I. Renko is a DC-based correspondent for Rush the Court. You can follow him on twitter @IRenkoHoops.
Leave it to Duke to add a little bitterness to an otherwise sweet night for Maryland basketball. During the pre-game ceremony presenting the newly-christened “Gary Williams Court,” the legendary coach acknowledged the students and fans in the building who “helped us win a lot of games,” before reminding them that they had “a great chance to do that again tonight.” And for three-quarters of the game, they nearly did just that. But an 11-1 run midway through the second half propelled Duke to victory. RTC was in the building, and here’s what we saw as the keys to the game:
- Maryland’s Decision to Stay Home — Not literally, of course, as the College Park crowd gave the Terps a nice boost. Although it’s obvious from the box score that Mason Plumlee’s season-high 23 points led Duke to victory, what is less obvious from the raw stats is that Maryland essentially invited Duke to beat them this way. Mark Turgeon acknowledged that the game plan was to defend the post one-on-one rather than double off of the perimeter: “Yeah, we could’ve doubled them and let ‘em shoot threes. But that was what we went with.” That was a reasonable approach given Duke’s 40% three-point shooting percentage. There’s not a single starter who you can comfortably leave to double MP2 — each of the other four shoots at least 37% from three-point range. But as the game went on, and Plumlee, along with his older brother and frontcourt mate Ryan Kelly, continued to dominate inside, a tactical change was probably warranted. Duke’s guards had a miserable shooting night, and it wasn’t only because Maryland wasn’t sagging off the perimeter. They were missing quality looks as well. Under those circumstances, it was certainly worth trying to harass Plumlee inside with multiple bodies.
- Maryland’s Lack of Interior Physicality and Communication — Maryland certainly played hard, but their lack of physicality and strong communication inside hurt them. Early in the game, Ashton Pankey and James Padgett repeatedly had trouble helping and rotating to cover Duke’s big men, as they cut into space after setting screens. Turgeon noted after the game that an unnamed player had particular trouble defending ball screens (my guess is he was referring to Pankey). Turgeon also acknowledged that given the decision to defend inside one-on-one, they could have done more to push Duke’s bigs out of position and body them up better. This softness also hurt them in other ways, as they failed to get some key rebounds in the second stretch and their weak hands, particularly freshman Alex Len’s, cost them some potentially easy buckets.
- Terrell Stoglin’s Off Night From the Behind the Lines — After the game, Ashton Pankey suggested that Stoglin didn’t have a great game. I actually thought he played quite well for the most part. With one or two exceptions, he didn’t try to do too much, playing within himself and within the system. He was actually 7-10 on two-point field goals. But where Stoglin struggled was beyond the arc, where he was 0-4 and at the free throw line where he was a dismal 2-7. He normally averages 40 and 75% from those two places on the floor.
- Austin Rivers Showed Up When It Mattered — Duke’s guards had a miserable offensive night all around, particularly in the first half when Rivers, Andre Dawkins, and Seth Curry combined to shoot 3-14 from the field. Rivers alone was 1-6 for just two points. But he was 4-6 in the second half, attacking the basket and scoring buckets at key points to help Duke build and maintain its lead.