last season may not have seemed elite. The Blue Devils frequently employed a slow, sluggish style that rarely made for flashy play. According to metrics created by former ESPN analyst Ken Pomeroy, however, Duke posted the top offensive season in the nation, even though they frequently didn’t have the look of an offensive powerhouse.
Though the schedule says that Duke will play Army Saturday, the Blue Devils will really battle two opponents. In addition to the Black Knights, Duke’s players will face the challenge of overcoming the remnants of the 62-13 drubbing they received at the hands of No. 1 Alabama last weekend.
When the Blue Devils take the field Saturday against FCS opponent Elon, they will look to take the first step toward meeting the raised expectations of a program that used to be an afterthought in the ACC. After two years under a new system, however, the once-unfathomable goals of a winning season and bowl birth have now crept within reach.
When defensive linemen Vince Oghobaase and Ayanga Okpokowuruk graduated this past May, Duke’s traditional 4-3 defensive alignment went out the door with them. The duo were two of the Blue Devils’ strongest defensive players up front, yet even with them the squad ranked 74th in the FBS against the run. It was clear that something needed to change.
One of the two streaks had to end. North Carolina entered Wednesday’s match against Duke undefeated in ACC play. The Blue Devils, meanwhile, had not lost at Ambler Stadium in 29 matches. In a marathon match befitting its significance, the No. 2 Tar Heels emerged victorious, scraping out a 4-3 win.
Reid Carleton had an iron grip on the point. Taking a short ball early, the Duke junior pounded a shot deep into the forehand corner of Virginia’s Sanam Singh. As Carleton stepped up to finish the point, however, Singh reached back and sliced a perfect cross-court winner.
Often in college basketball, the box score garners far too much attention. Scoring and rebounding totals are tossed around as measures of players’ effectiveness when frequently they don’t tell the whole story.
Before Sunday night, Miles Plumlee had yet to put it all together in one cohesive performance. Countless times he had finished plays with powerful dunks and wiped opponents’ shots out of the air with his long arms. But while Plumlee dominated certain possessions, he had never taken complete control of a game.
Before Saturday’s contest against St. John’s, head coach Mike Krzyzewski stopped on his way from the locker room to the bench and waved his arms, yelling at fans on both sides of the court and imploring them to get louder. This rare show of pregame emotion brought the fans in Cameron Indoor Stadium to their feet and charged the atmosphere in the building to a level it hasn’t reached all season.
From the way things started Sunday against Wake Forest, Duke seemed poised to score another upset in the NCAA tournament. The Blue Devils came out firing in the first 20 minutes, and the Demon Deacons relied on missed opportunities and great goalkeeping to keep the game scoreless. Wake Forest (16-2-2) managed to regroup and reverse the tide, however, and by the end of the first half Duke (14-7) was staring at a 3-0 hole en route to a 4-2 loss in the Round of 16 in Winston-Salem.
For the second straight game, Duke raced out of the gates in the first half for a 2-0 lead. And, once again, the Blue Devils were able to make that lead hold up in the second period to upset 14th-seeded Michigan State 2-1 Sunday in East Lansing and advance to the Round of 16 in the NCAA tournament.
After bookending the first half with beautiful goals and dominating play in between, Duke (13-6) seemed poised to coast to a first-round victory over Winthrop in the NCAA tournament. A surprise second-half goal by the Eagles reversed the tide, however, and a senior’s first-career score was needed to propel the Blue Devils to a 3-2 victory Thursday at Koskinen Stadium. For the match’s first 57 minutes, Winthrop (11-6-4) did not manage a shot on goal. Then freshman Said Abdi posted up a Duke defender just outside the Blue Devil box, received a pass, turned quickly and surprised goalkeeper James Belshaw with a shot into the bottom corner. About ten minutes later, Belshaw redeemed himself with a fantastic reaction save on a point-blank Winthrop header to keep the score steady at 2-1. Just as the Eagles seemed poised to level the score, a Duke corner kick squirted out to the top of the box, where senior Ryan McDaniel was waiting. McDaniel calmly gathered the ball and carved a left-footed shot into the top corner for the game-winning tally. “I guess it’s a little dramatic but I’ll take it for sure,” McDaniel said. “I had a terrible first touch to be honest with you and kind of had to rescue myself.” “He’s been a stalwart for us all season long in the midfield,” head coach John Kerr said of McDaniel. “It’s a special night for him to step up and score the winning goal in probably his last game here at Koskinen.” Despite the surge of momentum from McDaniel’s goal, Duke still couldn’t hold off Winthrop. With 14 minutes left in the match, Stephen Nsereko hit a bicycle kick that bounced across the face of the Duke net. Cameron Alksnis ran onto it and drove a header past Belshaw into the far corner, pulling the Eagles back within one. Winthrop only generated one more dangerous chance, however, and its last shot flew over the crossbar. “This was the worst second half we’ve played this season,” Kerr said. “We’re normally a good second half team.” “It got a little frantic in the end,” McDaniel said. “The difference between this year’s team and last year’s is that we were able to keep our composure and we were able to hold them off in the end.” Following first-round NCAA tournament losses the past two years, Duke started the match determined to avoid another early exit. The Blue Devils delivered in the beginning with arguably their best half of the season. Only two minutes into the match, junior Nick Sih dribbled up the right wing, faked a back-heel pass and beat two defenders into the corner. From there he crossed the ball into the box, where Ryan Ruffing shielded his defender and let the ball roll through to freshman Ryan Finley. Finley ripped a shot far post and gave Duke the lead only 2:33 into the game. “It gives us another dimension when [Sih] gets forward,” Kerr said. “He’s a converted forward, he’s got a good eye for space and serves a great ball.” The Blue Devils continued their solid play and peppered the Eagles’ goal for the rest of the first half, and finally Winthrop broke down. With two minutes remaining in the period, freshman Andrew Wenger lofted in a high, bending cross from about 35 yards out. Senior Trae Harrison found space at the top of the six-yard box and made no mistake in heading the ball home. “Anytime you’re in a win-or-go-home game, it always helps to go up early,” Finley said. “We pretty much dictated the first half but not so much the second.” Thanks to its fantastic peformance at the beginning of the match and McDaniel’s heroics, though, Duke survived its mistakes to play another day. And in the NCAA tournament, that’s all that matters.
Two teams took the field with a chance to win the ACC championship Friday night in Winston-Salem in Duke’s regular season finale. Unfortunately for the No. 11 Blue Devils, they couldn’t keep pace with No. 4 Wake Forest as the Demon Deacons (13-3-2, 5-2-1 in the ACC) clinched a share of the regular season conference title with a 3-0 win at Spry Stadium.
As the season winds down, the Blue Devils find themselves in a great position—No. 19 in the country, No. 8 in the RPI and in the conversation as a possible host for the opening round of the NCAA tournament.
The weekend opened on a high note for Duke, as it defeated Miami (10-6, 2-4 in the ACC) in straight sets Friday. Saturday, however, the Blue Devils encountered everything they could handle in a tough loss to Florida State.
After freshman Ryan Finley scored the game’s first goal Friday against Maryland, the Blue Devil striker ran through a crowd of joyous teammates and began conducting the Duke marching band in celebration. The ensemble was more than happy to oblige, and provided the perfect soundtrack to a perfect night—one that saw senior Trae Harrison’s first career goal lift the Blue Devils (7-2, 2-2 in the ACC) over the defending national champions.
For the last 15 minutes of Friday’s 2-1 loss to North Carolina, No. 11 Duke (4-1, 1-1 in the ACC) showed how dangerous it can be—stringing passes together, scoring a late goal and nearly sending the match into overtime.
Cameron Indoor Stadium has undergone some renovations in hopes of improving the Blue Devils’ already imposing homecourt advanatage, renovations that will change the viewing experience for some Duke students.
Following three relatively easy wins to start the season, Duke knew the going would get much tougher when it traveled to face No. 16 Virginia (2-1, 0-1 in the ACC) Friday night. The Cavaliers were faster, more talented and more experienced than any team the No. 19 Blue Devils had faced—not to mention the fact that they would be supported by nearly 5,000 fans at Virginia’s Klöckner Stadium.
After scoring Duke’s game-clinching goal Sunday in the 84th minute, senior captain Josh Bienenfeld triumphantly jogged back toward the Blue Devils’ bench, arms outstretched and head bobbing the whole way.
