Charting Duke @ Maryland

[pfrduke]

With 8:31 to go in the second half, after Maryland had cut the lead to 5, Andre Dawkins came in for Tyler Thornton. It marked the first time that the Smith-Curry-Dawkins-Singler-Mason lineup appeared in the game. That lineup proceeded to play an extremely good 8 minutes (7:54, to be precise), outscoring Maryland 22-9 and guaranteeing the road win for the Devils. We scored on 10 of the 12 possessions that lineup played, showing near perfect execution down the stretch.

The box score is a little screwed up on minutes played - it has Nolan sitting for 5 minutes in the second half when he only sat 1. There are two erroneous subs on the box in the second half (Tyler in for Nolan, and Miles in for Mason), so I'm making an adjustment to the minutes for the per 40 numbers - my minutes played won't match the box score, but the box score is wrong.

Also worth mentioning - we scored 1.28 points per possession against the 2nd rated defense in the nation, by far the best offensive performance against Maryland thus far this year (B.C., at 1.15, had the previous best). Very impressive offensive execution tonight.

Individuals
Kyle Singler 69-48 (+21)
Nolan Smith 63-45 (+18)
Mason Plumlee 77-60 (+17)
Andre Dawkins 47-32 (+15)
Tyler Thornton 47-34 (+13)
Seth Curry 48-44 (+4)
Miles Plumlee 37-33 (+4)
Josh Hairston 2-2 (0)
Ryan Kelly 10-12 (-2)

Per 40 Minutes
Andre Dawkins +30.0
Kyle Singler +24.7
Nolan Smith +22.5
Tyler Thornton +21.7
Mason Plumlee +17.9
Miles Plumlee +8.0
Seth Curry +6.4
Josh Hairston +0.0
Ryan Kelly -13.3

Lineups (Score, times used, margin)
Smith-Curry-Dawkins-Singler-Mason (22-9, x1, +13)
Thornton-Smith-Singler-Mason-Miles (10-3, x2, +7)
Thornton-Smith-Dawkins-Singler-Mason (9-4, x2, +5)
Thornton-Curry-Singler-Mason-Miles (6-2, x1, +4)
Thornton-Smith-Singler-Mason-Kelly (8-6, x2, +2)
Thornton-Smith-Dawkins-Singler-Miles (3-2, x1, +1)
Thornton-Curry-Dawkins-Hairston-Mason (2-2, x1, 0)
Smith-Dawkins-Singler-Mason-Kelly (2-2, x1, 0)
Thornton-Dawkins-Singler-Mason-Miles (0-0, x1, 0)
Thornton-Curry-Dawkins-Singler-Mason (0-0, x1, 0)
Thornton-Dawkins-Singler-Mason-Kelly (0-1, x1, -1)
Thornton-Smith-Curry-Singler-Mason (0-2, x2, -2)
Smith-Curry-Singler-Mason-Kelly (0-3, x2, -3)
Thornton-Curry-Dawkins-Mason-Miles (9-12, x3, -3)
Smith-Curry-Singler-Mason-Miles (9-14, x2, -5)

[smcook313]

With 8:31 to go in the second half, after Maryland had cut the lead to 5, Andre Dawkins came in for Tyler Thornton. It marked the first time that the Smith-Curry-Dawkins-Singler-Mason lineup appeared in the game. That lineup proceeded to play an extremely good 8 minutes (7:54, to be precise), outscoring Maryland 22-9 and guaranteeing the road win for the Devils. We scored on 10 of the 12 possessions that lineup played, showing near perfect execution down the stretch.

Smith, Curry, Dawkins, Kyle, and Mason.....By far my favorite 5 to have on the floor. Im not saying that is the most productive or our best 5 (even though thats pretty arguable) but I really feel like those 5 give us the best opportunity to win. Not having Kelly out there is hard for me, too, because I am in love with his play this year. I just think it gives us the most athletic lineup and it keeps us big enough to not get muscled. Kyle is not a stranger to play the post and guarding the post. He showed how versatile he could be when he stepped up and played the 4/5 a few years back. I, actually, have as much confidence in his man defense and rebounding as I do in Mason, Miles, and Kelly.

I thought it was awesome to see Tyler start last night. He has got to be rippin it up in practice. The kid has so much heart and you can tell he is really learning the system. I do feel he was in over his head a little bit thru the start of the 2nd half. It appeared he was either trying to do too much or thinking, instead of just reacting. A couple sloppy passes and a forced drive but I will not take anything away from the kid. He played great and I love seeing him push the tempo on offense. It seems he is settling into his game and he is growing in confidence with the rock.

Andre and Seth... How lethal are they?! That pair of 3's Seth hit in the first half and Andre's pair in second half were sensational. This is that pivotal game that we needed to get our steam building. Mason was an animal last night. That monster dunk that was called off due to a shot clock violation, that had to bring every Duke fan to their feet! He looked like a different player last night. He was going at the basket, not fading away from it. And he was only being guarded by one of the elite bigs in the country. Hats off to you Mason, we are all behind you.

Lastly, Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith... I would absolutely hate watching those two play against us. Kyle scoring 11 in a row put College Park to sleep. He had some big rebounds down the stretch and nobody curls better off of picks. Congrats on 5th all time Kyle. Nolan didnt force anything last night and he did a really good job of keeping his man in front of him on D. Another great game by both of these guys and I would want them on my All American team. To make sure everyone gets the credit for the win I say great team win last night! Everyone seemed to get up for the game and it couldnt have been a better bounce back win. Great effort from our Blue Devils and it couldnt have been a better venue.