PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas - Duke has handled VCU's trademark "havoc" defense well, and the Blue Devils have a 29-28 lead going into halftime.
The Rams, who have the word HAVOC printed across the back of their warmup shirts, pride themselves on their full-court pressure and heavy ball pressure, which has led them to force an average of 20 turnovers per game.
The Blue Devils, though, haven't been rattled by the pressure and turned the ball over just three times in the first half. Mason Plumlee was used to help bring the ball up the floor (VCU's big men don't guard on the ball well), and Quinn Cook and Tyler Thornton have used long passes to push the tempo and break the press. As a team, Duke has seven assists.
The shots aren't falling regularly for Duke, though. After shooting 8-of-10 from beyond the arc in the opening round of the Battle 4 Atlantis against Minnesota, the Blue Devils are just x-of-xx from 3-point range tonight. Duke is shooting 39.3 percent from the floor. VCU, though, is shooting worse, at a 32.3 percent clip.
VCU jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead and outhustled Duke to long rebounds, prompting Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski to take an early timeout. Duke used a 14-2 run midway through the half to take its first lead. Rasheed Sulaimon leads Duke with nine points, and the three seniors--Ryan Kelly, Plumlee and Seth Curry--have 13 points combined.
- Laura Keeley
Friday, November 23, 2012
Duke holds narrow 29-28 lead over VCU at half
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3 comments:
You're missing the actual 3 point stat.
It's hilarious how these observer writers are such tar hole homers.Duke is ahead at the half,so they write"narrowly" or "barely" or "Duke squeeks by,"even if they win by 8. On the other hand,the tarholes were down 30 plus against butler,but the observer never mentioned the heels were getting blown out. All they wrote about was the huge comeback and butler "narrowly" beat the tarholes lol. As bad as these writers are,they make themselves look worse with their favoritism.
Not joking, the Heels are the fourth best team in the ACC this year. Not even relevant...please keep up the coverage of real contenders like Dook and State.
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