ACC: Blue Devils overachieving

Duke was supposed to be a good team this season. That said, few could have imagined that the Blue Devils would enter mid-February with just one loss and the nation’s No. 2 ranking.

Duke has won 11 consecutive games, including an 89-78 decision at archrival North Carolina last week. Yes, the Tar Heels were without star point guard Ty Lawson in that contest. But Duke beat — and beat quite soundly — the team that UNC put on the floor.

“They got any shot they wanted,” North Carolina coach Roy Williams said. “I don’t know very many times when our defense dictated what shot they got. They had better spacing. They were more patient.”

That’s become a familiar refrain from coaches of Duke’s opponents this season. One season after averaging an ACC-worst 70.4 points per game and shooting 46.9 percent from the floor, the Blue Devils are second in the ACC in scoring (86.0 points per game) and first in field-goal percentage (.482).

It’s not a vintage Duke team — the squad lacks a legitimate inside scoring threat — but the team is having vintage Duke results. The Blue Devils are 21-1 for the fifth time in the last 10 years and 9-0 in ACC play for the sixth time in the last 11 seasons.

“We know who we are,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “We are a very unconventional team. We are not a very strong physical team, but I think we are strong emotionwise and toughness. We are really a together group.”

That’s evident in the integration of freshmen Kyle Singler, Nolan Smith and Taylor King into the rotation, as well as in sophomore Jon Scheyer’s willingness to help his team off the bench after he played as a starter last season.

As captain and undisputed team leader, senior DeMarcus Nelson has helped guide his teammates as they seek redemption after last season’s 22-11 record and first-round knockouts in the ACC and NCAA tournaments. Nelson (15.5 points per game) leads a group of five Duke players who average double figures in points.

Duke’s lone glaring weakness is a lack of size inside, which creates interesting mismatches in many games. When 6-8 Kyle Singler plays center and 6-4 Gerald Henderson plays power forward, the Blue Devils are vulnerable on the interior. But many times after they allow a layup in the paint at one end, Singler and Henderson either hit a 3-pointer at the other end or penetrate against slower defenders to create easy shots for their teammates.

“It’s very difficult to stop them because they have such good ball handlers and they spread the floor,” said Boston College coach Al Skinner, whose team lost at Duke 90-80 on Saturday. “All the guys can shoot it, and they can all handle it. It makes it extremely difficult to defend. You have to have equal quickness defensively at every position, and not many teams have that. That’s why they’re having the outstanding year that they’re having.”

Another example of Duke’s unconventional method: Whereas many teams have a point guard who penetrates and pitches to the wing for jump shots, the Blue Devils have wing players in Henderson, Nelson and Scheyer who pitch the ball to point guard Greg Paulus for 3-pointers.

“We’ve got great wing players who can really put the ball on the floor and create space for guys like myself, and we’re just taking our shots when we get them,” said Paulus, who made 6 of 8 3-pointers against the Tar Heels.

Now that he’s healthy after playing last season on an injured foot, Paulus has done a better job protecting the ball. His assist-turnover ratio is 2.2 to 1 (up from 1.2 to 1 last season), a key reason why the Blue Devils commit the fewest turnovers in the ACC (13.3 per game). And with newfound depth thanks to the three freshmen and more speed than its opponents at most positions, Duke has been able to create a league-best 19.3 turnovers per game with its defense.

Much has been made of how Duke is playing at a faster tempo this season, but Krzyzewski has a simpler explanation for why his team is off to such a good start.

“Things work better,” he said, “if you have more players and they’re healthy and they’re older.”

Swann song?

Florida State has been ravaged by injuries to its post players this season, but now the team’s bad fortune has spread to the backcourt. Senior guard Isaiah Swann suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during the first half of the Seminoles’ 62-55 victory over Miami last Wednesday and is out indefinitely.

Swann is third on the team in scoring (11.8 points per game) and minutes played (31.0 per game). Although a torn ACL usually is a season-ending injury, Florida State has not ruled out a return from Swann.

“In our workout Saturday, I was tremendously surprised to see him walking without a crutch and a cane,” Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton said. “He really was getting along a lot better than I ever thought he would be, being that it was only a couple of days after he tore his ACL.

“We’re going to have a couple of other opinions and look at it and evaluate it and see how he responds. That’s when we’ll start trying to come to an understanding of what the possibilities are. Right now, I don’t know if we’re in a position to make any of those decisions.”

The injury comes at a bad time for the Seminoles, who are trying to bounce back after suffering six losses in their last eight games. The 6-2, 198-pound Swann is one of just two players on FSU’s roster with more assists than turnovers this season. In addition, he shoots 38.8 percent from 3-point range and is sixth in the ACC in 3-pointers made (2.25 per game).

“We can’t replace his 3-point shooting ability,” Hamilton said. “He’s one of the top kids in the league in terms of making 3s. He’s always been a threat. He stretches the defense.”

Tigers try to recover

Clemson was 3 minutes away from ending its 0-for-Chapel Hill slump. Plus, the team had an 11-point lead.

In the end, the Tigers walked out of the Smith Center after two overtime periods with a 103-93 loss. And they carried with them the weight of Clemson’s 53rd loss in as many games against UNC in Chapel Hill.

“If we take a week or two to get over this, we’re in trouble,” Clemson coach Oliver Purnell said. “We can’t do that, and I don’t expect we will.”

The record shows that North Carolina has defeated Clemson twice this season, but the Tar Heels probably are responsible for half of the Tigers’ six losses. After UNC rallied for a 90-88 overtime victory at Clemson on Jan. 6, the Tigers came out sluggish in their next game and lost at home to Charlotte 82-72.

Purnell warned his players that they could lose the Charlotte game if they were stuck in the past, and he will reiterate that message before Clemson plays Georgia Tech on Thursday.

“We certainly will talk about it,” Purnell said. “We already have talked about it after the game. It’s time for us to step up and prove that we’re a better basketball team than we were early in the year.”

Rising team: Maryland

The Terrapins continue to make progress reminiscent of the strides they took late last season, when they closed the regular season with seven consecutive victories in conference play. Maryland has won 10 of 12 games, including the last four in a row, since a three-game losing streak in mid-December.

“We’re playing well right now in terms of what we’ve been trying to do since December, and that’s get better,” Maryland coach Gary Williams said. “Each game we play, we just focus on that and see if we can play a little better. I’m proud of our players in terms of their effort to do that.”

Maryland’s improvement can be traced to an increase in offensive efficiency. The Terrapins lead the ACC in opponents’ field-goal percentage (.384) and blocked shots (7.0 per game, on pace to break the league record of 6.7 they set in 2004), but their offense has been just as strong recently.

Maryland has shot at least 50 percent from the field in each of the last five games, making 54.3 percent of its attempts during that span.

“What it is is getting the ball to the players where they have a chance to score,” Williams said. “In other words, where they’re capable of doing some things with it when they get it. Our shot selection has improved. I think that’s probably the biggest thing that’s happened.”

Senior forward James Gist and sophomore point guard Greivis Vasquez have spearheaded the charge.

Gist is averaging 22.0 points (on 60.0-percent shooting from the field) and 8.7 rebounds in the last six games, and he rang up averages of 26.5 points and 8.0 boards last week in wins over Boston College and N.C. State. Vasquez, meanwhile, tallied 25 points, eight assists and six rebounds against the Eagles, and he delivered 13 points, 15 assists and nine rebounds against the Wolfpack.

Falling team: Virginia Tech

Long losing streaks have dragged Boston College and Virginia to the bottom of the ACC standings, so there’s nowhere else for those teams to fall. Virginia Tech is 5-5 through 10 conference games — an admirable record for such a young team — but the Hokies are showing signs of slippage.

After winning three consecutive league games, including two in overtime, Virginia Tech lost at N.C. State 73-63 and fell to Miami 74-71 at home last week. The Hokies, who had outrebounded their opponents in 10 consecutive games heading into last week, lost the rebound battle decisively in both games.

Virginia Tech’s next two games are at North Carolina and at Maryland, but the good news for the Hokies is that they get a full week to prepare for the Tar Heels.

“Our reward for last week is to get Carolina this week,” Virginia Tech coach Seth Greenberg said. “After watching them, shoot, I just hope [Tyler] Hansbrough doesn’t hurt any of our guys.”

Player of the week: Tyler Hansbrough, F, North Carolina

Given Hansbrough’s string of strong performances, it might be best in future weeks to split this award into two honors: “ACC player of the week” and “ACC player of the week, non-Tyler Hansbrough Division.”

Maryland’s James Gist and Greivis Vasquez did enough last week to share top billing for ACCPOTW, NTHD. But they couldn’t unseat Hansbrough as the league’s player of the week.

Hansbrough tallied 28 points and 18 rebounds against Duke, then put up 39 points and 13 rebounds against Clemson and made a key steal in the second overtime to preserve UNC’s comeback victory. The 6-9, 240-pound junior followed that up with 23 points, including a hook shot that provided the winning points, in UNC’s 75-74 victory at Virginia on Tuesday night.

Hansbrough is 10th in the nation in scoring (22.8 points per game) and ninth nationally in rebounding (10.8 per game), putting up the best numbers in those categories at UNC since Charles Scott (27.1 points per game in 1969-70) and Mitch Kupchak (11.3 rebounds per game in 1975-76).

“I don’t know how much longer I’m going to coach him, but I’d like to coach that big sucker about 13 more years,” UNC coach Roy Williams said. “When he leaves, I am going to consider myself the luckiest guy in the world to have coached him.”

Freshman of the week: Kyle Singler, F, Duke

Singler tallied a pair of double-doubles while helping the Blue Devils defeat North Carolina and Boston College. He contributed 14 points and 10 rebounds in Duke’s 89-78 win over the Tar Heels, then delivered 24 points and 10 rebounds in his team’s 90-80 victory over the Eagles.

In addition to his defense (five steals for the week) and rebounding inside, Singler gave the Blue Devils a big lift with his shooting from the outside. He made 6 of 13 3-point attempts in the two games, including two treys during Duke’s decisive run against Boston College midway through the second half.

“The way they’re playing just suits him extremely well,” BC coach Al Skinner said. “It allows him to be a playmaker if he has to, and it also allows him to handle the ball on the perimeter and be a recipient to make jump shots.”

Stats and facts of the week

Georgia Tech has won three consecutive ACC road games after winning just one of its previous 18 conference games as a visitor. The Yellow Jackets’ 89-83 win over Wake Forest last week ended the Demon Deacons’ 16-game home winning streak.

Clemson posted the largest margin of victory in an ACC game in school history when it won 82-51 at Virginia on Thursday.

North Carolina’s 53 consecutive home victories against Clemson is an NCAA record for the longest home winning streak against one opponent. The previous record was 52, set by Princeton against Brown from 1929-2002.

Clemson did not make a free throw against the Tar Heels until the second overtime. The Tiger finished 1-for-7 from the free-throw line, while UNC made 31 of 36 free throws.

Duke’s DeMarcus Nelson has scored 20 or more points every other game for the last 14 games. He is averaging 23.0 points on 65.1-percent shooting (56-for-86) during his seven 20-point games during that span, and he is averaging 12.1 points on 37.3-percent shooting (25-for-67) in the other seven games.

Boston College forward John Oates scored a career-high 21 points on 8-of-8 shooting, including five 3-pointers, against Maryland. Oates had totaled just 14 points in his previous five games.

Miami guard Eddie Rios scored 14 points on 4-of-7 shooting in his team’s 74-71 win over Virginia Tech on Saturday. Before that outburst, Rios had scored a total of 13 points in his last 10 games and had gone scoreless in seven of his previous eight games.

Maryland coach Gary Williams picked up his 600th career victory when the Terrapins won at Boston College 70-65.

Virginia is 1-9 in ACC play for the first time since the 1976-77 season.

Injury update

Clemson point guard Demontez Stitt played against North Carolina on Sunday after missing two games because of arthroscopic knee surgery. Stitt tallied 13 points, five assists and six turnovers in 21 minutes.

Duke center Brian Zoubek, who suffered a broken bone in his left foot Jan. 8, returned to game action Saturday against Boston College. Zoubek blocked one shot in his 2 minutes.

North Carolina point guard Ty Lawson (sprained left ankle) missed his third consecutive game Tuesday night. “I don’t know that there is a timetable,” UNC coach Roy Williams said. “I think we’ve just got to wait until he starts feeling better with it.”

Virginia post player Laurynas Mikalauskas played against North Carolina on Tuesday night after missing 13 consecutive games because of a shoulder injury. He scored four points on 2-of-2 shooting and grabbed one rebound in 13 minutes.

Wake Forest swingman L.D. Williams, who has missed the last four games with a broken bone in his right hand, has been cleared to practice.

They said it

“At Northeastern, I coached a four-win team. That was as big of a challenge as you can have in your lifetime from a coaching standpoint and from a playing standpoint. I don’t think that this rivals that. But at the same point in time, it’s not an easy thing for anybody to go through.” — Virginia coach Dave Leitao, whose team has lost 10 of its last 11 games, including seven in a row

“That’s all up to everybody else. I’m past it, I’m sure Tyler is past it. It’s just up to people and the media. It’s not up to me anymore.” — Duke sophomore Gerald Henderson on putting in the past his flagrant foul against Tyler Hansbrough last season

“If I live to be 106, I won’t be any more proud of a group of kids than I am that bunch right there.” — North Carolina coach Roy Williams after his team rallied to beat Clemson in double overtime

Key upcoming games

Wednesday, Feb. 13
Maryland at Duke, 7 p.m. ET
The hottest teams in the ACC meet for the second time this season. Duke won the first contest 93-84 at the Comcast Center on Jan. 27, but the Terrapins have triumphed in five of the last eight meetings overall. Maryland also has won in four of its last eight trips to Cameron Indoor Stadium, including two of the last three.

Saturday, Feb. 16
Virginia Tech at North Carolina, 1 p.m. ET
The Hokies swept a pair of games from the Tar Heels last season, so they will have UNC’s full attention. If the Tar Heels can get point guard Ty Lawson healthy in time for this matchup, they should be able to exact some revenge by a double-digit margin.

Clemson at N.C. State, 3 p.m. ET
The Tigers pressed the Wolfpack right off the floor in their 70-54 victory over N.C. State at Littlejohn Coliseum on Jan. 15. N.C. State point guards Javier Gonzalez and Marques Johnson have shown improvement in recent games, and they must continue that trend in their second try against Clemson’s pressure.

Sunday, Feb. 17
Miami at Georgia Tech, 1 p.m. ET
These teams are two of several looking to claw their way out of the logjam in the middle of the ACC standings. The Hurricanes blew chances to win at N.C. State and Wake Forest earlier this season, so they need to find a way to win against a Georgia Tech team that has struggled at home.

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