Seventh-ranked Duke didn't need long to make Clemson look as
uncomfortable as ever in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
While Jon Scheyer and Nolan Smith each had big scoring games,
it was the Blue Devils' lockdown first-half defense that put the
No. 21 Tigers in a big hole on the way to a 74-53 win Sunday night.
The victory extended Clemson's misery in Cameron -- 15 years
and counting -- while giving the Blue Devils a comfortable win
against a team picked to finish near the top of the Atlantic Coast
Conference.
Duke (12-1, 1-0 ACC) held Clemson to just 12 points in the
opening half and led by 18 at the break, avenging last year's
lopsided loss while handing the Tigers (12-3, 0-1) their 13th
straight defeat at college basketball's notoriously hostile arena.
"Our defense, that's what we want to be known for this year,"
said Scheyer, who scored 19 of his 22 points after halftime. "In
the first half, we felt good just because you could see they
weren't in a good rhythm. ... For the rest of the game, we didn't
really let them get back into it."
Smith also scored 22 points for Duke, while Kyle Singler
added 16 points and eight rebounds. Duke followed its season-high
114 points in Thursday night's win against Penn by shooting 50
percent against the Tigers, including 60 percent after halftime.
Clemson had only recently managed to break Duke's fierce hold
of the series, snapping a 22-game losing streak by edging the Blue
Devils in the ACC tournament semifinals in 2008. Then last year,
the Tigers won the only meeting by a stunning 74-47 score, the most
lopsided loss for Duke and Mike Krzyzewski since losing by 30 to
UNLV in the 1990 NCAA championship game.
Krzyzewski said his team's approach was far better this time.
"I thought we had weak faces last year down there and we had
strong faces today," he said.
Demontez Stitt scored 17 points to lead Clemson, which
managed an 11-point run to start the second half and briefly get
back in the game. But the Tigers shot 33 percent, missed 13 of 16
3-pointers and seemed to struggle with their composure against
perimeter pressure that pushed them farther and farther from the
basket in the opening half.
It all added up to another forgettable moment to their recent
history of futility in Cameron. Along the way, they've lost in a
variety of styles: blowouts; tough, low-scoring battles; even one
on a buzzer-beating basket three years ago that included a dose of
clock controversy in those final seconds.
This time, the lowlight was Clemson shooting 5 for 30 (17
percent) -- including 6- and 8-minute scoring droughts -- in the
first half to trail 30-12 at the break. The first-half scoring
output and shooting percentage each ranked as the worst under
seventh-year coach Oliver Purnell.
They also finished with as many fouls as points in the half,
a fact the Cameron Crazies gleefully reminded them of with chants
of "12 Fouls! 12 Points!" as the teams headed for the locker rooms.
"You've got to play more than one half in this building,"
Purnell said. "We obviously stunk it up offensively in the first
half with unforced turnovers and non-execution stuff. We showed our
youth a little bit, but even our veterans didn't do a good job
offensively. We weren't patient enough to get the ball inside."
So much of Duke's success began with how they slowed
preseason all-ACC pick Trevor Booker. He finished with 10 points on
4 for 11 shooting, five points fewer than his team-leading scoring
average.
"They did a good job of getting in passing lanes and denying
passes to the post," Booker said. "I think overall that was their
game plan -- to limit my touches and make other people score."
After Clemson's 11-0 flurry to open the second half, the Blue
Devils reasserted themselves. First came a layup from Smith off a
turnover, followed by a basket off a loose rebound from freshman
Mason Plumlee. Then, Scheyer stole the ensuing inbound pass in the
backcourt and quickly launched a 3-pointer that swished through,
pushing what had been a 10-point lead back up to 42-25 with 13:52
left.
"We took advantage of what they gave us," Duke senior Lance
Thomas said, "and when that run came, we handled it very maturely
and closed the game out."
