Tobacco Road Report

by David

Duke seems to be hitting their stride at the right time. Despite some sloppy play at times the Devils pulled away in the opening moments of the second half to close out BC and make sure there would be no clock issue for this game. To be entirely honest, once Duke got up by about 10 points the game got somewhat boring with BC unable to get closer than six but Duke unable to pull much further away.

Josh McRoberts (16 points, 12 rebounds) had a great all-around performance, displaying some open court skills (read travel) in the transition game. Demarcus Nelson led the Devils with 17 points. As a team Duke shot 50 percent from the field and over 80 percent from the free-throw line. Maybe more important for Duke is they played a physical game.

Their defense was swarming over the Eagles, and while a few questionable no-calls happened it did not really seem to dictate the outcome of the game. This could be important for Duke as they get ready for Carolina and a few tough road games in the coming weeks.

Jared Dudley (17 points, 8 rebounds) led the Eagles with his usual gritty effort. Tyrese Rice and Shamari spears had 13 and 12 points, respectively. The big problem for the Eagles was the poor shooting of Sean Marshall (7 points on 2 for 11 shooting). He had been a monster of late for BC and is clearly needed.

BC's offense looked disorganized. Big surprise, right? Shamari Spears and Tyrelle Blair looked good at times, mostly on the defensive end. The normal crisp passing BC has on the interior did not come through in this game, a credit both to Duke's defense and BC's new faces.

Were I a Duke supporter, and that is certainly not the case, I would hope for them to show some more improvement against Virginia. If not, UNC could wipe the floor with them. The Eagles need to regroup and defend home court against Va. Tech this week.

Note: I am so tired of announcer's talking about people as "special" players. It is overused at this point. Dick Vitale is the chief violator here. Every team has a "special" player. Look, they may be good, they may be great, but I need some reference to what it takes to reach this special status. For crying out loud, we have a veritable "special" olympics of "special" players on the court every night. Just know that this rant was toned down after the Northern Branch of TRR vented to his wife. Let's just say the original version would have lost our family rating.