Posted On: January 4, 2009 By: Cliff Comments: (1)

Wow, what an opening game in ACC play for the Duke Blue Devils on Sunday night as they hammered the Virginia Tech Hokies 69-44. The Blue Devil defense came up big in the second half as they led the Hokies to just 13 points while scoring 30 of their own. As you might have read earlier in the day I predicted a eight to ten point lead by the Blue Devils, boy was I wrong with that prediction!

Overall I thought the team played sloppy at times but then picked it up at other times and played very good. The defense played a lot better then the offense but that was helped out by a cold shooting Va. Tech team that shot 36% on two-point field goals and just 11% from the three-point land. Duke on the other hand was red hot from beyond the arc as they shot 37% on three’s and 40% on two-pointers.

Four different Blue Devils scored in double figures in the game. Kyle Singler led the way with 19 points while Gerald Henderson finished with 15 points. Nolan Smith wasn’t too far behind Henderson as he chipped in 13 points. Jon Scheyer also had 11 points in the game even though he didn’t shoot the ball that well.

The key to the game I thought was the defense holding A.D. Vassallo to just seven points which was 12 points under his average. He had a terrible second half as the Blue Devil defense was all over him giving him fits the entire time.

Great way to open up ACC play especially since North Carolina lost to Boston College earlier in the night. It was also a nice tune up for Wednesday’s night game against Davidson and Stephen Curry. Tip-off for the game will be at 7:00 ET so make sure you are at Cameron or infront of your tv for what is line up to be a great game!

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Category: Duke Basketball, Duke Basketball Game Notes

Posted On: January 3, 2009 By: Cliff Comments: (0)

Well the time has come to get into ACC play for the Duke Blue Devils. Duke and Virginia Tech will tangle at Cameron Indoor Stadium Sunday evening as both teams will be playing their first conference game of the year.

Both teams are playing pretty good ball with the only common opponent being Xavier. Duke beat Xavier 82-64 will the Hokies lost to Xavier 63-62 in overtime. Duke has a better overall record as well as they will be coming into the game with a 11-1 record while Tech comes into the game with a 9-4 record.

I look for the Blue Devils to win this game by eight to ten points. It seems when these two teams play each other, it is a tough and very physical game and I expect the score to stay close until Duke knocks down some free throws at the end of the game to seal the deal. Duke is currently favored by 16 points, so if you are a sports better, I’d be putting my money on Tech to cover this game.

Prediction: Duke 75 Virginia Tech 65

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Category: Duke Basketball

Posted On: December 20, 2008 By: Cliff Comments: (1)

It was a good game for the Duke Blue Devils on Saturday as they beat the Xavier Musketeers 82-64. Duke pretty much knocked out Xavier in the opening five minutes of the game as they jumped out to a 18-1 lead and never looked back. The Blue Devils were knocking down almost every shot early in the game and also scored off Musketeer turnovers as it was a blowout from the beginning.

As a team the Blue Devils shot 61% from the field in the first half while they were led by Jon Scheyer who poured in 23 total points. Scheyer had four three pointers in the first half alone. Right behind Scheyer in the scoring column was Gerald Henderson who put in 19 points. Brian Zoubek rounded out the double figure scoring as he scored 11 points.

Kyle Singler only scored nine points but did have eight rebounds, five assists, and three blocks to help out. Even though Singler shot 4 of 10 from the field he was still out there hustling and helping team in the victory.

Duke will next be on the court on New Years Eve as they take on Loyola. I expect this to be a nice win for the Blue Devils as the head into the new year and into conference play. I plan on having a nice blog article before ACC play begins so look forward to that!

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Category: Duke Basketball, Duke Basketball Game Notes

Posted On: December 17, 2008 By: Cliff Comments: (0)

Good Thursday morning to everyone, hope everyone had a great night and watched the Blue Devils crush UNC Asheville 99-56. It was a nice bounce back win for Duke as they were coming off their first lose of the season and their first game in the last 11 days.

Coach K made some starting lineup changes as he tried to make a point to the starting five that the coaches have confidence in the bench but they also need the starters to step up and play like they are capable of playing.

Gerald Henderson, Kyle Singler and Jon Scheyer got that message as they all scored in double figures for the Blue Devils. Henderson and Singler both finished with 14 points each while Scheyer chipped in with 13 of his own.

Brian Zoubek, Greg Paulus and Nolan Smith all scored 12 points for the Blue Devils as well. Zoubek was grabbing rebounds and getting put backs to score most of his points. Did anyone else notice Zoubek’s chin hair? Maybe that is what he need to look and play a little bit more tougher lol!

In the end I was happy with the victory as they guys came out and shot the ball and also played good defense. They will have a tough contest this Saturday as they travel to the IZOD Center and take on the Xavier Muskateers. Xavier is 9-0 so the Blue Devils will be looking to give them their first loss of the season. Make sure to tune in at 2:00 ET Saturday afternoon!

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Category: Duke Basketball, Duke Basketball Game Notes

Posted On: December 6, 2008 By: Cliff Comments: (3)

I just checked into our hotel room for the night as we are our traveling and shopping for Christmas and the first thing I do is check out the Duke score since I wasn’t able to watch the game today. First thing that came to my mind after seeing the score was ” What in the hell happened?”

Well it looks like the team took way to many three point attempts and only hit three of them. Also the defense doesn’t look like they stepped up as they gave up 81 points. Looks like DeShawn Sims had his way with the Blue Devils as he poured in 28 points.

I don’t have a whole lot to blog about since I wasn’t able to watch the game. So if you watched the game, please leave a comment with what you thought.

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Category: Duke Basketball, Duke Basketball Game Notes

Posted On: December 2, 2008 By: Cliff Comments: (1)

The Duke Blue Devils picked up a big road victory over #10 rated Purdue in the ACC / Big 10 Challenge on Tuesday evening. Duke led by by over 10 points most of the game and ended up beating the Boilermakers 76-60 to improve to 10-0 all time in the challenge against the Big 10.

Kyle Singler was dominate in the game as he performed great at both ends of the court. Offensively he finished with 20 points and 12 rebounds. On defense, he was all over Purdue sophomore stud Robbie Hummel and held him to 15 points.

Jon Scheyer had another good game as he went 3 for 6 from three point range and converted 9 of 10 free throws to finish with 20 points just like Singler.

One player who didn’t have a good shooting night was Gerald Henderson as he only chipped in two points on 1 of 8 shooting. Henderson however made up for it on the defensive end of the court with eight rebounds and two big blocks.

I’m very happy with the win overall. The defense really stepped up and held Purdue scoreless in the game for a eight minute stretch that really helped out the offense as the extended the lead. Foul trouble hurt the team a little bit as Nolan Smith and Lance Thomas both had four fouls in the game that hurt their playing time and stats but overall it was a great road win for the team. Up next for the Blue Devils will be another game with Michigan, this time up in Michigan. I will be out of town on Saturday, but hope to get a update wrote Saturday evening, if not I’ll have a blog update on Sunday when I get back into town.

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Category: Duke Basketball, Duke Basketball Game Notes

Posted On: November 28, 2008 By: Cliff Comments: (1)

Lance Thomas had the game of his career on Friday afternoon as he scored 21 points and six rebounds to lead the Duke Blue Devils past Duquesne 95-72. The Blue Devils were coming off a four day rest and they came out fast and well rested as they built a 20 point lead heading into halftime and then never looked back.

Thomas had this to say about his performance after the game:

“I feel like [that performance] was a little long overdue,” Thomas said. “On any given night, any of our guys can actually have a game like that. We have such a balanced team, such a deep team, that something like that can happen on any given night, and it says a lot about our team that we can do that.”

While Thomas led the team with 21 points, Kyle Singler added 21 points while Nolan Smith chipped in with 11 of his own. As a team, the Blue Devils scored 31 points off of 19 Duquesne turnovers.

It was balanced scoring attack for the Blue Devils as 11 different players scored in the game. The only player that played but did not score was Olek Czyz who played three minues and was 0 for 1 shooting the ball.

Duke will now look forward to their game on Tuesday night at Purdue. This will be a very tough matchup for the Blue Devils. The game is part of the ACC - Big 10 Challenge and will tip off at 9 ET so fans on the East coast will have to stay up late for this one. It will be a good game and great challenge for the team early in the season.

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Category: Duke Basketball, Duke Basketball Game Notes

Posted On: November 23, 2008 By: Cliff Comments: (0)

Well first off, I wasn’t able to watch the game today as I was out of town last night and didn’t return home in time for the game. At first I thought the game started at 3 eastern but no, it was 1 eastern. Whoops!

Looking over the game recap and box score it appears that the Blue Devils used a strong first half and pressure defense to pull out to a 47-28 lead at halftime. Nolan Smith scored 12 of his 14 points in the first half to lead the Blue Devils.

Gerald Henderson (14), Kyle Singler (13), and Jon Scheyer (12) were the other players that scored in double figures for Duke.

Duke played without co-captain Greg Paulus who was held out with a forearm contusion. They were also playing after only one day of rest since getting back from two games in New York City so it was nice to see the team come out and play well right from the get go.

The team will now have four days of rest before their next game which will be on Friday.  Duquesne will travel to Cameron Indoor Stadium for a 3:00 EST game. I look for the Blue Devils to improve to 7-0 on the year with a 15-20 point victory.

If you watched the game today, was there anything that stood out for you? Leave us a comment and let us know!

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Category: Duke Basketball, Duke Basketball Game Notes