Ready to be No. 1 again, Duke counts on an elite defense to stay there
Tuesday night began with Duke doing exactly what coach Mike Krzyzewski wants and believes this edition of the Blue Devils should do all season.
The night ended with Duke poised to be the nation’s No. 1-ranked team.
The question, for now, is whether the defense Duke used to build a 41-point first half lead on the way to pounding Central Arkansas 105-54 will be good enough for the Blue Devils to be No. 1 in April when it really matters.
Playing as the nation’s No. 2-ranked team, the Blue Devils suffocated Central Arkansas, recording 14 steals to help the Bears to 21 turnovers.
It was even worse early, when Duke scored 19 points in a row to take a 25-5 lead with 11:24 to play in the first half. At that point, Central Arkansas already had eight turnovers against Duke’s pressure defense.
“You fight pressure at the rim,” Central Arkansas coach Russ Pennell said. “And I thought we did the opposite. I thought we tried to pop out. We threw, I don’t know how many passes. We have a rule. We don’t throw bounce passes on the perimeter. We threw like four that got intercepted. And I think that’s what pressure does to you. It makes you do things that are kind of uncharacteristic.”
So Duke (3-0) did the expected to remain undefeated. Meanwhile, in Lexington, Ky., the unexpected happened when Evansville knocked off No. 1-ranked Kentucky 67-64.
That upset ended about 10 minutes after Duke had wrapped up its win.
Being No. 1 in November is better than never being No.1, of course. But it also doesn’t have a thing to do with winning the national championship.
Duke’s goal is always to win the national championship. This season they’re aiming to accomplish that goal on a foundation of defense -- first, last and always.
“If they just play hard defensively, we’ll be in good shape,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “We’ll have a good chance.”
These Blue Devils are already imposing their will with their defense. It started with the 68-66 win over Kansas when the Jayhawks turned the ball over 28 times.
It continued against lesser foes Colorado State and Central Arkansas.
The Blue Devils have 37 steals through three games, the most they’ve recorded in the first three games of a season since 2006-07.
That’s impressive. But Krzyzewski is already looking beyond simple steals and turnovers.
“We want to pick up fullcourt,” Krzyzewski said. “And we feel that we can use our depth and athleticism better and maybe wear down a team or if not wear them down, put them in positions where they’re not, it’s not their normal point of deployment for their offense. It’s a little bit higher, it may be with a different handler. There’s ways of disrupting an offense besides turning them over.”
There’s plenty to nitpick about Duke’s offense. The Blue Devils, even though they made 9 of 18 3-pointers (a season-best 50 percent), aren’t a dead-eye shooting team from the perimeter. They entered the night having made 26.1 percent of their 3-pointers over the season’s first two games.
They don’t have exceptional scorer like in past seasons, when ready-for-the-NBA players Jayson Tatum, Marvin Bagley, Zion Williamson and RJ Barrett wore Duke’s uniform.
This team has to use defense to create offense and, frankly, the players are just fine with that assignment.
That style was on display in the first half against an overmatched Central Arkansas team.
“I’d have to say our defense is probably the best part of our offense right now,” Duke senior forward Jack White said. “We’re forcing turnovers and getting out in transition and really just getting some easy buckets to start the game so guys can get in a groove.”
Freshman Matthew Hurt found himself on the bench to start Tuesday night’s game as Krzyzewski started White, hoping the veteran would help get 6-10 freshman center Vernon Carey’s offense going.
It worked as Carey had his first career double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds.
But Hurt also thrived, playing better defense -- he blocked two shots -- while hitting all three of his 3-point shots on the way to a team-best 19 points.
But you can bet the way Hurt played defense will be the focus of the coach’s conversations with him when reviewing game film.
That’s the way it will be for all the Blue Devils this season.
“I want them to be aware of defensive matchups even more so than offensive matchups,” Krzyzewski said, “because that’s how our team is going to be built.”
This story was originally published November 12, 2019 at 10:24 PM with the headline "Ready to be No. 1 again, Duke counts on an elite defense to stay there."