Duke @ Florida State, 1-10-09

Now we're getting into league play in the ACC and Saturday's game between the #2 Duke Blue Devils and conference foe Florida State turned out a be a good one. The Seminoles start one of the largest front lines in the NCAA. They go 7'1", 6'11", and 6'9" across the front. These guys aren't stiffs either, they can all move and are athletic. The Blue Devils have a little height but nothing to match what they saw. This game started out like a pickup game with neither team playing as fluid as anyone would have expected. The half time score was 19-14, with Duke ahead. Gerald Henderson had 14 points at half time.

After halftime the Dukies went up by almost 20 and I thought the game was going to be a blowout, but the Seminoles battled back and made this one close. It took a Gerald Henderson career day with 25 points, 5 rebs, and 3 stls. Singler chipped in 15 points and Nolan Smith dropped 12 points. The Seminoles were led by Toney Douglas, who was taking it at whomever was trying to guard him, with 18 points. Two bench scorers were the only other players in double figures (Kitchen with 16 pts and Echefu with 10 pts).

All in all, this was a tough win for the Dukies. They showed that they can battle on the boards with this kind of size. They showed that they need to find a way to get Henderson the ball in transition a little more. Singler showed me that he has some toughness in him. Scheyer hit 1 of his 7 shots, but did make 7-11 from the free throw line. ACC conference play is tough each year. Georgia Tech (at Tech), then Georgetown (at home), and then NC State (at home). We'll see what the Dukies are made of over the next few weeks.