bstrickland@heraldsun.com; 419-6671
CHAPEL HILL -- Duke freshman Mason Plumlee said he hasn't always answered the bell when the team most needed him, but Plumlee certainly rang up several pivotal plays in Wednesday night's victory at North Carolina and likely will be called upon again Saturday when Maryland visits.
"There have been times I've needed to step up before, and I haven't the way I wanted to," Plumlee said. "This time, I just felt like I had a good week of practice and was really focused."
Plumlee scored seven points and grabbed nine rebounds in the Blue Devils' 64-54 victory, giving them the lead for good with an offensive rebound and emphatic dunk with seven minutes left.
Plumlee played a season-high 27 minutes with senior Lance Thomas missing most of the second half with a knee injury, and he could rack up similar minutes in Saturday's showdown with Maryland for first place in the ACC (1 p.m., WRAL).
Duke officials announced Thursday that Thomas suffered a severe bone bruise to his right knee when he banged knees with UNC point guard Larry Drew II. Thomas is listed as doubtful for Saturday's game.
During stretches of Duke's decisive 20-7 late run against the Tar Heels that turned a four-point deficit into a nine-point lead, Plumlee was the only post player on the floor, with junior Kyle Singler sliding down to the power forward position he occupied his first two seasons and with freshman Andre Dawkins giving Duke a three-guard look.
"If Lance is out, that's probably one of the looks we'll have, with Kyle playing a little bit at the four," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "Lance has been kind of our emotional leader and our best defender inside. That's why Mason's minutes -- he had 27 minutes -- were just huge."
Plumlee said that the concentration on Duke's trio of Singler, Jon Scheyer and Nolan Smith on the perimeter always affords him opportunities, and the opportunities were even more plentiful with four players with perimeter skills surrounding him.
This time, Plumlee took advantage. In just over three minutes near the start of Duke's run, Plumlee collected four rebounds and scored three points,
"I was really by myself on the boards, so it was really just a one-on-one block-out, and then the ball comes off the rim the right way sometimes," Plumlee said. "There's so much attention on our guards that it opens up a lot for us. It's kind of a luxury playing inside with Jon, Kyle and Nolan on the perimeter. When shots go up, they may have two guys chasing them down."
Since scoring 11 points and grabbing seven rebounds against Wake Forest on Jan. 17, Plumlee had totaled 12 points and 14 rebounds over his previous six games before Wednesday. His brother, sophomore starter Miles Plumlee, has endured similar struggles: Since putting up 19 points and 14 rebounds against Wake, he had totaled 12 points and 20 rebounds.
Miles Plumlee had two points and six rebounds in just 13 minutes against the Tar Heels, as surging senior big man Brian Zoubek started the second half in his spot. Zoubek had a key assist during Duke's late spurt, shortly after Mason Plumlee's dunk that seemed to buoy the Blue Devils.
Before the dunk, Duke had hit 7 of 22 field goals in the half; starting with his dunk, Duke hit 6 of 7 the rest of the way.
"It just fired us up," Duke junior Nolan Smith said. "When we see our freshman doing that, it excites us. That's what we've wanted from him all year. That just shows that he's getting it.
"The veterans have been on him, and he's started to respond. We love that, and he's going to continue to get better as the year goes on."
Krzyzewski said Duke's final seven regular season games would be about exactly that -- getting better. After the Blue Devils earned their 14th consecutive 20-win season and assured themselves of finishing at least .500 in the ACC, Krzyzewski declared his Blue Devils as qualified for the NCAA Tournament.
"We're a very good basketball team. I don't think we're a great team -- I know we're not a great team -- but we do have pretty good heart," he said. "I think we're getting better.
"Mason's performance tonight is how you get better."
