Monday Morning Shootaround

Duke 82, Rhode Island 79: What a game. I got a chance to see this one, and I was not disappointed. It had the feel of a late February conference game (although maybe it was URI's Carolina Blue uniforms in Cameron). The Rams came out aggressive, attacking Duke's pressure defense and crashing the offensive boards. Athletic wings Delroy Jones and Lamonte Ulmer were the guys making the plays early on. Jones did most of his damage (career-high 21 points, 11 of which came early in the first half) on pull-up, mid-range jumpers, while Ulmer gave the Rams some great energy off the bench, getting 7 points and 7 rebounds, 4 offensive.

But Duke made all the plays down the stretch. Jon Scheyer was fantastic in the second half. I've said that the key for this Duke team was whether or not Scheyer could become a go-to scorer, and if he plays all season like he did in this one, then Duke will have nothing to worry about. Scheyer was aggressive attacking the basket, finishing two drives with beautiful, lefty reverse lay-ups. He didn't settle for jumpers, and when he drove he drew fouls and he would also attack a gap and draw an extra defender. Kyle Singler also played very well down the stretch, making a lot of big shots and big plays.

Greg Paulus only got 11 minutes for Duke. Nolan Smith is a much better fit for this Duke team. He can blow by just about anyone on the perimeter, he is a much better distributor, and he is a tenacious defender. Smith proved that on two specific plays that stand out in my mind. On one, he came up with a loose ball on the wing and was double-teamed by two Rams, but split them and swooped in for an up-and-under lay-up. A few possessions later, when the Rams were trying to press, Smith just dribbled right past the Rams defense and all the way to the rim, just missing a three-point play. Both were plays that Paulus cannot make.

Baron was fantastic shooting the ball in the second half. He hit a ridiculous number of tough three's. Duke kept rotating players on him (Scheyer, Smith, Paulus, and McClure all got a shot before Singler finally was able to slow him down), but Baron kept hitting off-balance, pull-up three's with a hand in his face. The problem was, Baron was the only one doing anything in the second half, and eventually the play of Singler and Scheyer was too much.

On a side note, I came away pretty impressed with this Rhode Island team. They were a 7-9 team in the A-10 last year and lost Will Daniels, but they return one of the best shooters in the country in Baron, a bunch of long and athletic wings, and a couple solid interior players. The only issue is PG play, but the group Keith Cothran, Marquis Jones, and Stevie Mejia played pretty solid ball last night. This was kind of a fluke game in a sense that Baron is not going to shoot like this every night and the Rams are not going to match up as well with everyone as they did with Duke (both teams rely heavily on their perimeter play). But, as they showed tonight, when Rhody puts it all together, they will be able to play with anyone in the country.

Other notable scores:

• Holy Cross 73, St. Joe's 69 OT - Ahmad Nivins had 17 and 12 for SJU, but Holy Cross scored the first 7 points of OT and never looked back. Adam May had 15 for the Crusaders.
• Clemson 76, Temple 72 - Clemson improved to 3-0 as they beat Temple in the finals of the Charleston Classic. Terrence Oglesby led the Tigers with 16, while Trevor Booker added 15 and 16.
• Mercer 72, Alabama 69 - Alabama was supposed to be a surprise team coming out of the SEC, but did not look terribly good getting upset by Mercer. The good news here is that Ronald Steele, Bama's oft-injured PG, had 25 points and looked healthy.

Best of the night:

• Josh Akognon, Cal-St. Fullerton - Akognon had 41 in a 90-76 win over Hawaii.
• Luke Harangody, Notre Dame - 'Gody picked up where he left off last year, posting 30-14 in a blow out win.
• Yancy Gates, Cincinnati - Gates had 16, 11 and 3 blocks in just 20 minutes in a win over South Dakota.
• Chavis Holmes, VMI; Mike Scott and Sylvan Landesburg, Virginia - Holmes had 31, 5 boards, 3 dimes, and 2 steals and Landesburg had 28, 8, 8, and 3 steals. Scott also added 26 and 18 for the Cavs. 
• Hamady N'Diaye, Rutgers; Alphonso Dawson and Marc Egerson, Delaware - N'Diaye had 26, 8 and 3 blocks in a eight-point Rutgers win. Dawson had 28 and 6 boards while Egerson had 28 and 12 boards.
• P'Allen Stinnet, Creighton - Stinnet had 30 in a comeback, 82-75 win over New Mexico.