Blue Devils advance to second round
Duke dropped Cal State Fullerton on Friday to advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
GREENVILLE, S.C. — Duke’s first round game with Cal State Fullerton went as most would expect a matchup between the second and 15 seeds to go. It was as straightforward as one could imagine with little to no real surprises.
The result was a 78-61 victory for the Blue Devils.
If there was anything that could raise your eyebrows it was probably Duke’s inability to put the Titans away early in the first half. Even that, though, was not a shocking development, as Cal State Fullerton took a lot of pride onto the floor and had no intentions of folding, even with Duke jumping out to a 17-4 lead after just 5:47.
The Titans were even able to cut the Blue Devils lead to as few as six points before the first half was over. Despite that, Duke never seemed to be at risk of losing its opening round game.
“We beat a good team,” Mike Krzyzewski said. “Dedrique’s (Taylor) team is an old veteran team, champions, and known for their defense. They really played hard defensively against us.
“I just thought it was a great game for us to play. We played better tonight than we had been playing. I thought our defense overall was a lot better, especially on (E.J.) Anosike and (Damari) Milstead, who we felt coming into the game if they had big games we’ve got a chance to get knocked off.”
Anosike and Milstead combined for just nine points on 4 of 10 shooting in the first, and were ultimately held to 22 points between them. While that’s not too far off their 28.6 point per game average, Duke’s ability to slow them was critical.
The Blue Devils opened the game with a very active, and swarming defense. It was clear their time on the practice floor and the messages from the coaching staff proved to be effective.
By the first media timeout, Duke had registered three of its 10 blocks in the game. Additionally, the Blue Devils forced Cal State Fullerton into an awful slump shooting the basketball, as they connected on just 3-of-17 during that same stretch.
Consequently, the Blue Devils jumped out to that early 13 point lead.
“I think we’ve locked back in on the defensive end,” Paolo Banchero said. “We can still improve with rebounding, but I think our mindset is there and our willingness to actually go out and do it is there. We’ve just got to keep going and keep building.”
By game’s end, Duke had held 37.5% shooting, including 29.4% from 3-point range. The second half was much more productive for the Titans, at least inside the 3-point line, but after making 42% of their 3s in the first, Duke locked in on the perimeter.
As Banchero mentioned, however, there were areas in which the team can improve. Most notably on the defensive glass.
One of Duke’s biggest issues — and perhaps one of the main reasons the team was unable to just simply put Cal State Fullerton away early — was their inability to complete the defensive exchange by cleaning up the boards.
The Titans posted 12 offensive rebounds, seven of which came in the first half. Cal State Fullerton registered six second chance points in the first half, and 12 for the game. While that was not the biggest issue Duke faced, it is one area the coaches will surely focus on between now and Sunday’s game.
“Our defensive rebounding has to improve,” Krzyzewski simply said.
Beyond that, let’s reiterate that the defense was a better. This was particularly true when it came to communication. Yes, that aspect can improve as well, but it was a critical component in being successful against the Titans.
Krzyzewski spoke in depth about that aspect of the game.
“Just a lot better,” he said of his team’s communication. “And the effort. We played hard. They played really hard. They’re an older team. You’ve got four starters back, four grad transfers.
“And their offense puts you in a tough position to communicate because there’s a lot of dribble exchanges. Until late we did a really good job on Anosike. And Paolo did a really good job on him, because he’s the leading scorer in their conference. So it’s a big improvement because the last four games — we’ve been a really good defensive team but the last four games we were a really bad defensive team.”
Offensively, Duke did some really good things as well.
Oddly enough, the Blue Devils shot exactly 15-of-29 (51.7%) in each half. That included 38.5% and 44.4%, respectively, from 3-point range.
Duke made it point to run its offense through Mark Williams early in the game, and it was extremely impactful. The Blue Devils wanted to set the tone, and they did exactly that.
The result for Williams was eight of his 15 points coming in the first half. Even better for Duke, though, was the five assists he contributed. Williams added seven rebounds and five blocks to his stat sheet, but it was a his presence on offense that really helped get Duke in a flow.
Ball movement was impressive all game long for Duke. In fact, the team had 21 assists on 30 made baskets. Wendell Moore Jr. led the way with six assists, while Jeremy Roach, who got the start over Trevor Keels, joined Williams with five. Banchero also added four, while Keels got in on the action with one assists.
Considering Cal State Fullerton’s reputation for featuring an active defense, ball movement was extremely important. Again, Krzyzewski wants to see it improve, though.
“Our team has been unselfish the whole year,” Krzyzewski said. “We could do a little bit more. When our guys are open off the ball, they need to talk more and demand the ball. An older team does that. Where you say, ‘Jeremy!’ and he’ll hit you.
“That’s something we’ve worked on all year. I wish we could do that a little bit better, especially in AJ’s (Griffin) case. Sometimes he’s open with the ball pressure and we don’t see him.”
The ball movement did lead to five double digit scorers. In addition to Williams’ 15, Banchero was once again a force with 17 points. He also added 10 rebounds and two blocks to his game stat line. Moore posted 13 points on 5 of 8 shooting.
Griffin had a tough first half making just 1 of 4 shots, but he responded well in the second connecting on 3 of 5 and finishing the game with 10 points. Roach scored 12 in addition to his five assists.
Not all was running smoothly, though. Duke did turn the ball over 13 times, resulting in 16 points off turnovers for Cal State Fullerton. Eight of those turnovers came via steals, but Duke did turn the ball over several times after slipping on the court.
By all accounts, though, it was a good team win for Duke. They showed signs of improvement from their last four games, and handled business to advance to Sunday.
NOTEWORTHY
The court was slippery. Whether it was a product of the site serving as a hockey arena, or just issues with sweat not being dried properly on the floor, it was a problem.
Players slipped several times, including three on one single offensive trip by Wendell Moore. Referees chose not to whistle the play dead, which could have been bad for Moore, as he was certainly at risk of injury.
Guys on both teams were finding themselves slipping on more than one occasion. If this is an ongoing problem, Krzyzewski noted that he is concerned about injuries.
“That damn floor was slippery. On both ends. So I don’t know what it was. I know it wasn’t the shoes — Nike called me and wanted to make sure I said it wasn’t the shoes (laughs)…
“I haven’t watched the other games. Did that happen in other games this afternoon? (Krzyzewski was told it had happened). Then somebody should look at it — that’s not good. We’ve got to be concerned about that. Hopefully nothing is serious with Wendell. Your season’s over because of a slippery floor, that’s not good.”