bstrickland@heraldsun.com; 419-6671
NEW YORK -- Kyle Singler couldn’t pinpoint what Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said during a timeout early in the second half Wednesday night against Arizona State that seemed to light a fire under the Blue Devils.
Teammate Jon Scheyer could.
“He called Kyle out in the huddle,” Scheyer said. “He told him, ‘Don’t worry about the last couple of plays. Just be poised on offense, and take your shot when it’s there.’ ”
Singler might have been fuzzy on the details a few minutes after the fact, but he certainly took the message to heart at the time. Singler, who had just four points on 1-of-8 shooting before the timeout, scored four points in 24 seconds after the timeout to spark a 21-7 run that sent the Blue Devils to a 64-53 victory in the semifinals of the NIT Season Tip-Off at Madison Square Garden.
Singler, a preseason All-American, finished with 13 points as the No. 7 Blue Devils advanced to Friday’s title game against No. 13 Connecticut (5 p.m., ESPN). The Huskies whipped LSU 81-55 in Wednesday’s early game behind 20 points apiece from Jerome Dyson and Kemba Walker.
Former N.C. State coach Herb Sendek, whose Arizona State teams have given up just 61 points a game over his three-plus seasons, had the Blue Devils under wraps when Krzyzewski signaled for a timeout with 13:43 to play. Duke had grinded away to grab its largest lead at 36-30 early in the half, but then Arizona State guard Derek Glasser reeled off nine of the Sun Devils’ next 11 points to head up a 11-5 spurt that tied the game at 41-all and brought Krzyzewski off the bench.
“Coach is Coach. He’s great at doing what he does,” Singler said. “I couldn’t tell you exactly what it was, but our team did change. We had a different rhythm, which we needed.
“We weren’t playing bad, but at the same time we weren’t playing like we could. It was our first game on the road. We kind of got knocked back early, and it was hard to bounce back, but we did finish the game strong.”
Singler, Scheyer (16 points) and Nolan Smith (14) played the entire game, and they accounted for 14 of 15 points out of the timeout as the Blue Devils scored on seven of eight possessions to finally earn a working margin.
And Arizona State couldn’t answer. From the time the Sun Devils tied it at 41-all until a Brian Zoubek putback pushed Duke’s lead to 62-48, Arizona State made just 1 of 9 shots and turned the ball over nine times.
“Their defensive effort, especially in the second half, was terrific,” Sendek said. “Nothing came easy for us.”
That’s exactly how the Blue Devils felt for much of the game.
Behind freshman Trent Lockett, the Sun Devils blew out to a 15-7 lead after five minutes. Lockett accounted for 11 of the points, helping Arizona State start 6-of-8 from the floor with no turnovers.
But from there, Lockett’s lot mirrored that of his team. Lockett didn’t score again until the game’s final five minutes, and Arizona State made just six more field goals the rest of the first half, with eight turnovers, to fall behind 34-30.
“The last 35 minutes of the game, we gave up 38 points,” Krzyzewski said. “We do that, we’re going to be put in position to win.”
Arizona State post player Eric Boateng, a Duke transfer, never could get going. In the first half, Boateng had just four points and was whistled for traveling four times. It got worse after halftime, when Boateng didn’t score but committed four more turnovers.
The Blue Devils could relate for a while, but they got it going just in time.
“You play four games at home and you’re running and shooting and things are going easy,” Krzyzewski said. “And then all of a sudden, you’re in a possession-by-possession game against a defense that you haven’t played against before and against an offense that’s going to control tempo.
“It was a hard-fought game. We knew it would be.”
NOTES -- Scheyer’s remarkable run without a turnover this season ended at the 11:58 mark of the first half, when he stepped on the sideline in front of the Arizona State bench. “It had to end sometime,” said Scheyer, who went 157 minutes between turnovers. “I just wish I would have had a cool pass for a turnover or something like that instead of just stepping on the line.” … Duke freshman Andre Dawkins contributed eight points off the bench, hitting 2 of 3 from 3-point range on a night when the rest of the team hit 2 of 15. … Krzyzewski improved to 22-3 against Sendek, who coached for Wolfpack for 10 seasons. “I certainly didn’t forget any of those games,” Sendek said, “but our focus was on tonight’s game.”
