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Wednesday, December 7
Durham, N.C.
7:00 PM
Duke University
87
vs
64
Colorado State
Rivers Leads No. 7 Duke Past Colorado State 87-64
12/7/2011 8:58:00 PM | Men's Basketball
DURHAM, N.C. - Colorado State's players knew they'd have to continue their accurate 3-point shooting to hang with No. 7 Duke. The only problem was the Blue Devils seemed determined to prevent the Rams from getting good looks.
The Rams came into the game as the nation's top 3-point shooting team at nearly 46 percent, but they managed to go just 4 for 11 against Duke's aggressive perimeter defense in an 87-64 loss Wednesday night. They also routinely found themselves putting the ball on the floor and trying to attack the rim against the Blue Devils' bigger front line.
“Once you break their first line of defense, you think you have a lot more open lanes than you do,” said junior Greg Smith, who scored 18 points. “Their big guys come over and change a lot of shots. You have to attack their pressure and get to the rim and try to get fouled, and that didn't really happen for us. That was more of our game plan than trying to outshoot them tonight.”
Still, hitting so few 3s didn't help, either. Colorado State matched a season low with the four made 3s, while the 11 attempts were the Rams' second-lowest output of the season.
Duke freshman Austin Rivers said the Blue Devils' main defensive focus was “chasing them off the 3s.” That strategy was also effective in slowing Rams leading scorer Wes Eikmeier, who finished with 10 points on 4-for-13 shooting for his second-lowest scoring performance of the season.
“They just kept switching guys on me and rotating fresh bodies in,” said Eikmeier, who was averaging 17.5 points. “I don't think I sat in the first half, so I kind of got fatigued. They were denying me on the wings, and that's usually where I get a lot of my work done. Just give them credit. They did a nice job.”
For Duke (8-1), Rivers scored 17 points while Andre Dawkins added 15 points before sitting out the second half with back spasms.
The Blue Devils hadn't played since last week's 85-63 loss at No. 2 Ohio State, their most lopsided loss of the past two-plus seasons. Before that game, Duke had sprinted out of the gate with seven games in 13 days, including wins against Michigan and Kansas in the Maui Invitational.
Dawkins and Plumlee helped Duke push ahead of the Rams (5-4) early. Dawkins hit six of his first seven shots, including three 3-pointers, after going scoreless and managing just a single shot in 19 minutes against Ohio State. Mason Plumlee, meanwhile, was active early, hitting all six of his shots in the half to rack up 13 points, seven rebounds, four steals and four blocks by halftime.
That included one play in which Plumlee stole a pass and sent the ball in transition to Dawkins, who lofted a soft alley-oop pass back to Plumlee for the dunk and a 41-30 lead. At that point, the two had 12 of Duke's 16 baskets.
Rivers took over in the second half, hitting three 3s and scoring 12 points after halftime.
During one second-half stretch, Duke scored on seven straight and nine of 10 possessions over 7 minutes.
Ryan Kelly scored three straight baskets during that run and Rivers hit a pair of 3s, though the Blue Devils had trouble increasing the lead because Colorado State matched them basket-for-basket over a 2 1/2 -minute stretch.
Once Duke finally started getting some stops, the Blue Devils' offense took care of things and pushed the lead to 72-47 when reserve Josh Hairston charged in on the left side unguarded and threw down a powerful slam with about 9 minutes left.
The Rams came into the game as the nation's top 3-point shooting team at nearly 46 percent, but they managed to go just 4 for 11 against Duke's aggressive perimeter defense in an 87-64 loss Wednesday night. They also routinely found themselves putting the ball on the floor and trying to attack the rim against the Blue Devils' bigger front line.
“Once you break their first line of defense, you think you have a lot more open lanes than you do,” said junior Greg Smith, who scored 18 points. “Their big guys come over and change a lot of shots. You have to attack their pressure and get to the rim and try to get fouled, and that didn't really happen for us. That was more of our game plan than trying to outshoot them tonight.”
Still, hitting so few 3s didn't help, either. Colorado State matched a season low with the four made 3s, while the 11 attempts were the Rams' second-lowest output of the season.
Duke freshman Austin Rivers said the Blue Devils' main defensive focus was “chasing them off the 3s.” That strategy was also effective in slowing Rams leading scorer Wes Eikmeier, who finished with 10 points on 4-for-13 shooting for his second-lowest scoring performance of the season.
“They just kept switching guys on me and rotating fresh bodies in,” said Eikmeier, who was averaging 17.5 points. “I don't think I sat in the first half, so I kind of got fatigued. They were denying me on the wings, and that's usually where I get a lot of my work done. Just give them credit. They did a nice job.”
For Duke (8-1), Rivers scored 17 points while Andre Dawkins added 15 points before sitting out the second half with back spasms.
The Blue Devils hadn't played since last week's 85-63 loss at No. 2 Ohio State, their most lopsided loss of the past two-plus seasons. Before that game, Duke had sprinted out of the gate with seven games in 13 days, including wins against Michigan and Kansas in the Maui Invitational.
Dawkins and Plumlee helped Duke push ahead of the Rams (5-4) early. Dawkins hit six of his first seven shots, including three 3-pointers, after going scoreless and managing just a single shot in 19 minutes against Ohio State. Mason Plumlee, meanwhile, was active early, hitting all six of his shots in the half to rack up 13 points, seven rebounds, four steals and four blocks by halftime.
That included one play in which Plumlee stole a pass and sent the ball in transition to Dawkins, who lofted a soft alley-oop pass back to Plumlee for the dunk and a 41-30 lead. At that point, the two had 12 of Duke's 16 baskets.
Rivers took over in the second half, hitting three 3s and scoring 12 points after halftime.
During one second-half stretch, Duke scored on seven straight and nine of 10 possessions over 7 minutes.
Ryan Kelly scored three straight baskets during that run and Rivers hit a pair of 3s, though the Blue Devils had trouble increasing the lead because Colorado State matched them basket-for-basket over a 2 1/2 -minute stretch.
Once Duke finally started getting some stops, the Blue Devils' offense took care of things and pushed the lead to 72-47 when reserve Josh Hairston charged in on the left side unguarded and threw down a powerful slam with about 9 minutes left.
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