Duke vs Tulsa Basketball Recap

Duke 70, Tulsa 52

Duke wanted to play Tulsa in order to prepare itself for the NCAA Tournament's different playing styles. Tulsa wanted to play Duke in order to register a signature win that could blaze a trail to the NCAA Tournament.

It's obvious that Tulsa failed to achieve its objective in Durham, N.C. The big question is, did Duke gain value from its Thursday night victory over a team that's going to miss the Big Dance unless it wins the Conference USA Tournament in two weeks?

Yes, Duke won. Yes, Tulsa's chances of being an at-large team are 100 percent over after this 18-point decision at Cameron Indoor Stadium. However, it's hard to think that there's going to be any euphoria in the winning locker room. Duke looks like a team that's a little worn out and ready to gather itself in preparation for March Madness.

It should be encouraging for Coach Mike Krzyzewski that Duke was able to bust this game open with an 18-3 run over a seven-minute stretch in the first part of the second half. It's always heartening to see a team slog through a listless first half - as the Blue Devils did - and then respond to their fired-up head coach after the intermission. Krzyzewski exuded a restrained yet overwhelmingly fierce intensity on the bench in the first half. He spent timeouts glowering at his players and speaking with his eyes more than with his mouth. Everyone in that Duke huddle knew the deeper message that was being sent, and to the Blue Devils' credit, they were able to act upon that unspoken message early in the second half.

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Tulsa simply didn't have the kind of athlete that could keep up with Duke; Ben Uzoh, who had scored at least 20 points in each of his past three games - all of them in Conference USA - tallied only eight points on 3-of-15 shooting. The rest of coach Doug Wojcik's Golden Hurricane were similarly handcuffed at the offensive end of the floor; Tulsa shot only 33 percent (19 of 58) for the game and never found a foothold after getting blasted out of the gate at the start of the second half.

Tulsa's inadequacy, however, only serves to magnify the question raised earlier: Did Duke benefit to an appreciable extent from this game? Will Thursday's non-conference detour help Coach K's crew in March? There are reasons to be concerned about the Blue Devils' standing.

In Sunday's win over Virginia Tech, Duke hit only 29 percent of its field goal attempts, but dug out a win thanks to defense and an opponent's inability to hit the long ball. This contest offered a remarkably similar pattern, as the Devils hit just 35 percent of their field goals against Tulsa, but benefited from the Golden Hurricanes' paltry 1-of-10 clip from long distance. Duke's three main scorers - John Scheyer (5 of 16), Kyle Singler (4 of 12), and Nolan Smith (6 of 18) - all shot horribly, and as a result, one can't help but think that if an elite opponent walked into Cameron, the story of this intersectional encounter would have been different.

Give credit to Duke for answering the bell in the second half. One wonders, though, if this win will carry any meaning for the Blue Devils in a few weeks' time.

By: Matt Zemek
ACC-Fans Staff Writer