bstrickland@heraldsun.com; 419-6671
NEW YORK — On defense, the Duke Blue Devils played like a near-perfect team.
On offense, lead guards Nolan Smith and Jon Scheyer played like a near-perfect tandem.
Smith and Scheyer combined to outscore No. 15 Gonzaga’s entire team Saturday afternoon at Madison Square Garden, putting up 44 points to lead the seventh-ranked Blue Devils to a 76-41 victory.
“That’s unbelievable,” said Scheyer, who had 20 to Smith’s 24. “I think that says more about our defense than anything.”
For the second straight game at Madison Square Garden, Duke’s defense posted a performance of historic proportions.
The Blue Devils (9-1) held Gonzaga (8-3) to its lowest scoring output since no one had even heard of Gonzaga — a 1984 loss at Iowa — and handed the Bulldogs their most lopsided loss since 1990.
In the NIT Season Tip-Off title game against Connecticut at Madison Square Garden last month, Duke’s defense was dominant enough to allow the Blue Devils to win a game when shooting under 30 percent for the first time since 1950.
In the UConn game, Duke didn’t allow a single 3-pointer for the first time since 2005. Saturday, Gonzaga extended its streak of games with at least one 3-pointer to 537 only because of a 3 in the final 11 seconds.
“This is the first team that I’ve had in about seven or eight years that really understands our defense so well together — not individually, but together,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “We’re a very intelligent defensive team.”
With a very smart scouting system in place. Krzyzewski said that assistant coach Steve Wojciechowski’s first points of emphasis on his scouting report were to take away Gonzaga’s transition game and its 3-point shooting. In addition to just one 3, the Bulldogs scored just one bucket in transition.
The Blue Devils put targets on guards Matt Bouldin and Steven Gray, who were averaging 30 points a game between them. Bouldin and Gray combined for just 10 points Saturday on 4-of-15 shooting.
“Attacking them and not letting them get into a great rhythm was key to the game,” Smith said. “Defensively, the mindset of this team is definitely a lot tougher than my first two years here.”
While Gonzaga’s guards struggled, Duke’s guards soared. No one could score early — nine minutes in, both teams were shooting 20 percent in a 6-6 game — but Smith and Scheyer soon got it going.
After Gonzaga took its lone lead of the game, 10-8 on a hook shot from Robert Sacre (who led the Bulldogs with a modest nine points), Duke responded with an 18-2 run for a 26-12 lead. Scheyer accounted for 11 of the points and Smith for five, with veteran Kyle Singler (nine points, 11 rebounds) picking up the other two.
In the second half, Scheyer — coming off a 36-point game — repeatedly found Smith to help him match his career high. Krzyzewski called it Smith’s best game at Duke; Smith agreed.
“This was a CBS game against a great team. My teammates really helped me expose myself, to show that I’m ready to make that jump to an elite guard in the country,” Smith said. “I just need to continue to work hard with my teammates and get better.”
After neither team hit a 3-pointer in the first half, Smith and Scheyer combined to hit three in the first three minutes of the second half to build the Blue Devils’ 31-17 halftime lead to 40-18. Scheyer assisted on Smith’s two 3s to start the half — a common occurrence. Six of Scheyer’s eight assists went to Smith; two of Smith’s three assists went to Scheyer.
“Jon and I have a great chemistry, on the court and off the court,” Smith said. “The whole week in practice we’ve been working on playing together even better. The first couple of weeks of the season, there were times when we could have made the extra pass to get somebody a better shot. Today we did that.”
After the game, the Blue Devils went their separate ways for the holiday break. They won’t play again until Dec. 29, when Long Beach State pays a visit.
It’s safe to say they headed home happy.
“We’re obviously very, very pleased with our performance,” Krzyzewski said. “They’re an outstanding team, but our defense was just better than their offense today.”
