Enhanced Box Score

Last night I got home just in time to catch a great BC/UNC game that has been covered in 3 articles already on this site.  As a result, I'm not going to create a fourth.

Let's talk about the Duke win over Virginia Tech though.  The Blue Devils were impressive for most of the game with the exception of a 8 minute stretch at the end of the first half where the Hokies slowly got back into the game.  When Virginia Tech went on a 4-0 run to start the 2nd half they closed the score to 39-35 and forced Coach K to call a timeout.

At the point of this timeout, the Hokies led in the offensive and defensive rebounding percentages and had forced the Blue Devils into more turnovers per possession.  After the timeout the Blue Devils addressed all three areas, and with their exceptional defense opened the game up.

Here are a few points I took from the Blue Devils' win...

• Brian Zoubek has become an integral part of the Duke offense.  After Virginia Tech closed the lead to 4, the Blue Devils ran every offensive set through Zoubek.  Another way to see this is that Zoubek led the Blue Devils in usage % last night, meaning he was involved in the highest % of possessions when he was in the game.  Of course, Zoubek wasn't in the game when the Hokies went on their first half run.  The 7 footer sat on the bench for a large part of first half after grabbing 3 fouls in 5 minutes of action.
• Jon Scheyer's defense on AD Vassallo was superb, not sure if he can be considered an underrated defender anymore.
• The fact that Virginia Tech scored just 13 points in the 2nd half is absurd.  The Duke defense was suffocating, but Virginia Tech got away from their strengths in the 2nd half.  Just as Zoubek starts the Blue Devils offense, every possession should go through Jeff Allen in the post.  Duke simply had no answer for his quickness and physicality in the post.
• Malcolm Delaney was impressive for moments last night, but needs to be more selective when he takes over and when he gets others involved. 

Over at Duke Basketball Report, here's what they're saying...

Duke got out of the gate quick, and Virginia Tech looked a bit intimidated in the opening minutes as the Devils rushed out to an 11-2 lead.  In the first few minutes in particular, Brian Zoubek was terrific, and Virginia Tech had trouble countering him.  But after that, it turned into a very physical game, and when it gets there, it’s pretty much to Tech’s advantage, and at halftime, Duke’s lead was six, and Tech was clearly playing with more confidence.  Duke saw Zoubek and Lance Thomas each saddled with three fouls, which made things a bit dicey.

In the second half, though, after Tech cut the lead to four, Duke called at timeout, stepped up their own physical play and popped Virginia Tech in the jaw, holding Jeff Allen, A.D. Vassallo, and Malcolm Delaney to - this is from the radio crew - a total of five points. Actually, they held Delaney and Allen to five; Vassallo was shut out in the second half.  Defense clamped down, in other words, and of the next 39 points, Duke had 30 of them.

Over at TechHoops.com...

Tech really dug themselves a hole in the first four minutes of the first half, something VT often did last year (not a good sign for this season).  duke jumped out to an 11-0 lead as Tech started 0/9 from the field.  The Hokies were unable to get closer than six the rest of the first half and trailed by eight at the half, 39-31.  Tech would never get closer than four the rest of the game.  The Hokies need to figure out a way to jump start things.  As this game showed, you can lose a game by the first media timeout.

The Big 3 were the JV 3 tonight as they were not ready for primetime, at least not in the second half.  At the break Delaney had 10, Allen 8, and Vassallo 7.  They finished with 12 for Delaney, 9 for Allen, and 7 for Vassallo.  For you non-math majors, that’s just three second half points for the “Big 3″.   Vassallo seemed invisible in the second half.

The guys seemed to forget what was working in the first half - catch the ball on the perimeter, penetrate the key and pull up from 8-16 feet.  In the second half the Hokies couldn’t figure out a thing on offense.  Tech started the game just 1/12 from the field and finished the game shooting just 37%.  Tech hit just one three-pointer, going 1/9.  Tech just could not find easy buckets, and when they had them, they often missed them.  The Hokies had just 7 assists on 18 made shots and Delaney did not collect an assist.